Flooded Inside!

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

We have recently bought a 1990 Turbo 2 Cabriolet. This will probably be the first of many question posts from me:) but can anyone help with suggestions on leaks? The car is completely flooded inside, I emptied it out the other day and then when checking for the cause, found that the drain tubes behind the doors (where there is a sort of pocket in the hood) were both blocked. I cleared these and thought i may have solved the problem but after the next downfall the floor was soaking wet again. I sat in it next time and found it to be dripping in above where the window seats against the rubber. To try and be more descriptive, there is a rubber strip that runs along the side of the middle roof section (the hard piece where the catches are) it seems as if it running through there about where that strip ends, it then drips onto the seats and then through to the floor. There are no tears in the roof and no obvious damage to these rubbers strips. Anyway, I am hoping this will be one of those "I know what you need to do" problems that someone can answer for me. Are they prone to bad water leaks as a rule? I look forward to any suggestions, Thanks Phil.

[t2rew]

i think its safe to say that convertables of any desription leak! when i worked for a ford main dealer they sent me on a course to track leaks on the escort cab,also the mk3 fiesta and the seiera.poeple will tell you to seal this bit and that but this isnt the way to go. i dont own a rx cab so cant picture what the seals all look like but, think of it logicaly, if it all looks like it was when it left the factory, it can only be the seals have all gone a bit soft or years of dirty water running around them has gradualy worked its way under the seal.if its not water resistant the surface tension of the water draws it in faster

take off all the seals, clean and polish the metalwork and clean the seal make sure there's no dirt in the bit where the metal goes. when you put the seals back make sure that if they meet another rubber that there is a nice join. use silicon spray on the rubbers. they made your car 13 years ago so there is a good chance you need new rubbers anyway. even if they look ok. hope this helps, you could always drill holes in the floor:D :D

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

Thanks for your suggestions Jason, there is a good chance that the seals on the sides have become porous and are letting the water through, I will look into replacements. I would expect some degree of leaking on a convertible but this is way beyond reasonable! I hoovered it out with the wet & dry vacuum yesterday and couldnt believe how much water was in there! I would still like to here from any other cabrio owners who have had similar experiences and what they did to rectify it.
Thanks,
Phil.

[bnaellis]

Hi Phil,

I had the same thing when I had my turboII cabriolet.
The first as you said was the pockets were blocked with leaves etc . It was abit of a pain to clean this out also, I had flooded floor a few times but only on the passenger side. With regard to drips by the window seal. It would seem that despite efforts from mazda with extra strengthening of the chassis that over a period of time the car would actually flex, due to lack of strength from having a normal hood. The end result is that when you closely look at the door when shut it does not completely line up against the rubber seal all the way along. Especially at the corners where the hard top meets the top of the windscreen. You will see a little rubber catch for excess water has deteriated over time so the angle of this droops. So instead of catching the water and letting it run down the front frame of the door and drain it tends to hold the water and especially when accelerating will drop it on the drivers head instead. Enough of the symptons, what I did got my brothers help and one would get the bottom and the other the top of the door and we would bend it so the top would come inwards more so when the door was shut it was more compressed against the rubber seal. This worked a treat for me. Over a period of time we had to do it again as eventually the car would flex, but other than that I know of no other fix.

RGDS

Brian 2 pedals

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

Thanks Brian, it actually seems to be coming in on the inner side of the rubbers as opposed to against the windows, there is actually quite a nice tight fit from the doors, I'm going to find out if new rubbers are available and see how i get on with that. Thanks for your help.

Phil.

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

£48 each for these rubbers from Mazda :eek: Are there any independant Mazda parts suppliers anyone can recommend that may be cheaper?
Thanks,
Phil.

[t2rew]

i'd like to know if anyone sells cheap bits as well. i phoned up for the two front anti-roll bar links, you know the plastic cheap looking bits. they are £55 each + vat! i think mazda should get real on prices for older cars.

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

This always seems to be a problem with car manufacturers. When there were still a few parts available for the NSU Ro80 Audi were charging horrendous prices for them. It seems they have a policy of pricing the older vehicles off the road, I presume in an attempt to make you buy a new one? But this is rather daft as I would think the majority of people like myself that own these older cars couldnt afford to buy a new one anyway, hence having waited 14 years to buy my long desired Turbo 2 for £1700!

Phil.

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

Well £100 worse off I've bought the seals and fitted them so I'll just have to wait and see if it makes any difference, otherwise back to the drawring board!

[now]

Ok you need to check a couple things, if you look at where
the top always seems to tear on these cars, just behind the
doors where the top meets the body which is where
the most stress is on the seams, look real close and
you might see that the top water proof layer is broken and
that the water is going through at this point.
the other thing to do which you have already done is clear the drains.
what I did on my TII convertible was to first inspect these areas
which is where I found the material to be letting water through on
one side and on the other found that it was tearing open.
No I didn't get a new top, instead I purchased a sealant used to repair
scuba dry suits, I removed the top attaching bolts and lifted the
top off the body once it was up the stress was removed which allowed
me to apply a layer of sealant to the material from the inside,
it not only sealed the weak side it held the torn side and I no longer
have any water getting in through this area.
The other thing I did was purchased some silicone grease
from the dive shop and applied a layer over the rubber seals
which when the two surfaces come together holds out
water almost 100% I still see a few drops but nothing like I did
before the repairs.

Hope this helps:)
matt

[Ultraman_Cosmo]

Thanks Matt. I'll get some silicone grease to apply all round, I don't think we're getting the problem behind the doors though. The new seals fitted to the sides of the hard middle section havent cured the problem unfortunately :( However, we have discovered another leak around the rear window, it has been running in and sitting in the area below where the spare wheel is situated. We took it to Autoglass asking them to remove the screen, re-seal and refit but they said we would need to replace the rubber. They did however put sealant under the rubber all the way round so we'll see first if this helps, otherwise we'll have to get a new rubber. The main other source of the leak is at the front at the corner where the hard panel meets the car, all sorts of seals meet in that corner, we can pour water over that area and watch it come in but it's almost impossible to identify which exact seal is at fault. I think the only way is to change them all and god knows what that would cost! I've seen a few T2's advertised which have had new hoods fitted, does anyone know what these cost?

[G6 GSD]

I had a new hood (excluding from panel) fitted a few months ago - it cost £400 from a small company in the Welsh Valleys called Gibson and Turner. Look in the Yellow Pages for Car upholstery and you'll find local companies that will supply and fit.