Post by George MX-5 (Admin) on Jul 6, 2015 17:53:59 GMT 2
If you have been experiencing about 5 cm (2 inches) of standing water under your passenger seat or in your boot or even get a water build up on your boot by the retratable top section ... Clogged rain drains.
If you just want some tips on how to clean the rain drains in an NC model MX-5, read on...
As you have noticed, our soft tops meet the car body on the inside, not the outside. It's a tight fit so a lot of the rain water flows out over the body anyway, but some of it actually comes inside the car where it is caught by the "rain rail" which is like the gutter on a house. It collects the water and directs it towards two drains, located behind the seats in the area where the top normally folds down. Water goes into the drain, down a tube, past a one-way rubber flap, and exits under the car. Over time, leaf particles, dirt, sand, pine straw, dust, etc. can find their way into the tubes and clog them up. Once they're clogged, the water backs up and ends up on the floor or in the trunk. Sometimes they aren't clogged solid - in a light rain the water can still seep out but in a heavy rain the water can't move fast enough and backs up.
The good news is that the drain tubes are actually pretty easy to keep clean. The bad news is that Mazda, in a masterstroke of design, has made the drains almost impossible to find.
Try clean the drains once a year to be safe
All of the drain cleaning activity takes place in this area of the car.
You can only get at the drains when the top is about halfway down. Find a small to medium cardboard box, place it against the rear window, and fold the top back. The box will catch the roof support and keep it from going all the way down.
The drains start in this area.
Trombone brush, coiled up.
What do you use to clean out the drains? People have used all kinds of things but what works great for me and lots of other people is a trombone brush. That's not a slang term for an obscure car-cleaning tool. It's an actual brush used to clean trombones. I got mine at a music store for $6.49 and $15 postage to South Africa but i have heard of some stores locally stocking them. It's about 85 cm (34 inches) long, very flexible, with a small nylon brush at both ends.
You'll probably need a flashlight. Take one end of the brush and insert it in the square hole in the "deck" behind the seat. The actual drain entrance is under the plastic "floor" but you can't see it. Poke around with the brush towards the outside edge of the seat. If you miss, the brush just coils up in the space that's there. If it goes into the drain it keeps going until it comes out the bottom of the car. After you hit the drain the first time you know where it is and it's easy to find it from then on.
The drain tubes exit the body just behind rear edge of the doors, but about 50 cm (20 inches) toward the centerline from the outside of the door panel. If you get down on the ground and look you can't see the exit. The tubes come down fairly straight, but at the last couple of inches they make a 90° turn and exit horizontally toward the centerline. Once you know where they are you can grope around until you feel them. The opening is a plastic fitting about 3cm (an inch) in diameter.
If you can stick your finger up there you can feel the one-way rubber flap. There are many theories about the rubber flap - keeps road noise out, keeps bugs out, keeps exhaust fumes out, keeps ghosts out, etc. Some cars, for whatever reason, are missing the flap. Don't get your finger stuck
Continued ...
If you just want some tips on how to clean the rain drains in an NC model MX-5, read on...
As you have noticed, our soft tops meet the car body on the inside, not the outside. It's a tight fit so a lot of the rain water flows out over the body anyway, but some of it actually comes inside the car where it is caught by the "rain rail" which is like the gutter on a house. It collects the water and directs it towards two drains, located behind the seats in the area where the top normally folds down. Water goes into the drain, down a tube, past a one-way rubber flap, and exits under the car. Over time, leaf particles, dirt, sand, pine straw, dust, etc. can find their way into the tubes and clog them up. Once they're clogged, the water backs up and ends up on the floor or in the trunk. Sometimes they aren't clogged solid - in a light rain the water can still seep out but in a heavy rain the water can't move fast enough and backs up.
The good news is that the drain tubes are actually pretty easy to keep clean. The bad news is that Mazda, in a masterstroke of design, has made the drains almost impossible to find.
Try clean the drains once a year to be safe
All of the drain cleaning activity takes place in this area of the car.
You can only get at the drains when the top is about halfway down. Find a small to medium cardboard box, place it against the rear window, and fold the top back. The box will catch the roof support and keep it from going all the way down.
The drains start in this area.
Trombone brush, coiled up.
What do you use to clean out the drains? People have used all kinds of things but what works great for me and lots of other people is a trombone brush. That's not a slang term for an obscure car-cleaning tool. It's an actual brush used to clean trombones. I got mine at a music store for $6.49 and $15 postage to South Africa but i have heard of some stores locally stocking them. It's about 85 cm (34 inches) long, very flexible, with a small nylon brush at both ends.
You'll probably need a flashlight. Take one end of the brush and insert it in the square hole in the "deck" behind the seat. The actual drain entrance is under the plastic "floor" but you can't see it. Poke around with the brush towards the outside edge of the seat. If you miss, the brush just coils up in the space that's there. If it goes into the drain it keeps going until it comes out the bottom of the car. After you hit the drain the first time you know where it is and it's easy to find it from then on.
The drain tubes exit the body just behind rear edge of the doors, but about 50 cm (20 inches) toward the centerline from the outside of the door panel. If you get down on the ground and look you can't see the exit. The tubes come down fairly straight, but at the last couple of inches they make a 90° turn and exit horizontally toward the centerline. Once you know where they are you can grope around until you feel them. The opening is a plastic fitting about 3cm (an inch) in diameter.
If you can stick your finger up there you can feel the one-way rubber flap. There are many theories about the rubber flap - keeps road noise out, keeps bugs out, keeps exhaust fumes out, keeps ghosts out, etc. Some cars, for whatever reason, are missing the flap. Don't get your finger stuck
Continued ...
Managed to make myself a bodged solution.
