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Following the big rains in Melbourne and Hobart over the past few days I now have a water sloshing sound inside the cabin when doing low speed manoeuvring. Sounds like it's just behind me when driving. The vehicle is a 1989 NA. Any tips/suggestions please?

Drain holes filled with 'gunk'

https://mx5vic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/drainage_holes.pdf

Either that or Grandad's colostomy bag is in the boot?

It's water in the doors &/or the sills - refer Magpie's link &/or: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=35601

^ this

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93_Clubman wrote:It's water in the doors &/or the sills - refer Magpie's link &/or: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=35601

Thanks. How does it get into the doors? Do the drain tubes run into the doors or is that a second seperate issue? Is there no drain holes at the bottom of the doors for water to exit? If it is in the doors, Do I need to remove the door trim to get the water out of the doors?

I suspect it's the sills. The drains on the pinch welds are probably blocked causing water to build up and slosh around in the sills.

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Yeah the door window sills on NA's can usually be pretty worn too. I've replaced the sills on each of my 5's for that reason (except the SE). Not too expensive from MX5Mania and pretty easy to do. But check those rear drains as well. Water can sometimes get into the boot and slosh around in the two side tunnels. Might even be worth pulling the seats out and checking the floors under the carpets at some stage - not as big a job as it sounds, but my NA had rust there and had to have a few of the seat bolts fixed.

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Felt around the rear drain tubes today and they were very clogged. Used a coat hanger to open the hole back up and will blow compressed air through later today when I can get it to the garage.

twr7cx wrote:Is there no drain holes at the bottom of the doors for water to exit? If it is in the doors, Do I need to remove the door trim to get the water out of the doors?

There are drain slots at the bottom of the doors, but they can sometimes not drain properly. Simply opening the door can allow them to drain or sometimes you need to unblock them with an appropriate tool.

Just poke something into the slot holes to clear the blockage and drain the water. There are two holes on either side.
Untitled by Bryan Shedden, on Flickr

Thanks all for the comments and guidance. I used a wire coat hanger down the rear drain tubes and then tried to blow compressed air through. Was way too blocked up and I had to use a screwdriver through the bottom valve to clear out the significant blockage before I could blow compressed air all the way through.

I also blew compressed air through all the holes in the bottom of the two front doors. Didn't seem to be any muck or dirt blockages there.

I also found and followed an online guide with the front fenders and undid the bottom and got my hand up in there to clear out a huge amount of gravel and dirt! Amazed at how much was in there! Thankfully didn't seem to be any signs of rust in there!

You don't mention the sills - did you also unblock their drain holes as they are separate to the ones you've mentioned?

93_Clubman wrote:You don't mention the sills - did you also unblock their drain holes as they are separate to the ones you've mentioned?

Hang, on which are the sills then? Have I missed them?

I cleaned out the plastic catcher pans and their drain tubes that are behind the seats, the bottom drain holes on both doors and the front inner fender guards. I've double checked the links posted above and can't see mention of anything else I've missed.

twr7cx wrote:Hang, on which are the sills then? Have I missed them?

As Guran had posted. The sills are the holes at the pinch welds.

Guran wrote:Just poke something into the slot holes to clear the blockage and drain the water. There are two holes on either side.
Untitled by Bryan Shedden, on Flickr

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