Miata Mailing List: February 1996, Message #211
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   From: a.mccombs3@genie.com
Subject: Leak into cockpit
   Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 11:37:21 -0500

Matt Blake posts that his Miata is leaking H2O onto the right floor.  You
also state that this is an SE, so I assume it has A/C.  From your address, I
also assume you live somewhere where it's relatively warm, and that you have
occasion to use that A/C even this time of year, once in a while.  And with
your comment on the rain, you've obviously been getting a lot of humidity.
 If all that is true, then you may have a clogged drain line from your A/C
plenum.  The water collects in the bottom of the plenum, but when you go
around a turn, it sloshes to one side and spills out.  The fix is easy - the
hard part is sticking your head down in the passenger footwell.  Just pull
the rubber/plastic drain line from the A/C plenum and run a wire through it.
(Something with a blunt tip, of course, to avoid tearing the tube.)

If that's not it, you may have a clogged channel from the windshield header,
with the rain water not being able to drain down the channel and out under
the car.  Same cure - run a wire through the thing.  When you fold the top
back, take a look at the upper right (and left, while you're at it) corners
of the windshield header.  There's a sort of rubber "ear" up there, and you
can see an "ear canal" in there, which goes into a channel that runs down
the windshield post.  These can clog also.

While you're at it with the blunt ended wire, there are a couple drains at
each outboard corner of the rear shelf, just below the top hinge points.  I
had one of these clog up on me once, and found that the main culprit was
about a 10 mm bolt that had gotten down in there somehow.  It was quite
rusty, so I have no idea how long it had been in there.  Perhaps even a
factory installation!  Anyway, all these drains are worth checking out maybe
once a year or so, or more if you live in a very "leafy" area.  Only takes
maybe 10 minutes to run a wire through all of them, once you know where they
are.
                                                --Jack M. & KANSEI--