Recently I noticed that one of my neighbours was using a wet&dry Vacuum cleaner to unblock a guttering down-pipe on his house; loads of soggy yew needles and a few oak leaves appeared.
After some discussion on the merits of the idea he has suggested just popping the end of the vacuum hose over each outlet under the car, using a hand as a loose adaptor to avoid collapsing any tubing in the car.
However I’ve not tried it yet on my car (not blocked) so don’t know if this is a valid idea. Has anyone else tried this vacuum method?
Having cleaned the drains on my Mk3 this weekend I share your frustration. It seems to be 10% knowledge and 90% luck!
Assuming you know where to look for the drains when the hood is open (the process is a bit easier if you prop up the hood with a cardboard box, or a helper holds it partially open for you), the first job is to try to straighten out 6 inches or so of the trombone brush. The straighter you can get it the better.
Pop the end of the brush into the drain and angle it slightly towards the front of the car - i.e. pretend you were aiming the brush at the bottom of the seat. If you see it curling around through the vent next to the drain, pull it out, straighten the brush again and have another go. Eventually you will find that you are able to feed the brush into the drain, and assuming there are no blockages you will either feel a bit of resistance as the brush passes the one way flap at the bottom of the tube, or you will hear the brush under the car.
Reach down and gently pull the brush out from under the car and repeat the process a couple of times.
It does get easier once you have done it a few times - the trick is getting the angle spot on. I tried a small torch to see if it helped see the top of the drain, but to be honest, it was just as easy without.
My car lives in the garage but even so I got leaves and road dirt out when I cleaned the drains, and then I flushed them through with some water.
Perhaps someone locally could help out if you post your location?
Maybe I’m being a bit premature, but has anybody any idea where the drain holes are on the new Mk.4 ND? At this time of year having that knowledge early could save having problems later in the winter. Never having had a soft top of any sort before I’ve no idea where to start looking.
My mk3 is having to live outside at the moment due to have some building work done, and it was covered in birch seeds and leaves at the weekend. So after a good clean down, I got the trombone cleaner out to make sure the drains weren’t blocked with the damn things.
The trick seems to be that once the brush is through the top of the drain cover, you need to aim roughly for the gearstick (if that make sense!). Push the brush gently and you should be able to feel the brush going into the drain tube.
Good morning all! Thank you for your photos helps a lot ??
Went to Mazda today today and I ve orderded a pair of side covers , so hopefully that will
Minimize the leafs dust etc… going into the drains and to be honest is not just the drains is the whole area there
which is uncovered and gets dirty and dusty I leave in the country side so am hoping these side fabric
covers will do the job http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/cloth-side-tonneau-covers-black-mazda-mk3-35-p-1326.html
In reply to clive ju - my car is a 2006 1.8 . Thanks for the replies and I’ll be trying again at the weekend with the trombone brush but I’m strongly tempted to try from under the car and go upwards !
Tony don’t be tempted to push the trombone cleaner from underneath. There is a white plastic one way flap that can be dislodged by pushing the cleaner up from the bottom. There are also stories of people dislodging the drain tube itself and then having to remove the seat belt towers.
When the cleaner comes out underneath just pull it through. This ensures that the one way flap comes back into place allowing water to pass through and cutting out the road noise when it closes.
As everyone says it is just a case of gently feeding the trombone cleaner into the hole and letting it find its way down the drain tube. Having cleaned the drains on my Mk3 when I now wash the car I now use a small plastic funnel and pour a jug of water down the tube and make sure it comes out underneath.
Thank you to all who posted on the thread here. My 2005 Mk2 had water in the passenger footwell, and I noticed it was pooling in what looked like the drain area. I used a wire coat hanger and found the drain holes, poked around and cleared the drains.
I’ll jug some water down them next time the car is washed and do some more poking!
After reading the comments on this forum I went to Poundland and purchased the drain / sink cleaning tool. It’s in the DIY section and is called “Sink Serpent” It is meant for unblocking sinks, baths and showers. There is a triangular velcro head that gunk will stick to as you rod the pipes. The flexible pipe is the perfect length for passing right through the drain holes and out from the car. I used it today and it works very well. I can highly recommend it.
I’ve just got a 2006 Mk3 1.8 - so glad I read this thread. Although I’ve not had water backing up, I did order a trombone brush from Amazon and on Saturday cleaned out the drain holes. The driver’s side was pretty clear, but the passenger side was a bit more horrid, with black damp leaf litter gunk down the tube, like some sort of compost. It all eventually dumped out onto the driveway. I also did it the way explained on here where I pushed it through from the top and once it was out dangling over the braces under the car, I pulled it out.
However, I’ve noticed quite a bit more road noise coming from the passenger side - so I assume I need to flush through some water to rinse out any remaining gunk and hopefully it will let the flap return - otherwise is the flap close enough to the hole under the car so you can feel it and maybe push it back yourself?
I bought a trombone cleaner from MX5 parts for my MK1 and it simply will not go all the way through if i push it from the top. I spent ages trying every way I could to try to do it. I resorted to feeding it up from the bottom to the top and it went just fine. Even when the drains were clean it will not come out the bottom if I feed it from the top.
If i put my finger inside the tube that comes out of the bottom each side I can feel a flap that pushes upwards. If i let go it closes again. This makes sense as to why I can only feed the brush from the bottom as the flap will only go upwards towards the top of the car. Weird though as this seems to be different to what others say!?