Okay, despite all my efforts to protect my '99 Miata from the harshness of winter, I have a small rust spot appearing on the drivers side lower quarter panel just in front of the rear tire.
Could this be caused by a drain problem? How do I check the drains for proper function? I'm not yet familiar with Miatatitis.
It's probably not the roof drains. If you look at the pinch weld under the sills, you'll see where it's a bit wider near the jacking points. Those are the sill drains. Make sure they're not clogged up.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Thanks. I still want to clean the drains out though. Can you give me an idea of how to do that?
Years ago, I bought a long bottle brush from one of the Miata places. I send it down through the drain holes behind the upper seat belt mounts.
I think I used a wire coat hanger. There is a little rubber tube with a rubber flapper as a check valve.
Take a bottle of water and pour some on the outside of the top at the corner where your top meets the door. Find the drain tube inside the corner of the top, and push a long object down it. I used the plastic adjustment rod from a set of window blinds. The water should drain out freely onto the ground when you have the drains clear.
It's pretty easy to clean the drains. There is an outlet under the car in front of the rear wheel on both sides, sorta towards the inside of the car. There is a rubber tube sticking out of the hole that has a flapper on it. Push your finger up into that and you'll likely get some gunk coming out, maybe even some water.
You can also go down from the top with a coat hanger as indicated, the drain hole is right around the seat belts are mounted, basically where the rain rail from the top ends on both sides. Just be careful not to be too rough with the coat hanger as you don't want to tear the rubber boot at the bottom.
In reply to bravenrace:
You gots mail.
Because of the somewhat complex structure, I wonder what would be the best course of events to prophylacticaly treat any rust that got started? Seal the drains and pout in a few gallons of POR?
Here is where your rust starts. Once the water level gets over the holes, there is no way it is ever leaving. It gets stuck between two layers of tin until it finds its own way out.
Red dots and arrows indicate some of the spot-welds that you need to remove in order to fix this. Surprisingly the rear quarter is NOT attached at the pinch-weld.
A trombone cleaning brush works wonderfully well. Our local Miata club has one that we pass around.
You'll need to log in to post.
