[Randy Chase]

Well... on my long roadtrip, I was pretty fortunate with the weather until I hit western Texas and ran into a major storm.

 

[Randy Chase]

To my surprise, the car started leaking. As you can see from this pic, not just drops, but a stream of water.

 

[Randy Chase]

I decided I would carry a towel in the Elise from now on.

 

[Randy Chase]

Now fortunately, I drove out of the storm in 30 minutes and that was that.

When I got back home to San Diego, I wondered to myself if perhaps I was not careful putting the top on and maybe the cable was not in all the way or something. I decided to wait and test it.

Well, it is San Diego. No rain the rest of the summer. I tried spraying it with a hose when washing... no leak. Maybe it was okay.


But we finally have rain... first rain in a LONG time. And it is leaking again. I checked the fitment in the garage and it seems fine.

A data point. It was fine as long as I was driving down our residential road at 20-25mph. It was as soon as I got on a more major surface street, that is started running in. I think the wind is pushing the water somewhere it is not supposed to go.

 

[Randy Chase]

So... any thoughts? This does not seem to have anything to do with the seal on the window.

 

[James A]

I got in a pretty hard rain last week and the hard top did not leak it seems to be pretty tight.

 

[Allan Gibbs]

Randy, could it be the seal somewhere on the front of the soft top?

I think the wind is probably pushing the water in somewhere in the top, middle part of the windshield and then it runs along the top of the windshield and then leaks by the window area.

 

[Steve W]

I was at freeway speeds in the rain on saturday night. No leaks, not even a drop. It was raining pretty hard, and I was worried about being so low that I dissapeared in the spray, but it definitely didn't leak.

I have the touring top. Maybe the regular top comes with leaks. Which do you have?

 

[TripleBlack_NJ]

My top leaks too.

It has been raining on and off for almost a week here in New Jersey. First few days were no problem but now my cloth door inserts have "perma-moist".

I'm 99% sure the leak is at the fore and aft latch points. The point were the pins insert into the car. My Mk1 MR2 T-tops leaked at the same place.

I think the only solution is the Elemental Shower Cap from Sector111.com

Does anyone know if the hardtop leaks?

 

[NtflBlueLiz]

The shower cap works good but not while you're driving!

BTW, mine has only leaked so far when I was washing it, drivers side, same place as Randy's

My top leaks too.

It has been raining on and off for almost a week here in New Jersey. First few days were no problem but now my cloth door inserts have "perma-moist".

I'm 99% sure the leak is at the fore and aft latch points. The point were the pins insert into the car. My Mk1 MR2 T-tops leaked at the same place.

I think the only solution is the Elemental Shower Cap from Sector111.com

Does anyone know if the hardtop leaks?

 

[Randy Chase]

I have the touring top. Maybe the regular top comes with leaks. Which do you have?

Mine is Touring. You can also see a gap up there from the outside right above the pivot pin thing.

For me, it only happens at speeds over 30mph, so it has to be wind related. It is pushing the water some place.

The positive is since it is San Diego, I can ignore it. But for a longer trip it will get annoying.

 

[Surferjer]

Mine does not leak at all. Could it be (doubtful) that the top was mis-aligned? I have to manually straighten my drivers side out before walking around to the passenger side?

 

[zvezdah1]

Mine hasn't leaked in any rain including torrential downpour at any speeds, Silver bullets did like quite severely in the left front corner where Randy's leaks.

On his we notice an insufficient amount of sealer where the cam plate (the place where the two convertible top pins lock into) attaches to the front pillar/windscreen thingy (don't know what it's called) I got a syringe with a needle and some green permatex sealant, injected this all the way around and essentially filling that very tiny crack. This reduced it to only an intermittent drip.

Also, if you'll note on the lower door panels, two recessed screws one on each end, this is below the leather door panel. The dealer can adjust these to tighten the seal. These screws essentially pivot the door window in or out to make a tighter/looser fit with the gasket.

See your dealer about that.
Chris

 

[aletes]

So... any thoughts? This does not seem to have anything to do with the seal on the window.

I read quite a few posts on SELOC that described the same symptoms. Most were cured by having the dealer adjust the window level and/or hight. The wind may be blowing the water to a spot where the window is out of alignment with the seal.

 

[Randy Chase]

Cool, good info.

 

[wallabyguy]

My car is leaking water through the door (from god knows where and releasing through the inside finish panel) and leaving a puddle of water on the upper sill in anything above a mild rain. I had it looked at during my 1000 mile service and the dealer called it a roof adjustment issue. Well 1 week later, still leaking. It's not getting me wet but I'm worried about a short in the power window assmebly.

 

[Bill Swizz]

My car is leaking water through the door (from god knows where and releasing through the inside finish panel) and leaving a puddle of water on the upper sill in anything above a mild rain. I had it looked at during my 1000 mile service and the dealer called it a roof adjustment issue. Well 1 week later, still leaking. It's not getting me wet but I'm worried about a short in the power window assmebly.

This one may be a different problem. A few cars have such a good seal from the rubber sealing strip round the door opening that water collects between the door and the sill an eventually overflows. The easiest way to see this is if when you open the door after rain a load of water that had been held in by the seal flows out onto your feet.
I had this on the drivers side and solved it by sticking a small plastic strip across the black rubber seal at the lower front corner to allow an exit path for the water.

 

[zvezdah1]

Robert,
Is the little black plastic philips head screw in place? This is located on the lower insid door panel about midway from each end and is located where it buts up against the door seal. Not sure this is the area you speak of, but if the screw were missing (think the purpose of the screw is to work as a drain to remove excess water trapped.

Chris