Hi All,
So I’ve removed my soaking wet boot liner and placed it in the garage to dry. I cleaned out my drain tubes with a trombone brush and then it rained. As before there’s water in the boot and it appears to be entering around either the base of the aerial or the drivers side rear light cluster.
I’ve not pulled it apart yet to investigate properly. My assumption is that both the aerial base and the light clusters have rubber seals that can be replaced. I don’t want to be resorting to tubes of silicone.
Any thoughts / suggestions warmly recieved.
Ta
Stu
Hi Stu, not quite sure what you’re asking but finding the source of the leak has got to be first job. The trim might need to come out but it might be worth playing a hose around the top with the boot open to see if you can see the problem first. There’s a big boot lip which should let you do this without getting water inside. The hinge bolts are also in that area as are those big shiney bolts and the third brake light is a known problem sometimes. If it’s hard to find and the trim has to come out play the hose over it and dab a single sheet of kitchen roll on the panels near any suspect areas which will show up any water on the tissue.
Thanks Rich,
I’m pretty sure that it’s coming in at either the base of the aerial or the drivers side rear light cluster, but you’re right best to make sure. I’ll pull all the liners out and deploy kitchen roll as suggested.
Stu
If there is a lot of water then I wouldn’t consider the aerial base as the first choice as there simply isn’t that much water flowing past it. However, water that goes down the sides of the boot exits over the rear lights clusters so that sounds like a good place to look.
Leaks are a pain so good luck with tracking it down and getting it sorted.
Hi Paggers,
Not a massive amount of water, I would say less than half a teacup full but it’s still annoying. I’ll have a good look tomorrow and see if I can track down the leak for certain. I’m thinking rear light / aerial because the top of the jack is wet sitting as it does directly below the aerial and behind the light cluster.
Looks like if it is the lights it’ll be trip to Mazda to get the bits required. The parts don’t seem to be readily available through MX5-Parts etc.
Well the water is clearly coming in through the offside rear light cluster. Couldn’t find a seal set available anywhere so phoned Mazda. It transpires that there is no seal available for the rear lights on a Mk3. The seal is bonded to the light cluster and the light cluster costs £180.
I suggested that since I’d only had the car for a month that Mazda (T W White) supply the cluster for free and I’d fit it to save them the workshop time. They weren’t up for that but have asked if they can have the car back to do the required work. I really didn’t want to be without the car for a day but they’ve offered me a loan car so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much.
So to sum up… a bit disappointed that the car has a fault and that it’s not a cheap fix, but I can’t fault Mazda for their response.
Stu