Unblocking (hood) drain holes

zud · May 21, 2004, 08:47

My radio kept cutting out on the way to work yesterday. At first I thought I'd b*****d something while doing a MAF clean/ECU reset. But, I finally discovered that one of my drain holes (for the hood) had become blocked and that water had backed up into the luggage space and was shorting out the CD multi-changer!

So this is a reminder to give the drains a clean while we have some light evenings. For those that haven't seen it, there's a useful guide on Euroroadster.com, here: http://www.euroroadster.com/articles/ShowArticle.asp?File=DrainHoles.xml

The guide is very good (I did mine in the dark last night!) but I'm not convinced you can actually see the drain holes as easily as their pictures suggest. I did it by feel... keep the hood up and slip a hand down under the parcel shelf as they describe... you'll feel the cover. It was quite easy to remove (with long nose pliers) and replace just by touch.

I hope this helps someone avoid a luggage space full of water!!

Hope4Sun · May 21, 2004, 10:41

Your right about not being able to see the drain holes very well mate, i pushed the digital camera in there and hoped for a picture, but most of the work was done by touch s:)

s:) , though if you contort and push ya head in there ya can just about see em s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Andy

Tem · May 21, 2004, 10:47

You can see them, if you push the roof a bit while it's half open s8)

s8)

There's really no need to see them though...

zud · May 21, 2004, 10:54

Yeah, I could see them from the outside with the hood half down, but I couldn't get a hand in past the roof supports/hinges etc. As you say, it's easy enough to do by feel when you put you hand in under the parcel shelf. I just included that bit as a supplement to the article on Euroroadster.

Anonymous · July 5, 2004, 14:19

Brill site, this should be under the sticky if not already, thanks you saved be £20 s:D

s:D

Sam · July 5, 2004, 22:03

Another way of doing this if you dont fancy pulling everything apart is getting a plastic cable tie and just sliding it into the drain and shifting it about a bit. It tends to do the job ok without pulling off the side vents (I find the clips are a bit weak to keep doing this).

I keep a tie in the car now.

Anonymous · September 29, 2005, 07:50

Brilliant forum. The sounds of gurgling water behind me this morning made me check my luggage compartments. I found a small pool of water in one - so looks like its time to clean the drain holes s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Anonymous · September 29, 2005, 17:36

Very easy to do - felt for the valve then threaded some old TV coax down through the cover and then fed it down until it pushed the obstruction out of the way. No need to take the cover or side vents off. So no more sloshing (and there goes the 'damp' smell too) s8)

s8)

philster_d · January 8, 2007, 10:04

I have the ht on now so I cant do this easily.

Can anymore water get in with the roof on ? or shall I just clean the drains in spring when I get the roof off ?

kanujunkie · January 8, 2007, 11:02

in theory no, your safe but that is of course providing that the HT seals have made a perfect seal

oh and BTW, coupe-sport's idea of just poking some wire down the hole may seem like a good idea, however the crap that was down there leaves a thick slime on the rubber flapper which in effect will slap shut after and almost glue itself closed, the only way to clean the drains properly is to remove the side vents and clean the rubber flapper in hot water(i put mine in the d/washer).

Anonymous · December 17, 2012, 18:34

Hello I joined the site the other day as I just bought mr2 roadster and got loads of tips and advise on how to un block drains,thank you to all of you,Regards Nidge