Eyeball vent droop is there a cure??

Millroy · Postby **Millroy** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:21 pm

My 'new' 2000 NB8B is providing big smiles and much pleasure. The sounds of cicadas was deafening through the rainforest this pm after work. Very hot outside and my right hand driver's a/c vent is drooping (all others ok). Outside weather stifling so cool air appreciated. Is there a relatively straightforward 'cure', perhaps locking it in place. Car is in showroom condition only having travelled 32,000k but is 9yrs old. Seems to happen only in very hot weather (suppose the plastic surrounds expand?).

Any comments welcome.

two40 · Postby **two40** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:32 pm

Very interested in a cure myself. Someone stop me using superglue... :lol:

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:43 pm

You can pop the eyeball vents out and put in some thicker adhesive backed felt

I plan on doing this to mine soon, it's 8 years old, and has done 230000km, the vents were repaired in this manner by a dealer at the 100000km service, but it needs doing again...

Crapweasel · Postby **Crapweasel** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:39 pm

The best option I've found (works for NB anyways) is push with moderate force on the centre after you've positioned them where you want.

I've had mine sitting at the right place for the last 3 weeks using this method. :mrgreen:

Millroy · Postby **Millroy** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:32 am

Thanks guys,

Do you just pull the eyeball out to use the 'felt' cure or does the surround have to be moved in some way? I think i will try the push and leave option for the time being :-)

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:22 am

Millroy wrote:Thanks guys,

Do you just pull the eyeball out to use the 'felt' cure or does the surround have to be moved in some way? I think i will try the push and leave option for the time being :-)

Push and leave works for a while, mine are well past that now

The vents can be removed by just pulling them (feed some strapping tape or something through them to have something to pull on) but the proper way is to get in and lever out the clips holding them in.

http://www.miata.net/garage/eyevent.html shows how...

green_comet · Postby **green_comet** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:23 am

The easiest cure is to stick a small piece of black electrical tape to the outside of the eyeball. This takes up the slack, and stops the eyeball from drooping. If you find it is still drooping with one piece of tape, put another piece of tape over the top of the first piece.

I have had this done to two of my vents for the past few years, and have never had any issue with them drooping again, and you can only see the tape if you tilt the eyeball to a stupid angle.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:46 am

Viagra?

Millroy · Postby **Millroy** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:33 am

green_comet wrote:The easiest cure is to stick a small piece of black electrical tape to the outside of the eyeball. This takes up the slack, and stops the eyeball from drooping. If you find it is still drooping with one piece of tape, put another piece of tape over the top of the first piece.

I have had this done to two of my vents for the past few years, and have never had any issue with them drooping again, and you can only see the tape if you tilt the eyeball to a stupid angle.

very helpful, thx and of course why didn't i think of that??

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:30 pm

if you yank too hard on the eyeball vents when removing them, you can break the clips on the side of the sockets................................. :oops:

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:10 pm

I used electrical tape as well, but prised up the felt that was there and packed it up with electrical tape. I didn't need to take the vents out or pull them apart and the repairs cant be seen. But it was a fiddly job though effective. I did it many years ago and the vents are still nice and tight. However green-comet's solution is much easier and will have the same effect.

*rant on*
I wonder about Mazda sometimes. Both NA's and NB's suffer from "droopy eyeballs" yet Mazda ignored the problem for over 15 years. The vents in my SP started drooping after the car was only a few months old. Surely it wouldn't have been to hard for Mazda to change the specs of the felt at some stage in those 15 years to fix the problem.
*rant off*

two40 · Postby **two40** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:25 pm

Just tried the push in thing and it seems to work fine but the electrical tape solution seems a lot more sturdy and long term. Thanks for the heads up.

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 1:54 pm

I've removed all of my vents, and torn all the old crappy felt out (it had be come dislodged as was poking out the front of the vents anyway. I then removed the sticky residue left behind with some label remover spray.

Now I'm trying various replacement foams / felts to see what works best.

I initially bought a roll of 40mm wide adhesive backed felt, which is used to stop furniture scratching floors, but it is too thick

Today I bought some adhesive backed weather sealing foam, but it broke up and stuck the vent solid.

Tomorrow I'm trying the eye side of stick on velcro, which should work better...

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:03 pm

Eye side of velcro was still too thick.

Found some adhesive backed felt from a craft shop that was significantly thinner than the furniture anti-scratch stuff. Bought a 5m roll for $8.

It's perfect! the eyeball is now locked firmly in place, but still moves smoothly when required

Only used about 4cm for each eyeball :oops:

(3 strips of it 60 degrees apart worked nicely)