SInce I got my car back from the body shop - cracking respray and I'm very pleased with the work undertaken - but now the targa is leaking badly on the drivers side and not so badly on the passenger side

 

The car was pretty much dismantled for respray, and they had the targas apart as they gave me just the glass panels to be tinted

 

The rubbers all look like they are there and when I fasten down the targa the two little 'notches' in front edge of the rubbers seem to locate together - but it still leaks

 

The water is dripping down from the the bottom of the three pod guages i have on the driver side windscreen/door pillar - if you see what I mean - so water seems to be running down inside the trim on the front sloping edge of the window/windscreen and coming out through the guages I have fitted there

 

It didn't do this before the respray (OK well it did occasionally drip in very wet weather) but nothing like this. I had to put a load of towels on the drivers seat last night as the car was parked outdoors and it was all pretty well soaked this morning

 

I tried reseating the targas and took it to the car wash - it leaked like a mad.

 

So hpw do I diagnose and hopefully fix it before I grow webbed feet?

 

Rich

Check the rubber that runs down the a pillar. The bit at the top where the targa joins it is probably where the waters getting in.

Buy a slicktop! :)

Buy a slicktop! :)

 

if you could get slicktop in 2+2 that`s what i would do

get all the rubber seals off and put them in a hot water for a while ... sometimes it does solve the problem

I have the same issue, at the moment i am combating the wet seat by using a bin bag positioned so it collects the water, this is going to save my car from rotting from the inside out until i can find out how the damn water is getting in, ive already done pretty much everything mentioned including changing the rubbers for the one of my blue zed, its still leaking right at the top join between the targa seal and the A pillar seal, seems to be coming in from behind rather than where the window rests against it. ive used enough black silicon to fit 12 windscreens, i think the cold weather is against me though as it doesnt seem to be sticking to the metal of the car.

When my targa was leaking and filling up the A piller pods with water the problem was the a rubber trim. It's held on with a screw into a thin aluminium plate and this was the area where the water was coming from. The plate had lifted slightly and water that was supposed to run inside the rubber was getting out at the screw and running down the A pillar cover. Not saying this what your both suffering from but it's worth a check.

check drain holes

Mine is exactly the same as Vods, sodding annoying.

Mine is exactly the same as Vods, sodding annoying.

 

Should of seen my bin bag swimming pool today lol, should of took a photo.

 

Think i might just seal the whole targa with some black silicone sealant and create a slick top just while winter and this sodding rain is here and tackle it in the summer when we have got enough weather to make sure the silicone drys and sticks correctly

Don't talk to me about water inside haha, still feeling the affects of 3 inches deep inside the car!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't talk to me about water inside haha, still feeling the affects of 3 inches deep inside the car!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

well yeah that would do it lol

Don't talk to me about water inside haha' date=' still feeling the affects of 3 inches deep inside the car!!!!!!!!!!!![/quote']

 

Your targas were leaking out!

put a seal on mine 4 yrs ago and bye bye water,never had a drip since.car still mists up bad whilst parked though which is annoying.

Funnily enough i already decided last night to put bin bags on my seats! Seems like great minds think alike here lol

 

But seriously I can check the rubbers that run down the pillars but I don't in all honestly know what I am looking for apart to see if they are there are not. Which no doubt they are

 

Hmm was Zworld xmas meet last weeknd or this weekend.?.... The car could do with a run after 3-4 months standing and plying with alcohol may get some results one never knows lol

 

dicky

What am I looking for when I check the rubber down that side of the screen. It is definitely only leaking through that side I now have a mug balanced on the corner of the seat on top of towels, to catch the continuous dripping which is just coming off the bottom edge of the top guage (one place)

 

Has anyone tried putting a big splodge of vaseline on that corner of the targa rubber as a temporary fix?

 

I doubt vaseline would do any harm to the rubber?

pop the targa out and you will see some drain hole sin the inlayed metal. get a jug of water and pour that down the hole, you should see a dribble coming out the sill, front and rear depending on the hole you put it in. so that first things first, the second thing is to check that the square piece in the corner is still seated properly most are not esp if the cars been touched up or resprayed, this allows water to pass through into the cabin. futher more and more obviously you may notice like mine a dribble that runs down the window where the rubber is squashed and no longer firmly presses against the window.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

vaseline is petrolem based and will deteroate rubber, silicone is a far better alternative.

OK guys

 

First of all I now have car garaged to save any further water damage to the interior

 

I did a bit of experimenting, smearing vaseline over the joint between the end of rubber seal on the roof and and the end of the targa rubber made no difference. I've now rubbed the vaseline back off again

 

I've now got the guage pods off the windscreen pillar and taken the end plastic cap off the rubber and can see what it happening. The plastic cap is filling with water which is running down the guage pod plastic and into the top guage filling it with water and dripping out from the bottom of the guage. If the top guage gets full it starts to drip from the middle guage as well

 

 

There is a round drain hole near the end of the roof rubber about 5mm accross (somewhere in the vincinity of the green arrow on the pic) and that is clear. There is no build up of water in the channel of the rubber across the front of the roof anyway so it's all going somewhere.

 

There is another very small drain hole in the rubber itself (see the blue arrown on pic) and that must be clear as I can see some water comes out at the bottom of the ruber near the door hinges

 

The problem is what a lot of water is getting into the plastic end cap (white arrow on pic) and this is what floods into the guage pods

 

So I can see what the problem is now, but how do I fix it?

 

Rich

Sorry I think the green arrow should have pointed somewhere here. Anyway that hole is clear

could be mistaken but i dont think there should be a little hole on the end of the rubber mate...never noticed it on mine

could be mistaken but i dont think there should be a little hole on the end of the rubber mate...never noticed it on mine

 

Defo not where the new green arrow is, there should be two drain holes in the door rubber, ill sort out the image in a min, need to go check my own car for a new pool of water, but im getting the same, top gauge on the 3 pillar is holding the water then dripping when ever i accelerate lol bloody annoying as it hits my hand the steering wheel.

Hi znut

 

Its like a slightly closed hole but I (gently) fed a cotter pin about 2 inches or so in.... so it definitely has a channel inside there, at least on mine

 

@vods - no I think the larger hole is near the green arrow on my third attemp below - I wish I'd taken more notice where it is this is like pin the tail on the bloody donkey lol , but I really don't think that hole is causing the problem

 

How do I stop the water getting into where the white arrow points?

Edited December 22, 201212 yr by dicky96

i had the same thing ... just silikone under the seal. and i do have this hole :) the other thing was where the drain hose connected inside a pillar on a little metal niple the weld was lose so had to silikone taht too

hi there rolandas

 

do me a favour could you download the pic - add some arrows to point where to put the silicone - then upload again?

 

Much appreciated if you could :yes:

 

rich

+1 on that please, mine does exactly the same, including where the water is getting in.

Does this help

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?147273-Repaints-and-leaky-targa-s

smithy