I have posted a few questions on here lately and would like to thank people for there helpful responses.
I also have a problem with my mark 3 leaking alot of water into the drivers footwell (back of footwell under seat), and some into the boot… It only happens when you get alot of water on the roof when washing or when we have heavy rain. I have had all the roof and seals checked and the boot seals and third brake light removed and re-sealed, I can only conclude its a problem with the roof drains. Does anyone else know how to cure this or had the same problem?
For example, on the weekend the boot and inside was bone dry and has been for weeks (good weather etc). I washed the roof using my autoglym kit and rinsed off. Checked an hour and two hours later no water ingress at all. But when I checked in the morning it was soaked in the footwell and damp in the boot. We did also have heavy rain during that night… Its like the water is sitting there for some time before leaking into the car?
Any help would be appreciated/
Also - I posted recently about a broken door mirror. Just to say I bought a brand new one from mazda. It cost £90 inc Vat (trade discount) and came painted with all the seals trims and fixings… What a bargain… I thought this may help as people on e bay are asking between £50 and £70 for second hand items then £10 postage and you would obviously have to get these painted on top.
trombone cleaners. get an xbox size box and oper your roof a little put the box in the gap where your rear window falls down this will hold the roof half open. clear the small drain vents of leaves etc then follow the natural waterflow down to the bigger filter. if you loook really hard you will see a hole each side. push the trombone cleaner down this hole it will come out of the car about 6 inches infront of the rear wheels and about 6 inches into the car. pull the cleaner through a few times and hay presto. as for saoking up the water silica gell or any similar stuff trust me i sadly know from experience it smells if you dont clear the water properly. alternatly find the holes from undeneath and push the trombone cleaner up through the car hope it cures the wetness.
Thats great thanks I will have a look and let you know… I have a mark one that the drains blocked, but it just used to fill the sills and slosh about… you could clean from underneath as you state… but couldnt see how to on the mark three… very helpful thanks
I had a problem wth my car leaking both into the passenger footwell and the boot. So i took it to the dealer who found the leak in the front, and solved that. I presume by clearing out the guttering, but couldn’t replicate the one at the rear. So they cleared the guttering at the back to see if that would solve it. Since I have had it back the front is now dry but the rear continues to leak. The strange thing is, not mater how much water I spray over it I can’t get it to leak with a hose pipe, but when it rains the boot gets water in, and quite a lot some times. I have tried soaking it then leaving, but the water never seems to appear. My car is usually parked on a slope so the front wheels are about 6 inches higher than the rear (and I tested it with the hose pipe like this. Does anyone else have this problem? has anyone solved it? Also does anyone have photos of how to clear the guttering with the folding hardtop cars?
I have a 57 plate with the folding hradtop roof (Coupe?)
I replaced the drain tubes on my Mk 3, not because of water but excessive road noise. I can confirm what Drew says. The tubes are fitted with rubber one-way flaps . One of mine was all twisted, hence the road noise, so I fitted a new one. So please don’t rod them or shove pipe cleaners through them as you will damage the rubber flaps.
I’ve just joined the forum as I bought my first MX 5, 07 plate in October.
When I got it, the seller had taken it that morning to one of the handwashes and it took me about 3 weeks to dry out the passenger side under the seat.I’ve washed it by hand as I’m scared to take it to one of the handwashes.
Does anyone have any info about washing the car without shipping in water?!
Hi Lizwall3. I put mine through the handwash yesterday, with high pressure jet wash too and no leaks at all.
I guess you need to see where the water is actually coming in and trace it back from there. The main cause would be blocked hood drains causing the water tray under the hood to fill and overflow into the car, or if it’s at the front, the screws which hold down the front wiper moudings often let water through into the front of the footwell. I had this problem and removed the moulding and filled the screw holes with sealer before putting eveything back. No problem now.
Whatever you do, don’t rod out the drain tubes. They contain two rubber one-way flaps that let water out and stop the road noise coming up into the cab.
Thanks for that info. The water settled towards the rear of the area under the passenger seat so not the wiper screws probably. I won’t rod the drain tubes then!
Do rod the drain tubes regularly (using a trombone cleaner off eBay) as Adam describes in the earlier post in this thread. They get blocked with leaves etc which causes the drains to over flow with large amounts of water such as washing.
With the hood nearly back, supported by a box, insert the cleaner down the larger rectangular hole in the drain tray, from the top.
Aim it for an imaginary point on the floor exactly under the gear lever and turn and wobble it gently til it goes down. Keep moving it gently but only downwards. Then look under the car and you’ll find it hanging out the bottom, so work it all the way through and out the bottom. Once through, pour water down the drains and repeat a few times to clear the muck. Take the cleaner through only one way, from top to bottom, then out the bottom.
If you then lie alongside the car you’ll be able to feel a flap a couple of inches up the drain tube from the bottom. It’s one-way allowing water down and then closing to keep noise and spiders out.
Hello all again, has anyone else had problems with the folding hardtop version leaking? Our dealer tried to fix it by putting flexible hose extensions on the ones already there then putting holes in the plastic mesh and feeding the extension hoses through. But every time we open the roof it pulls the extensions off the original tubes.
hope it cures the wetness.
