Miata Mailing List: March 1997, Message #117
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   From: (none)

Subject: water leak... 

   Date: (none)



Hello Everyone.  Well, we've had a pretty wet couple of days on the 

"wet coast", so I got a chance yesterday to give Millie a bath in 

between rain showers.   Before I wet her down, I noticed a little 

dribble by the right door opening near the kick panel.  Hmmm... time 

to investigate.



After Millie's bath, I checked into this further.  Where the kick 

panel and the scuff plate for the door sill join at the front of the 

door opening (passenger side), water was running in.  I removed the 

scuff plate, and kick panel, and found that water had also run 

underneath the carpet and completely soaked the underlay :(  So, with 

a couple hours of using a hair dryer, and leaving a trouble light in 

overnight, everything is dry again.  Now, this is what I found out...



There is a rubber strip that goes from the bottom front of the door 

and runs up to the windshield header.  I removed this rubber strip 

and found that it was held in place by a "silly putty" stuff.  This 

putty was in the centre groove of the rubber strip that goes over a 

1/2" lip all around the door opening.  My theory is that water gets 

in between the rubber and the steel, and runs down the door frame, 

and spills over the frame at the bottom of the door.  So, I got out 

the old silcone sealer and filled up the centre groove of the rubber 

strip, and put some silicone on the outside edge of the steel lip.  

The seal is now sealed in place as well as press fit in place.  

Nothing to do now but wait to see if it leaks again.



Because the carpet has a rubber backing it is difficult to tell if 

there is water under the carpet.  Unfortunately, one must remove the 

scuff plate first.  While in there, I noticed that the rubber plug in 

the floor was a loose fit.  I removed this grommet, and put some 

silicone around that as well when I replaced it.  



The kick panel to the front of the scuff plate had some moisture 

behind it as well.  This is due to the fact that the rubber strip 

also holds it in place and carpillary (sp?) action must have sucked 

water behind it.



Now, one day I'll get the nerve to check the other side :(



Harry.



---------------------------------------------------------

Harry Yates, Langley, BC, Canada

'90 Syncro Westfalia www:   http://www.bcit.bc.ca/~hyates

'87 Golf Diesel      email: hyates@bcit.bc.ca

'91 Miata (Millie)