mx5cartalk.com

Hi all,

Had the NB about a month now, and in the last 2 days we've had the first lot of 'heavy' rain since i've owned it... one thing i've noticed is that on the driver side, it seems that water is leaking between the window rubber and the window, right at the corner/join of the softtop against the top of the windscreen. It seems to be 'filling up' the window rubber on the soft-top somehow, and then when i drive, it runs out in a nice little waterfall onto my right arm... charming!

Is this a fairly common issue (i did a search, but couldn't find anything on it - if it's been covered before, just let me know and point me in the right direction), and are there any simple fixes that i can do?

2 fixes:

1) Make sure the window is wind up to the top before you close the door.

2) Get a toothbrush and scrub all the dirt out of the rubber groove on the A-pillar. Start from the middle and work to the side until you get to the bit that meets the door.

Be gentle though, you don't want to tear the rubber during this exercise.

if you look carefully you can see that the top of the door where it meets the top there is a channel, that in turn becomes a tube that leads to the bottom of the door to transport water from the top/door top area to the bottom of the door and away. Maybe the tube is blocked and water is backing up and then landing on your leg
Open your door and pour some water in the channel at the top of where the door meets the top and you should see it come out the bottom if the tubes clear.

Cheers
Dale

A couple more points.

The softtop should be pulled up firmly against the windscreen to prevent leaks across the front. Each latch has a small turnbuckle protected by a hinged clip. Lift the hinged clip and rotate the long hex nut to tighten or loosen the fit. Turning just one or two flats of the nut can make a significant difference to the fit.

There's a steel cable, called the tension cable, running over the top of each window from the front corner of the softtop down to a spring near the seatbelt towers. Its purpose is to pull down a little skirt in the vinyl over and outside the window rubbers. When the tension cable breaks then this skirt doesn't form properly and you can get a leak through the top of the window, typically when the car is stationary. Check that there is equal tension in those skirts over the windows on both sides and that there no sign of a broken piece of braided wire in the top near the windows.