Hi guys, quick question, It Piddled heavily down here today, my parked B has water trickling out of the 'door's boot pull catch'. Is this normal? If yes, surly is gonna rust something, like the cable? If this is not normal where could the rain be getting in?
Thanx STU

Hi Stu. I don't often leave my car out in the rain but once, rain got in between the bottom of the hood and the top of the wing directly behind the drivers door. It ran down inside the trim, ran along the boot release cable, and then through the pull and into the car. I thought I could stop this happening by parking with the passenger side wheels on the kerb to stop the water from running in. This worked but caused a similar problem on the passenger side. I have a 5mm gap between the hood and the wing on both sides. Steve

Don't know what it is with convertables... they all seem to leak... !! :bang:

My B soft top and hard top both leak although very little water gets in with hard top on (luckily the only time it gets wet is when it's being washed)

My Elan soft top leaks (apparently Lotus said they would fix this problem before it went into production back in 1989)

My sisters 2004 MX5 soft top leaks (but hard top is up to now watertight)

Seems best solution for when car is parked is a shower cap



Sorry I couldn't find one tailor made for the Barchetta but maybe a local trim shop could make one for you? Or possibly already available on ebay.de?

Probably not allowed to mention such things on here but, my SLK doesn't leak

I was driving along the other day wondering if the sloshing sound behind my head was the fuel tank - just filled up. Turned out I'd got a fish tank in the hood box, aka tuna tonneau. Heavy rains and local floods at the weekend coupled with a misaligned rubber seal between body and hood box lid hopefully sorted.. pending the rest of the scottish summer

bumble said:

Probably not allowed to mention such things on here but, my SLK doesn't leak

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Damn German engineering......Always so precise it makes the rest of the world look bad .... :worship: My girl took her A160 back to the dealer because the gear stick squeeked as she put it it in drive

You do realise though after making a statement like that the next time you take it out you had better take a towel to keep your leg dry....

I get a lot of water in the hood box - luckily it doesn't go anywhere else. I just leave it there until the winter, when I can take it out as a solid block of ice!!

I would be careful if you get water in the hood box. In our case every time we got water in there it also went under floor mats.

In our case the water was dropping off the hood cover by the seatbelt area and from there when it drops/runs down it actually goes onto the top of the rear bulkhead. Some water runs back into to hood well and the rest runs forward, underneath the plastic panelling covering the bulkhead/tank, down the front of the bulkhead behind the plastic panel and into the floor pan. You may don't see any signs of it happening. Only way to be sure is by examining underneath the floor covering.

I made a mod on our 'B' to stop the water running forward and to direct water backwards into the hood well. Now if any water gets in it is being confined to the hood well area.

I also cut a round hole in the hood base liner and placed a removal blanking plug in it. Now I can remove the plug and feel if there is any water / dampness in the well or foam backing.

Thanx for feedback forum.
looks like I'm goining to have to look into this one. The previous owner was probably a summer only driver, and likely with a garage. I'm the opposite of this. So the B is probably 'very upset with me' Any tips where to look for this leak? If its coming out of the pull could it be travelling along from the boot lid itself as I've noticed that it's not always bone dry when I open the boot?

I would start by removing the hood bay liners. Quite easy to do and once done then you will be able to see everything, start drying stuff out etc.

Put a nice big old towel in the boot. This is because I think you will not be replacing the liners for a while till the problem is sorted. The towel is for you to throw into the hood bay and over the bulkhead and tank cover so you can lower you hood and not damage the hood or screen. Nice soft surface.

Tracing the leak may take a little time but here are some possibilities.

1) small crack or split in rear screen around the edge somewhere. not always easily seen when they first appear

2) water pools on the rear screen in the lower corners. This can bleed through the stitching. (Our new Mohair hood did this after a year. Water, fine dust and silt builds up stressing the seams)

With leaks around the screen then water gets INSIDE the hood clam rubber seal. It will track around the inside of this seal and run off the hood at the plastic seatbelt shrouds and drop inside all the hood lower seals. Note also that heavy condensation also does this.