[NA] Water in sill

[mitch_f1]

No it's not the drains before you say anything. I've checked them and they are all clear, and there is no rubbish in there.

I pulled off the sill plates and looking through the holes you could see a pool of water, I think I must have extracted a good 3-500mL of water from this area, which was fairly clear with no murkiness or gunk in it:



(credit to OMGpham for the picture)
I have never had this problem in the past, but I recently put a soft top on, and the car was outside for the last week in Sydney (which hasn't had too much rain).

Other than a clogged drain, is there any other area that it could have come from?

[Okibi]

Apart from checking your drains etc. not sure how else it gets into the sills, bet someone here has had the same issue though.

You've cleared these ones too?





http://www.miata.net/garage/tsb/s034_94.html

[mitch_f1]

Yeh I've had a good look for those ones and I definitely cannot find them; there is not even the smallest hole. Are they on the outside of the pinch weld?

[93_Clubman]

They exit from the lowest point of the pinch weld. Okibi's first pic shows the shape & location of them, & then it's just a case of poking some wire up into them as they block easily. Noticed on some NAs that there can be water around the black plastic panel next to the driver's right foot when it's on the accelerator - suspect that what doesn't get inside the cabin eventually gets into the lower front half of the sill.

[mitch_f1]

There is not even the smallest hole there. And no rubbish I'm windscreen drain or parcel shelf drain hole

[hks_kansei]

Those drains are hard to see.

Basically, imagine someone has jammed a flathead screwdriver into the seam of the pinch weld halves and has hammered it into the pry apart the pinch weld at that point.
That's what the drains look like from memory.

In saying that, 90% of MX5s have had them bashed and jacked on 100x in their life, so i'd be surprised if any survived un-mangled.


I'd just drill a hole somewhere to let the water out.

[mitch_f1]

But then that doesn't answer where it is coming from?

[Magpie]

http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35601

[hks_kansei]

But then that doesn't answer where it is coming from?

Deep puddles.

And from memory I think the ends of the cowl area lead to that area as well.

[mitch_f1]

Except that the car was sitting still for a week, and hasn't been dríven through any deep puddles. Plus it is only on the driver side; passenger side is dry. Driver side is slightly higher when parked on the street due to the curve of our road, which is also relatively flat (front to back). I do not believe that the water has been sitting there for longer than a week because it was so clear; I would have expected it to be a light shade of brown if it has been there for a long time

[chrons_rotary]

I did have the same problem, but it was on both sides.
It was a heavy downpour that cause it, so i think it may be that the soft top drains were not draining fast enough and it filled the sills.
Just like hks_kansei said, the original drains are close to where the jacking points are, and have been mangled on mine.
I have since drilled 2 holes in each sill ~8mm.
Just remember if you drill holes, to paint it again inside and out, to stop it from rusting.

Cheers,
Ken.

[kazama]

Yeh I've had a good look for those ones and I definitely cannot find them; there is not even the smallest hole. Are they on the outside of the pinch weld?

They're on the inside.
You have to poke a thin screwdriver under the two bumps you see. The screwdriver should be leaning towards the outside of the car. If you try and poke straight up you'll never get in there. The angle required is probably 35 degrees