I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on:
Unfortunately I’ve recently discovered the (common?) water leak in the passenger footwell. I park on a slight downhill slope so I need to investigate where its coming from and resolved the issue as well as dry out the carpet.
I’ve disconnected my battery as a precaution for now and removed my seat to get to the carpet underneath. Ideally I’d like to leave the passenger seat out for a few days while I investigate and let it dry out, but I’m concerned it might set off warning lights on my car if I start her up without the seat in place.
Has anyone got any experience with this? My car does have heated seats, and I had to remove a quite bulky wiring clip to remove the seat. It also has the seatbelt alarm for if the seat is occupied, but I can’t see any airbags in the leather seats.
As Mad Malc says it’s likely the scuttle grommets causing the water leaks. Check also the fuse board at the bottom of the passenger A pillar. At that point the water leak can enter the fuse board from above.
You’ll most likely get an air bag warning light if the seats out. Leather seats have the side airbags, should have a tag on the side bolsters.
Thanks. I’m relatively sure its the scuttle grommets, but I’ve also had a water leak in the boot (light clusters) so I want to make sure the 2 aren’t related.
I can’t see anything relating to airbags on the seat, either tags or anywhere the airbags would be. If I do drive and the light comes on, do they go out automatically when the seat is reconnected? Or would I need one of the higher end obd2 scanners?
Not done it myself but I reckon once the seat is plugged back in the lights will not show in the dash.
Is it a Sport model PRHT or the option pack with heated leather? The Sport leather seats definitely have side airbags unless they’ve been changed at sometime.
Its the option pack, 1.8 with leather and the heated seats. AFAIK from previous cars you can usually tell where the seat airbags are in the seats, can’t see anything like that on mine.
The replacement scuttle grommets seem like a pain to find. Out of stock on MX5parts an no where to be found on ebay either. I saw a vid on Youtube where a guy siliconed them up pretty good and that seemed to fix it for him, looks like that might be the best option
Sealing the original grommets on the car is a favoured option. Clean the area and get a bead of sealant around the grommets.
You’ll be lucky if you don’t break the tabs on that black cover cap over the screws on the cowl. Again a little sealant if broken will hold them in, spares are available, if in stock.
Yep, I’ve just had a look under the seat and there is no yellow connector - AFAIK the yellow one is for the Airbag.
I’ve got a green, a light grey and a darker grey one under there. Tracing them back it looks like the green is for the heated seats, the light grey goes to the seatbelt connector and the dark grey disappears into the seat base - I expect for the seat occupancy sensor?
Thanks for the tips on sealing her up, I’ll be away to Wickes in the morning to get some sealant. Going to drive without the seat and just see what happens re. the warning lights.
Thanks again for all your advice with this mate, really appreciated!
Edit. And yep, I’ve already managed to break the tab on the plastic cover
Thanks for the feedback. I don’t have seat airbags so I’m just going to risk it tomorrow I think. I’ve got to drive it to get some sealant to do the job anyway so we’ll see how it goes.
I needed to move my 2006 Sport when I had the interior out.
Yes the airbag light flashes without the seats.
However - When all was re-assembled - the lights all went out as normal next time I started the car.
Excellent, thanks mate. Mine is the 1.8 Options Pack so doesn’t look to have the seat airbags so I’m hoping it won’t even trigger. Fully expecting the seat belt buzzer thing to be a pain though.
Just to update in case anyone needs to know this in future:
The 1.8 options pack does not have seat airbags. Check under your seat, if there is a yellow wire/connector you have airbags so use caution when removing the seat.
I had no warning lights when driving without the seat, not even the seat belt light/buzzer
The issue seems to have been caused by blocked drain holes. I removed the interior and saw water backing up around the drain holes. Cleared them out and can’t see any further ingress. The scuttle panel grommet appears to be intact, touch wood, but I bought a tube of sealant anyway and will monitor over the next few days.
