Oh dear. Well on this first rainy day in quite some time in London, I went out to my Mk1 (this is, miraculously, the first wet morning I’ve had with it in my month of ownership) and found that part of the seats was wet. Both seats had the same wet patch, which was on the outer edge (i.e. door side). The patch was all on the seat (not the backrest) and about 2/3rds was on the bolster bit, with a smaller amount on the seat itself. Sadly I did not notice this until I felt that awful cold creep into my trousers…
I’m now sitting at work a little soggy, and a little upset. I think the problem may be the seals on the roof that meet the tops of the windows. The seals don’t feel dry, but their connection to the windows is not of perfect contact (I think). I’m not sure if this is right. The water came in overnight. Strangely, I’ve washed the car 3 times in the month I’ve had it, and water did not come in then. This leads me to believe that condensation may be to blame, i.e. water condensing at the top of the window and making it onto the inside bars of the roof, and dripping down from there.
Does this sound familiar, or make any sense to anybody? The car is still under warranty (obviously not the original one, being an 18/19 year old car!) so there is scope to have those seals replaced, possibly.
I sometimes get this on my Mark 1 too after really cold nights. Droplets of water collect on the roof bars and a few drip down on to the centre console i find! i think it’s just condensation and not anything to be worried about. I don’t have any problems when i wash the car so i think it’s naughty mr condensation that’s to blame
If memory serves, you bought it from Dandycars, who pride themselves on their warranties, so I’d start by giving them a phone.
There are a few places that could be causing it, but since it has not been a problem after you washed it, it could be hard to trace.
I would suggest getting a friend, and a hose (because a watering can won’t cut it this time), and get him to soak the area around the front of the roof and the windscreen, and the windows against the roof. Of course, you sit inside. I would expect a little bit of water (it is not the tightest fit at the windows/roof), but not much.
There are drainholes at the top of the windscreen (visible with the roof down) - it could be them that are blocked, hence only causing issues with rain.
It may be that the glass is not sitting against the seals at the top. You can easily adjust the position of each window glass in all three planes to get a good seal.
Wow - good memory [Y] Thanks for the advice. I’ll definitely ask them if the above adjustment doesn’t do the trick. I’ll also check for blocked drainholes/channels in the place you mentioned. Despite my chesty cough, I may use that roof-down check as an excuse for a spot of roof-down action, too. As if I need the excuse [;)]
Its a bit fiddle and involves a lot of trial and error, but had to do this to mine. Basically if you remove the seals there are some silver grippy things underneath. Slightly unscrew this til you can move them a little and slide to the outside edge of the hood. Tighten screws and replace seals. Now, if you are lucky, the windows will slightly touch, if not you need to keep repeating the procedure.
It could also be that the seals are slightly perished and last year, Halli filled the gaps in his with foam tubing to pad them out a bit, with good results if I recall.
Good luck.
The above post refers to adjusting the seals. To adjust the glass, you remove the door car (plenty of info on the net re window winders). Then, with the glass fully up peer down at the bottom of the glass. You will see it has two white plastic lugs bolted through the glass. These come up against plastic stops bolted to the door. You can slacken and move these, so the glass can move further up, front and rear. At the bottom of the door, there are two nuts which hold the vertical slider rails. These can be adjusted to move the rails inward or outward, altering the angle of the glass.
Sorry if that is clear as mud, but have a go - you should be able to figure it out. Better still, buy the MX5 enthusiast’s manual.
PS Have some white spirit handy to wipe off the black goo you will encounter.
Pete
Finally solved this problem yesterday!
I went to Dandycars last week and they flushed the drains, which did not fix the problem, though evidently they were blocked so it was worth doing. But I went back yesterday for another go, and this time they took off the seals and discovered the problem. The sponge inside the seals (which give them their plumpness, helping to form the seal) had perished, becoming flat and losing ‘springiness’. They had also split. This meant that the seal was not tight to the window, and a channel was forming between them. When this overflowed, water was climbing the seal and entering it through the split, and filling it up until it overflowed into the cabin.
So they took off the seals, opened them fully, stuffed them with polystyrene packing material and sealed them shut. A quick degrease before reattaching them, and the seals are back looking a lot plumper than before. It is now raining here in the capital, so by the morning I will know whether the fix has worked.
I may attempt to adjust the windows at some point too, as any improvement to sealing can’t be a bad thing.
Cheers [B]
Yeah I have this on my drivers side. I’ve got real quick at removing the seat. I put it upside-down and lean it against a radiator indoors. An hour usually does the trick. Better than trying to dry it in the car. I found it was worse if the wind was blowing the rain onto the side of the car and I’m careful how I park in bad weather. Thanks for the padding tip. I shall try that one myself.
I’m sad to report that so were mine yesterday! It appears that yesterday’s torrential rain and strong wind were a test for the seals, and they failed it.
I think my seals are either under-filled, or perhaps the other seals need stuffing (only the main ‘front’ seal was done, not the 2 on the hinged pieces). I should go back to Dandycars and ask them to take another look, but its a long drive and I’m tempted to just cut up a jumbo sponge and stuff all of the seals myself.
Thanks for the reply Simon. I have a feeling it comes in at the top
where the roof hinges but mines seems to seal ok when you are driving it. It was
raining today on the way home but I couldn’t feel any leaks.
I’m tempted to buy one of these 1/2 roof covers but its not really sorting
the problem… Good Luck
It is a common adjustment that needs to be made to make some imported cars suitable for UK roads which is usually done for the MOT.
Hope this helps - there is bound to be some clever chap or chapess on here that will know for definate.
Dont part with any cash till you know for sure - good luck
I bought some of the foam stuff you pasted in from that link. Works well, although the glue i used on the seals was not strong enough. near some hardcore stuff!
I also got a half car cover from a local car parts place for about 10 quid. Works a treat!
