MK3 (2006): Water getting past soft top rubber seal

Dear MX-5 owners,

I’ve just purchased a 13 year old Mark 3 1.8 with 39,000 miles.  It’s been regularly serviced but rather neglected in terms of cleaning and bodywork.  The most pressing problem I have is that rain water is leaking onto the interior.  It is dripping from the join in the rubber seal half way along the top of the side window on both the driver and passenger sides.

The hood itself seems watertight, I’ve already cleaned and conditioned it with an autoglym kit.  The seals seem OK visually, no cracks or tears and I tried applying a silicone grease to the seals, but that hasn’t helped.  I have cleared the drains thanks to instructions found on this forum (and my word was there a lot of water in there!) which has stopped the footwell filling up, and also re-sealed the area under the third brake light which has cured the leak in the boot.  

I’m aware that this seems like it would be a rather frequently asked question, but I’ve been unable to find a great deal of info about how best to tackle this.

Grateful for any advice!

James.

Hi. Sorry to hear your troubles. I had similar but not the side window problem. I would recommend though that you seal the windscreen cowl grommets as these are prone to leaking and thus filling the passenger footwell with water. Interested in what suggestions you may get regarding the window rubbers. New ones or a new roof, not sure either way.

Just found this on MX5parts

 

Convertible Hood Side Seal, Rear, MX5 Mk3/3.5/3.75

Thank you - they look just the job, possibly not as expensive a repair as I’d feared. I will research sealing those drains as you suggest too. 

search for scuttle grommets on here and YouTube, plenty of info, and if they do leak it can cause electrical gremlins as it leaks onto the fuse box.