littlemiamijeff

Hey guys, I bought a used Mazda3 a couple weeks ago, and there hasn't been much rain, but today it is raining, and I think my sunroof leaks. I see there are two drains and the driver side drain has putty around it.
Has anyone else experienced this, and what have you done to stop it?
Thanks
LMJ

djs2571

if there's putty around it, the previous owner probably found the leak and that's their fix. IT is possible to have those drains get plugged with debris (leaves etc...) and if that happened, held water, then froze - that would crack the plastic leaving you with a permanent leak.
For fixing it, i'd clean off the putty, scrape the plastic, and add epoxy around the area. Preferably with some strands of fiberglass mixed in for strength. Best bet would be to pull the roof liner off just to see where the water is getting in more clearly.

littlemiamijeff

thank you sir I have a dealership installing my roof rack, the guy says he installs sunroofs and will check it out.
LMJ

littlemiamijeff

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I had a customer of mine (I sell Car Brite Detail products) install my Rola rack, from eTrailer dot com, and he fixed my leaky sun roof, the drain on the driver side was clogged, as you suggested, and the tube was draining into the frame, he re-routed the drain tube to the outside through my door jam.

This Rola works great, there is another topic on here that describes the factory rack mounts under the rain rail, and even this guy didn't know they existed. They were there.

thanks Mazda3Club!
LMJ

littlemiamijeff

So one and a half years later, I find I still have a water leak, and I don't think it's the sun roof this time. (lesson learned there, NO MORE SUN/MOON ROOFS)

I cleaned my interior some yesterday, and the rear seat floor driver side was wet. I wet vac'd it out, we have thunderstorms today, so I'm pulling out of drive, put on the brakes and hear water sloshing around!

I'd heard that before, looked in trunk in spare tire well, NOPE.

I look in back seat floor, standing water.

I get the wet vac out again, vac it up, and notice my rear door is leaking water steadily. As I feel around the door seal, the inside has a short strip, the outside goes all the way around the door, sealing it to the car body panels.

I found little push attachments, that as I gently pulled them out, the water ran from the door. I could open BOTH rear doors, and move it back and forth, and hear sloshing. WOW.

So I guess it's the outside window seals, both sides have nicks and small chunks missing along the window surface, I guess in rain there is a lot of water moving down the face of the window, filling my doors up.

So, I will tarp it in the driveway (no useable garage) until I get the window seal strips from dealer.

Anyone else had this problem? I find quite a bit of rust developing behind the rear wheels too, so there may be more water pooling than I realize.
LMJ