Water Leak, Wet rear floor pan...T-Top, Drain tube?? Help Please!!

[eckoman_pdx]

I have a 92 MR2 Turbo T-Tops. I went outside to my car Christmas eve, to do some interior work. Long story short, I put the Drivers front seat forward, and the rear floor pan was SOAKED. No matter how much I tried to dry it, is kept getting more water. I then removed the seat, pulled the drivers side carpet up, and removed it. The rear pan was filled with water, like a mini-pool. It had to use a wet-dry vac and a ton of towels to dry it. Then I dried the carpet, etc. I checked the passenger side too, it was wet (thought not as wet as the drivers side)

Anyways, I'm at a loss as to where the leak is coming from. I had almost the entire interior out, I sent 7-8 hours on it looking. I couldn't see an easy sign as to where the leak was coming from, and only the floor pan was wet. I thought maybe the T-Tops leaked. The T-Tops do collect water vapor in the rain, so I am sure they have a small leak. However, the black out shades are dry as a bone, the seats aren't ever wet, the door panels seem dry, front floor pan is good, etc. Also, no water drips on me when it rains and I'm driving. I can't figure it out. If it was the t-tops, I'd think at least some of these would happen.

I seem to remember reading something about a drain tube or something near the rear quarter windows. I thought I read if the rear window was removed at any point, and put in wrong/the tube didn't get put/was pinched or blocked, etc...that is would dump rain into the rear floor pan, leaving you with a wet floor pan. I have no idea if my rear quarters have been removed or if this ever happened, but I got to thinking...it makes sense. I do think the rear of the car was re-painted at some point, as part of the top, quarter panels, engine lid, etc..seems to have a clearcoat. IDK, but if that was the case the rear window may have been removed (so it's possible).

However, even with the interior apart, I have no idea what I was looking for, and couldn't find the thread on here that talked about it (I searched). Anyone else know anything this?

I don't know. All I could think of was the t-tops or the quarter panel/window dump tube thing.

Anyone have any ideas, or how I could tell if it's the tube or the t-tops? The floor pan was just like a mini-pool in the rear, and I don't want it to get like that again...

Any thoughts, ideas, links, etc...please let me know. I spend my entire Christmas eve from 2:30pm-10:30pm outside under a car tent, pulling the whole interior apart, drying the carpet, t drying cleaning the floor pan, putting it all back in, etc...and I don't want to go through this again...not to mention that much trapped water is bad...After it was all dried, etc...I drove the car to my fiances families house after midnight service. This evening (Christmas Day) I went out to the car to drive back down to Oregon, and the rear floor carpet was damp again (the passenger side was wetter this time, probably due to the parked angle of the car). I drove how in the what started as snow, then rain-snow, then rain...and again...no leaks onto me or noticeably dripping anywhere, so I have no idea where this is coming from.

Any ideas, thoughts, or info...please chime in!! I'd like to solve this so my floor pan stays dry, instead of turning into the local swimming pool again...Thanks!!

*sorry if this doesn't make sense...I am dead tired right now*

[baktasht]

pull the interior plastic covers off of the b/c pillars (around the rear triangle shaped window). There is a drain tube coming from the t-top area that should terminate in the little triangle sidevent that is at the corner of the triangle window. Make 100% sure that the tube is properly placed, and not draining inside your car.

[Ben]

I would pull the interior panels and just spray the car with a hose and see where its dripping.

[eckoman_pdx]

Alright, I'll have to pull the panel again. I all the panels out, and saw this whitish plastic vent thing going to where the triangle vent was. but I didn't see a tube going into it the whitish plastic vent. I'll have to look around, maybe I missed something (since I didn't know what I was looking for).

Ben, thanks for the hose idea. As for the hose idea, I'll try that once the temp is a little further away from freezing. I'll try to do that in the next few days.

I'll try to yank the panel tonight or tomorrow if I can.

baktasht, is that what though triangle vents are for? The water is supposed to drain out of those? That makes sense...I wondered if they were for that.

Do you have a picture of what I'm looking for on the inside of the car, and where it should go? I want to make sure I have everything there, and that it is all where it should be...and a picture for reference would help.

Thanks for the help and suggestions so far, I appreciate it.

[Ncturnal]

On a side note, there should be a drainage hole on each side to allow any water to drain out. They are behind each seat at the end of a trough that runs from the front of the seat to just under the sub-box area. You can see what I'm talking about in the picture below. Are those holes plugged? It won't help with the leak, but should resolve the standing water issue.

[baktasht]

^^ I wonder if it hurts with moisture issues that I put sound deadening material on the ENTIRE interior of my car.

[Ncturnal]

It shouldn't if you leave the drain holes. I haven't had any problems with it.

[eckoman_pdx]

Ncturnal, I looked at the picture you posted for the drain hole. I circled what looks like the drainage hole you talked about. Is that it?



I'll defiantly check that out, I didn't realize that was there, and I didn't remove the box area and look for a drain hole. The drivers said had tons of standing water, so something isn't right if there's supposed to be a drainage hole. I'll have to remove stuff again and take a look to see if it's clogged.

Also, I found pics of the t-tops drainage tubes not installed.

Drivers side Drain Tube


Passenger side Drain Tube


I didn't see those when I had the interior apart. I might of missed them, IDK... I was outside, tired and working by shoplight. I'll take the interior apart again and look to see if they are there or not, but I'm pretty sure they aren't there.

I looked at the car again after seeing the pictures of the drain tubes. I took some picture and photo shopped in what I think the path is suppose to be, let me know if I'm right.

Water enters drain here...


Is this the Path of the Drain tube...


Also, so I know where to out the tube if it's not installed right or not there...do you have a picture of what the drainage tube is supposed to connect to, so it can drain to the outside vent?

BTW, Nice Dynamat install. I intend to cover the whole interior with it, after I solve this issue. I have some waiting, LOL. I covered my other car with it 100% a few years ago (along with Super Insulator), and I loved it. Made a world of difference, so I' m wanting to do it to the MR2 also once I solve the water issues. Did you leave the drain holes when you installed the Dynamat? I'm glad you mentioned those drain holes...I didn't know they were there, and the drivers side one certainly wasn't draining. I'll have to make sure I don't Dynamat over those.

[baktasht]

Keep in mind, that EACH side has TWO drain tubes. There is one in in the front side of each ttop that drains into the front fender area. And there is one on the rear facing side of each ttop that drains into the triangle vent. If you remove your TTOP you will see both drains (or at least where they should be).

[Ncturnal]

Yup, that's the hole I was referring to (one on each side). You can actually get to it from the bottom of the car as well. The hole in mine is filled because I have a rod to mount my speaker boxes in place going through it. I don't drive the car in the rain so for me it's not a big deal.

[eckoman_pdx]

There are 2 front and 2 rear drain tubes, correct?

I've photo-shopped a few EPC diagrams to make sure I understand correctly so far. This one shows 2 of the drain tubes (one of the front ones and one of the rear ones), as well as what I'm guessing the path of the front drain tube is.



In is Diagram, I have circled where I am guessing the rear drain tube should end. The drain tube should end in that hole, correct? From there it should flow out the circled side vents to the outside. As for the front, I outlined what I'm guessing the path should be, as well as where I'm guessing it ends behind the fender. Do you know if the front drain tube flows between the a-pillar and seals on the outside or the a-pillar and trim on the inside? It looked like the outside to me. What would I need to remove to make sure that is ran correctly? Is it suppose to drain into something like the rear pillars, or does it dump directly to the outside?



Please let me know if I have everything correct so far. I am going to have to do all this outside in the cold under a tent/cover thing I put up.

Also, before I forget...do I have to remove the seals to install a new drain tube (front or rear) into the drain on the seals, or can I do it all from behind the panels on the inside?

[canadam]

This is good info, thanks eckoman_pdx, sorry I wasn't any help :P

[eckoman_pdx]

Originally Posted by canadam

This is good info, thanks eckoman_pdx, sorry I wasn't any help :P

You are welcome. Information on the Drain tubes was actually hard to come by while searching. When I searched I didn't hardly an info posted on the drain hoses. I figured I'd post up everything I find out, so it's here for future reference to others read this or who search for it

Anyways, I ordered a few parts from the Local dealership I have wholesale with, as well as a few more from Aaron @ Lithia. Once i get all the parts in (so I can verify the part numbers), I'll post them all up, as well as pics, etc. I'll also try to take pics when I'm putting them on.

It may be a little while for all the parts to come in, but once I get them in, I'll start tearing back into the car and post up what I find, etc.

Thanks for the help so far! If anyone has any more pics of anything relevant to this thread, feel free to post em up so we have them for future reference!!

[eckoman_pdx]

Ok, I have some updates as well as some pictures.

I did the drivers side rear. I found the drain hose and made sure it drains by pouring water into the t-tops and then putting the drain hose in a cup. It worked. Then I installed the drain-hose in the proper hole in the rear vent, so it can drain to the outside. Then I pulled the outside vent to make sure that it was clear so the hose could drain.

Here is where the water that drains into the hole in the seals drains into the drain hose. Each drain hose has a piece like this, so there are 4. 2 rear, 2 front (they come with the drain hoses if you order new hoses ever).



Here is where the Drain hose SHOULD BE draining into. It is installed in the correct hole, and now drains into the rear vent. If you don't have a drain hose running into this piece, it;s either missing or draining into the wrong spot. It should be inserted into the rear vent like this. Note, you have to remove a metal bracket held on by 4 bolts, to have clear access to the rear vent.



Here is an outside view. I removed the rear outside vent cover. You can see the drain hose drains into the rear vent, which runs to the outside. Also, before I re-installed the cover, I poured water into the seals to drained. It came out the drain hose and worked fine.



Also, I remove the carpet from the rear floor on the drivers side and removed the sub box, etc. I see where the drain Ncturnal spoke of should be. However, there seems to be a plug of some sort in it. It looks as if the plug installs from underneath, and when I pushed on it it felt that way too. I couldn't get under the car to see, so IDK. Is it supposed to be there? Is something else suppose to be there? Is nothing supposed to be there (meaning it's an open hole) Water can't drain out the hole if there is a plug there...



Also, I know a lot of people use the male eccentric guides (the rods) to adjust the roof. I know a lot of people have linked to the Kbox engineering female guide pocket (same idea as the male rods, but it's the female guide pockets). Anyways, these are just an OEM part, and can be had from a dealership A LOT cheaper than the $19.99 Kbox charger for the set of 4. At full retail price, they are $2.20 per piece from the dealer, so $9 total. Like the male guides eccentric guides have 4 different adjustments, they snap in at an off-center angle, so you have 4 different a adjustments.

Here is a side by side pic, of the OEM "type-b" eccentric guides versus the regular "type-a" oem guides. These are OEM pieces, and give you another adjustment option for the t-tops besides the male guides. I thought I'd post this up, because I have seen quite a few people on here buy these from Kbox for $20, and you can get these same pieces direct from a Toyota dealership for only $9 for the 4 ($2.20 each retail price).



On a side note, I tried the Honda Shin-Estu silicone grease on the seals. It worked great, they seals seemed a lot more hydrated and pliable. The kind of look revitalized. It's the same idea as the Vaseline trick, but unlike Vaseline, this does not rot the seals or harm them in any way. I talked to the Honda dealership when I bought it, and this is exactly what they use it for...re-vitalizing seals, etc. The said it's one of the better products Honda has, and the techs use it all the time. It's good stuff, I loved it. For $12, I figured why not try it. If you have any t-top leaks, or even if your t-top seals seem to be fine, why not give it a shot. It's made for this type of thing, and won't rot the seals or harm them.