Water ingress

Technical Area Body, Interior & Styling
2

Hi all, happy Easter,

I have water dripping down into the front footwell next to the fuse box,

I am aware that the cowl grommet seal will have failed and will need replacing - with some silicone sealant around as well for good measure.

Although it hasn’t stopped raining all day down here in Somerset   I was was surprised at how much water has found it’s way into the footwell - I placed a

towel in there to catch it and it’s quite wet in one area in a few hours, (perhaps a cup full). So my question is, can so much water come in under the grommet or is there another place that’s

prone to leaking as well. 

MX5 parts are showing out of stock at the moment -  might have to travel to a Mazda dealer for said items if they have any in.

The car is a Mk3.5 2009 model PRHT.

P.S. I tried lifting up the cowl at the one end after removing the screw and applying some bathroom sealant on the end of a flat piece of wood but it didn’t make any difference. 

 

Paul

3

Yes, it can let in a fair bit, especially the way it’s coming down today! You need to get to the bottom of the grommet
with the sealer, you’ll just be doing the top until you get better access.

 

You can check the download file to see the procedure, you’ll see how the sealing isn’t just around the screw.

 

Downloads section at the top of the page. Click Section S Interiors and Styling and look at the top document Water Ingress NC.

4

It’s like a plumbing leak in the home, doesn’t look much but left long enough and it soon turns into a pool.

Open the bonnet and remove/release the rubber strip across the plastic scuttle, it’s held on with clips. The scuttle is in two pieces so should come away easily after removing both screws. You will of course need to remove the wiper arms first.
Once access is gain clean up around the grommets and apply silicone seal, alternatively replace the grommets with new, I’d be more inclined to silicone on top as well.
I just siliconed mine, all good but will check again in the near future.

 

5

Might be a good idea to cover the car over,if you don’t have a cover perhaps some polythene,till you can get it done.

6

Ah yes I did manage to get bathroom sealant all around the sides of the grommet and on the surrounding metal - I thought I’d had done a reasonable job

but no, and it was Unibond does a good job around showers etc. Suppose I panicked a bit and wanted a quick fix. Ho hum.

Paul

7

Thank you to all who have replied so far.

I have just put a plastic container in the footwell to further hold the water till it eventually stops raining.

Just need to get hold of 2 grommets, This amount of rain soon finds any weaknesses in seals etc.

If anybody has anything further to add feel free.

Paul

8

Hi there - found the removal of old grommets a real pain, so after doing the first one I didn’t bother replacing the second. Just a liberal application of  Fernox LS-X sealant all round the grommet area did the trick - can even be used when the area is still wet apparently - but I dried and cleaned the surround of the grommets just to be sure.

Job done - I don’t think I’ll have to do it again.

Colin 

9

 

I can’t believe this, in a relatively new car. My car is a Mx-5 Eunos Mk1 1992, and 1992 was the date it was registered in the UK, and my car doesn’t leak in anywhere, except when I open the door in the rain.

10

 I did this in January as a preventative measure but didn’t order replacement grommets, instead I pulled away the spongy seal that goes around the plastic fittings so they were rattling around in the hole in the metalwork:

 

Then I filled all the gaps.with bathroom silicone, gently prising up each corner of each fitting to really get a load of silicone in all the gaps. Then I put a thick bead of silicone around each fitting and smoothed it with a wet finger:

Then eassembled the scuttle panel taking car not to press down on the siliconed fittings and finally before screwing in the fittings I put a big blob of silicone into the screwholes before nipping up the screws just enough to compress the wet silicone.

The car stank of silicone for a day and fingers crossed no water so far.

 

11

[quote=Pollyanna]

 

I can’t believe this, in a relatively new car. My car is a Mx-5 Eunos Mk1 1992, and 1992 was the date it was registered in the UK, and my car doesn’t leak in anywhere, except when I open the door in the rain.

[quote=PaulyR]

Hi all, happy Easter,

I have water dripping down into the front footwell next to the fuse box,

I am aware that the cowl grommet seal will have failed and will need replacing - with some silicone sealant around as well for good measure.

Although it hasn’t stopped raining all day down here in Somerset   I was was surprised at how much water has found it’s way into the footwell - I placed a

towel in there to catch it and it’s quite wet in one area in a few hours, (perhaps a cup full). So my question is, can so much water come in under the grommet or is there another place that’s

prone to leaking as well. 

MX5 parts are showing out of stock at the moment -  might have to travel to a Mazda dealer for said items if they have any in.

The car is a Mk3.5 2009 model PRHT.

P.S. I tried lifting up the cowl at the one end after removing the screw and applying some bathroom sealant on the end of a flat piece of wood but it didn’t make any difference. 

 

 

Hi Pollyanna,

Aw let me tell you since I bought this car 2 years ago it’s to be frank no end of trouble, It’s only got 33,000 miles on the clock now.

It’s been one thing after another for the last 2 years, costing a fortune.

This water leak is just the latest thing.

The car is not used alot we can walk to most places from where we live.

But when I do go out in it it reaches the point where I’m thinking what’s going to go wrong today.

I feel guilty - we had a MK3 PRHT some years ago and it wasn’t a bit of trouble.

To cut a long story short we also had a year 2000 Toyota Rav4 and that also wasn’t a bit of trouble, but I persuaded the wife to trade that in and we

return to open top motoring, but Iv’e gone and landed us with problem after problem and that means expense and/or hassle.

A garage owner once said to me “I make no money out of Japanese cars, their just too reliable”. 

Well in the case of THIS car I beg to differ.

 I know this leak shouldn’t cost a lot to fix but if your not in the know or unable to work on cars it would be another 3 figure sum in a garage.

 

Paul 

 

12

[quote=bainbridge]

 I did this in January as a preventative measure but didn’t order replacement grommets, instead I pulled away the spongy seal that goes around the plastic fittings so they were rattling around in the hole in the metalwork:

 

Then I filled all the gaps.with bathroom silicone, gently prising up each corner of each fitting to really get a load of silicone in all the gaps. Then I put a thick bead of silicone around each fitting and smoothed it with a wet finger:

Then eassembled the scuttle panel taking car not to press down on the siliconed fittings and finally before screwing in the fittings I put a big blob of silicone into the screwholes before nipping up the screws just enough to compress the wet silicone.

The car stank of silicone for a day and fingers crossed no water so far.

 

Ah that’s what I was trying to achieve when I was working with the scuttle partially removed, and I though I had.

I mean good good quality bathroom sealant should stop a tidal wave.

I’m a bit torn now as to use bathroom sealant or Fernox.

Paul

 

13

My other half thought i was mad taking the scuttle panel off my 2013 car three days after my purchase at 3 years old and 5000 miles . For anyone who has not done this yet it is not a difficult job. There is really no point in replacing the grommets with new as it is the foam gasket which fails.

It is not a difficult job if you follow one of the guides. The grommet screw covers are available if you damage them. I would suggest allowing the sealer to set completely before reassembly if you have the time.

 

14

[quote=mk375]

My other half thought i was mad taking the scuttle panel off my 2013 car three days after my purchase at 3 years old and 5000 miles . For anyone who has not done this yet it is not a difficult job. There is really no point in replacing the grommets with new as it is the foam gasket which fails.

It is not a difficult job if you follow one of the guides. The grommet screw covers are available if you damage them. I would suggest allowing the sealer to set completely before reassembly if you have the time.

 

 

Hi,

So, did you use bathroom sealant, Fernox or something else on yours,

Paul

15

I need to do this job. I’v a black silicone sealant that was probably bought from Halfords. It might be Loctite, but there are others.

 

 

 

16

Black silicone is great for this job as opposed to clear or white silicone because you can see when you’ve managed to get it underneath the plastic fittings as they’re vaguely translucent. 

 

17

I used permatex clear RTV silicone adhesive sealant because i had it available. The  grommet is an oblong shaped block with a small rim around it so i removed the grommets from the bodywork, cleaned everything up and removed the remnants of the foam gasket and then bedded the grommet on a layer of sealant at the edges of the hole. More sealant applied once the grommet reinserted. I used silicone grease in the screw hole itself to stop water tracking down the screw thread and helping to prevent corrosion of the screw.

18

Hi everybody,

Once again a big thank you to all those that have replied with Hints, tips, ideas photos etc, all much appreciated.
But just to recap as long as I make a good job of sealing that hole by whatever method that should be it, there are no other
known fault areas for water to leak in the footwell by the fuse box as it drips past the glove box?

Please, everybody, say no that’ll fix it.

Anyway, happy soggy Easter to all. At least chocolate tastes just as good no matter what the weather!

Paul

19

Yep, sealing the grommet will more than likely sort your problem out, there are no other common areas of water ingress in that area.

20

 

The hood drains need cleaning periodically, well at least once a year too.