I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: Water Leak
I’ve noticed that water is leaking into the boot area of my MX5, the under lay is soaking.
The car is parked on a slope drive and water has always built up in the edges on the boot, there’s no drain hole for it to disperse, the only time it goes is when I reverse off of the drive. The underneath of the place where the water sits is wet. Has anyone else had similar issues, can the area be sealed if so any ideas of fix,
apart from the obvious one of reversing with the car boot facing down the drive!
I’ve done this before then I get a leak in the passenger footwell, the car has been into Mazda many times for this leak, all drain holes clear and grommets sealed etc,
Mazda gave up with this and said it was caused by a small hole in the soft top causing the leak, i think they were just fobbing me off, as no obvious holes in the soft top, in fact it’s in good condition.
The front one will be scuttle grommets needing re sealing, the boot can be a few things. Aerial, deck plates, the rubber grommet the wires pass through by left hinge, 3rd brake light. Not sure if light seals are iffy on the MK3.5 as they are on MK1 and2 ?
In the past someone found that the body joins in the gutter around the boot edge was leaking… with the lid open look at the forward corners of the gutter and you will see sealer over the body join, see if you can feel water on the underside.
Mazda assured me they sealed the scuttle grommets and the leak in the passenger footwell wasn’t caused by this.
The water definetly looks like it’s coming from the body joints in the gutter, that’s where all the water sits, it’s also wet under this area, its only on the drivers side. I had the passenger side sealed where a wire passes through, water was leaking through this.
I did the high level brake light, the aerial, the wire going from the car to the boot lid and it turned out to be a seam where the passenger side rear wing is welded to the plate running across the back of the car. I found it by removing the rear boot liner, i.e. the plastic bit with the boot light on it and saw signs of rust down one of the seems. I bought some seam sealer and painted that on both vertical seams.
Yup, the gaskets on these rot.
The best way to deal with that is to remove all traces of the original gaskets and run a bead of sealant between the plastic insert and the metal scuttle.
As the gasket is fairly thick foam, it is necessary to lift the insert clear of the scuttle in order to do this and to then keep it like that until it sets.
If you push the insert down against the scuttle, as soon as you screw the plastic scuttle cover down, the seal will be broken by the upward pressure.
If the job was given to an apprentice to do, this could very well have happened.
Hi
I’ve only just joined but seem to have the same problem with water in the boot, it seems to be coming from the bottom of the vertical seam but the seams look fine, for the life of me I can’t find how it’s getting in. Driving me me mad to the point where I will sell the car.
It certainly isn’t coming from the third brake light on my vehicle. I’ve had everything checked including the aerial, area around the petrol cap, the seems etc… I believe it’s a design fault as so much water sits in the gullies of the boot, there’s no drain holes for the water to go! This is especially noticeable if your car is parked on a slope . I now have to reverse my car on my drive to allow the water to go, but then it just runs all over the rear lights , not ideal as I’m sure in time I’ll have issues with water inside the light covers !
Can I just say that I have a great feeling about this mx5 club even though I only joined yesterday I know someone will know what’s going on with this water ingress.
Back to the leak and thanks for reply’s.
The leak is on both sides, I have added a photo.
Fingers crossed
The best way to find it is to strip out all the boot trim. This is not as big a job as it sounds. Then dust evrywhere in talcuum powder. The water track will be revieled as it washes of the talc
Is it a place where number plate screws could have been pre drilled too far.
Other than that, it could be tracking both ways from the boot lock.
I would also double check the rubber boot seal to see if there are any splits/cracks in it and perhaps fit new and seal it to be on the safe side.
