Sorry to hear this PaulyR - I wonder whether you could perhaps tell us what problems you’ve had? Mine’s a 2012 model, owned from new & now up to 28,500 miles. A couple of issues for me so far - on its 3rd EGR valve (first one failed on the way home from the dealer on the day I picked the car up with 11 miles on the clock, the second one failed last year at 23,000 miles) & I now also have a weeping rear damper - Bilsteins, hence very expensive, I’ll see what the garage say about that when it goes in for service & MOT in a couple of weeks.
These problems are a little disappointing to me at this mileage - however apart from these issues it’s been fine. Must add though that I did replace the scuttle grommets at 4 years old as a precautionary measure & I found that the old ones were fine (very difficult to get them out though!).
I did my grommets last weekend after finding a soaking wet floormat. Very easy job following the tech sheet in the downloads section.
Just been outside to check after 24 hours of rain and not a single drop has come through
One thing to note is that the grommet screw hole does not go all the way through so it’s not necessary to seal around the screw thread - just around the edge of the grommet where the perished seal is/was. If you can get some underneath the edge then so much the better. There is enough play to allow the silicone to get under nicely.
Literally just done mine, took about half an hour taking off the wipers and panel.
I got two new grommets from MX5 Parts (probably the last two, as they have no more in stock), replaced the old ones and put silicone around them as well. On my last 5, I just took out the black seals and put silicone around the grommets. Both options work and is a pretty painless job, just need a posi-drive screwdriver and a 14mm socket (to get the wipers off). If you do change the grommets, they do come out with a pair of pliers and some brute force and ignorance
I did managed to break one of the oval covers, so need to get one on order
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
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A word of caution, the plastic container may catch the drips and keep the carpet dry but there are many reports of water running down the loom into the fuse box and shorting out the electrics.
Club members have reported this happening and as a result a replacement starter motor was required, another reported a new front wiring loom being required. Other reports are of the car electrics doing odd things (lights staying on or heater blower not working).
I did mine a couple of years ago (before they started to leak). You don’t need new inserts, just clean the area around the insert and massage the sealer in where the black failed gasket is and build a little sealer up around the side of the insert.
In the down load section is a very good guide with photos of “how too”.
I did too when I sealed mine, they are out of stock but ordered one anyway, that means hopefully it will be posted free as and when in as it was part of a larger order (MX5parts)
Sorry I don’t know how to add to people’s threads so have to start in a new box each time (I’m not very computer savy).
Anyway having noted your caution thread Richard I noticed it had stopped raining here so I darted out and did the job.
I only did the passenger side cos’ that’s the only side that’s leaking at the moment. will do the other side if this is successful.
Having removed the scuttle panel I can see why the bathroom sealant didn’t work, it hadn’t cured and was just a white wet mess.
Having bought some Fernox LS-X this morning I set about liberally gooing all around the grommet and try to work some underneath.
I have to say whilst I could see moisture under the gasket when rocking it a bit it felt tight to the bodywork and I find it hard to
believe so much water has found it’s way underneath it. Perhaps when the screw is tightened it lifts the grommet a bit?
All dry inside the car now with a dry towel underneath the problem area so I shall see.
Good news it’s sorted. Also I have been told the drivers side doesn’t actually pierce the bulkhead so won’t leak like the passenger side does? Can anyone confirm that,or ever found a leaky drivers side?
Sorry to hear this PaulyR - I wonder whether you could perhaps tell us what problems you’ve had? Mine’s a 2012 model, owned from new & now up to 28,500 miles. A couple of issues for me so far - on its 3rd EGR valve (first one failed on the way home from the dealer on the day I picked the car up with 11 miles on the clock, the second one failed last year at 23,000 miles) & I now also have a weeping rear damper - Bilsteins, hence very expensive, I’ll see what the garage say about that when it goes in for service & MOT in a couple of weeks.
These problems are a little disappointing to me at this mileage - however apart from these issues it’s been fine. Must add though that I did replace the scuttle grommets at 4 years old as a precautionary measure & I found that the old ones were fine (very difficult to get them out though!).
Having said all this I still really like the car!
Hi andy1964,
I bought a new battery for it just after purchase (but that’s reasonable given it’s age).
Front wheel bearing failure, meaning on the NC a new complete hub (well that’s what my local garage told me).
EML light came on, however garage checked the code and said 'running weak on tick over, they checked the emissions and said all in tolerance so not going to damage
the engine and because it could be one of any number of components it’s still on.
New rear discs (and pads)
Had a knocking on braking and was a front disc even though they were replaced recently by the previous owner. so 2 new ones and pads.
Not a lot of faults but fairly expensive ones when you don’t really expect too much to go wrong with a car that’s only covered 33000 miles or
are my expectations too high.
As mentioned before I owned a MK 3 NC1 a few years ago, commuted to work in all weathers hammered it to Cornwall and back regularly from where we
used to live in Staffordshire before retiring. It never gave a bit of trouble.
But I would have to say faults aside the NC2 is better than the NC1
The passenger side grommet lies in a well if the car is level and some dirt/leaves has/have accumulated at the exit from that area, but the driver’s side one is slightly raised above the flow. Also there seems to be no vulnerable electrics under the drivers side, whereas the passenger side has lots including the locking/security system.
I can confirm that the driver’s side is also prone to leaks due to grommet failure. My NC2 soft top had damp patches under both passenger and driver’s mats - just like the photos in the download on this website. My 30,000 miles, fully serviced car was kept garaged by it’s previous owner and the only thing I couldn’t check before purchase was water ingress -but the first down pour at home soon showed the problem. By following the advice on this site I fixed the fault for an outlay of less than a fiver and an hour of my time, so membership for the next few years is guaranteed.
I can confirm that the water leak into the front passenger footwell has been well and truly fixed by applying liberal amounts of Fernox LS-X
around the grommet under the cowling, (panic over).
No leaks found on the drivers side but will ‘Fernox’ that grommet at some point in the not too distant future.
To answer your question the cowling splits around the middle so only need to remove the one wiper.
I thought I might as well just concentrate on the problem because doing both sides is twice the work and I wasn’t totally sure the grommet was the problem.
Fair enough, sounds logical as that was the leaky side.
I did both sides as a preventative measure, if it was just the possibility of some water getting in I would’ve chanced it but the thought of a wet fusebox scared me into action!
