peksy floorboard water leak fixed
 

Im posting this here because I've seen several threads where people had this problem and they/their dealerships had a hard time fixing it. It seems to afflict a small number of our cars, but enough to be an issue.

For a while now anytime it would rain heavy for a day or 2 my front floor board would be full of water...enough to be easily visible through the carpet. It took a while but I finally figured out where it was coming in...I opened the door one day and saw a stream of water where the door sill and interior kick panel meet. Looked on the door and a stream was running out from where the door panel meets the door, below the speaker.

Took the door panel off and the water was gone by then. I left it off and closed the door, turned a waterhose on and laid it on the roof. I had to move it around several times before the water started flowing in again.

Turns out it was coming from the speaker enclosure in the door. I removed the speaker and saw the rest of the story. Here's the speaker out of the door.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...8&d=1255801358

Here's where the water runs down the track from the window...

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...9&d=1255801358

And here you can see that it's been puddling in the speaker enclosure.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...0&d=1255801358

The speakers come from the factory with this foam cover on top, as near as I can tell this is the factory's provision to keep this natural water drainage off of the speaker, making it drip down into the bottom of the door and out the drain holes there.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1255801358

Here is where water runs out of the speaker enclosure...under the door panel.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...2&d=1255801358

It lands here, and runs down into the floorboard.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...3&d=1255801458

So clearly the factory foam cover was not doing a good enough job. Water was clinging to it and coming inside the door panel, instead of hitting it and rolling off the back edge.

I decided to use some spare packaging material to make my own flap to keep water out. I used some of the thin foam padding, but you could use any sort of waterproof foam or plastic that is thin and flexible.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...4&d=1255801458

I just stuck it up inside the hole and taped the top...

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...5&d=1255801458

Midway down all of it sticks inside the door to direct water there to drain naturally.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...6&d=1255801458

The key is to make sure no part of the flap terminates on the speaker/doorpanel side...it all needs to be sticking inside the door area. At the top, the water repellent foam needs to start on the door panel/speaker side, and at the bottom, it must terminate inside the door panel, so that no water can get back to the inside/doorpanel area.

I tested it for a long time with the water hose on full flow right on the window and not a drop of water got inside my car. It seems to be fully effective, and best of all it is basically free and easy to do yourself.

wow, great job... this should go to the DIY section :)

Thanks for sharing Kevin. Great contribution! You might want to send a copy to Mazda NA.

You know what is wierd? In the search for info about fixing my own problem, I came upon a thread where a guy replaced his speakers with aftermarket ones and then had an inside water leak. The dealer told him it was due to his speakers. Everyone here, including myself, read that and thought...BULLSHIT, there is no way aftermarket speakers can cause a water leak. That dealer is just trying to be lazy and not fix the problem.

Well, turns out they were right and we were all wrong. IF you remove the stock foam baffled speakers and put in non-shielded ones, the water will not only ruin the speaker but it will channel inside the car without the foam shield.

You learn something new every day...I do at least. :)

bump for more views

very nice job kevin!

beers :beer:

Wow nice work. Hope I never have this problem. So do all our cars get water inside the door and some just don't drain right? I don't want water inside my door I'm already having a door lock motor go on me.

All cars are desgined to let water inside the door, the simple piece of felt along the window is not enough to be watertight. If you open the door and get down on your knees, you will see a small cutout/drain in one or more spots at the bottom seam of the door.

Okay thanks I didn't know that before. This is helpful information I'm trying to decide if my door lock actuator is going or there was water on a connection. Especially since my door lock was working yesterday when it was warm. Hard to test the motor.

excellent writeup Kevin!! your method is crude but extremely effective! well done. and as you mentioned, the best part is that its virtually free. reading through this makes me want to pull my door panels and undercoat the inside of the door. making sure of course not to close up the drain holes.

The wierd thing is my wife has complained for a long time that her millenia leaks water from the door panel/speaker, but I always thought she was full of it...especially since I could never get water to come inside while I washed the car.

I bet it is the same setup and the same problem, since her door speakers are in the same position.

kudos to you. if this had happened to me i would have just been one of those frustrated ones getting pissed at mazda. i'm glad you actually did something about it by tracking down the cause and finding a fix. great job!

Can you repost the pictures please? Thanks for your help.

I'm surprised this isn't holed up somewhere in the DIY/Sticky!

here are the pics, and they are re-linked in the original post.

and the rest

good job ive had this issue with a number of cars before but thankfully my 8 is ok :) still interesting to see

Thanks for reposting the pics. The recent monsoon's we've gotten in GA has caused me and my 8 a major problem.

Th
 

[QUOTE=RotaryResurrection;2876783]

Brilliant fix. I just had to do this to mine today. Wish I'd seen this thread first though. Did the exact same thing but would Have gone so much faster... cheers

Af
 

[QUOTE=RotaryResurrection;2877119]You know what is wierd? In the search for info about fixing my own problem, I came upon a thread where a guy replaced his speakers with aftermarket ones and then had an inside water leak. The dealer told him it was due to his speakers. Everyone here, including myself, read that and thought...BULLSHIT, there is no way aftermarket speakers can cause a water leak. That dealer is just trying to be lazy and not fix the problem.

Well, turns out they were right and we were all wrong. IF you remove the stock foam baffled speakers and put in non-shielded ones, the water will not only ruin the speaker but it will channel inside the car without the foam shield.

You learn something new every day...I do at least. :)[/QUOTE

Aftermarket speakers. Had to run this repair today. Turns out whoever installed the aftermarket speakers put the baffle in upside down. So instead of acting as a shield, it was acting as a cup... shheeeesssh!!!

Whoever installed my aftermarket alpine speakers put The baffle in upside down. So instead of deflecting the water it was acting like a cup...

Hoping this solves my recurring leak since June 2020.

Oh ya - thread bump.

I found water pooled on both foot wells again. No water coming in from the cowling area (tested with hose). Water tracks below the speakers.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...2a0bf1229.jpeg
Water track under speaker
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c3a211126.jpeg
Water on the shroud

Edit update - a month of heavy rain has past with still no leaks. This was a great solution to a long standing problem the previous owner had before I bought the car.

Water leak
 

[QUO=RotaryResurrection;2877119]You know what is wierd? In the search for info about fixing my own problem, I came upon a thread where a guy replaced his speakers with aftermarket ones and then had an inside water leak. The dealer told him it was due to his speakers. Everyone here, including myself, read that and thought...BULLSHIT, there is no way aftermarket speakers can cause a water leak. That dealer is just trying to be lazy and not fix the problem.

Well, turns out they were right and we were all wrong. IF you remove the stock foam baffled speakers and put in non-shielded ones, the water will not only ruin the speaker but it will channel inside the car without the foam shield.

You learn something new every day...I do at least. :)[/QUOTE]

Maybe window seals?
 

I'm thinking maybe it's due to shrinkage on the window seals so I'm ordering one to see if it does anything, I'll update yall in 2 days

Wow, so glad I was bored at work today and this thread got revived. Had this issue on my driver's side since I got my 8 and even searching here never found how to fix it. Even had people tell me drains exist in places they don't! Can't wait to rip my door apart this weekend, lol.