Clearing drains - A different approach?

D

Djtuffer

Member
 UK, East Lothian
The first thing I did when I got my car was pull the rubber bungs of the drains and give them a clean out by sticking some flexible cable up there. The drivers side one ran clear but the passenger side one only got a slow dribble. Most of the water seems to come out the jacking points along the sills. Not so good. So tonight I moved the passenger seat forward and reached over to feel where the motor housing was. I then got a long cable tie with some masking tape on it and stuck it down the side of the motor in to the tray. It came out wet. I then thought what do I have that sucks? A hand vacuum brake bleeder thing! I stuck that down the side of the motor and sucked out about 400ml of water. It seems I defo have a blocked drain. I then moved on to a Pela 6000 oil extractor which has a thinner pipe and managed to suck out a tiny bit more. I then used the Pela to stick up the drain from the bottom to see if I could suck any rubbish out but all I got was a bit of a gurgle. It was like there was a tiny bit of moisture up there but certainly not a lot.

I wish I could see what was going on down there. I might have to invest in one of those little boroscope camera thingys. Is the drain hole at the very lowest point of the tray? It's a facelift car if it makes any difference.
 
Unfortunately the drain hole sits right under the plastic motor housing and is only 10mm across so it's impossible to get anything into it from the top. Because I had leaves and sludge blocking mine when I removed the motor, I made up a ring of mesh about 20mm high and sat this around the hole. This way the hole can't be blocked again.
 
All good things to consider. I suppose my point was it's easy to check from inside the car if your drains are blocked and there is water in there. I am going to continue to try and unblock it. Even if I do relocate the motor I want the drain hole clear so I don't have water sloshing about. I suppose it would be much easier to clear without the big lump of motor in the way.
 
The drain holes in MX5's block up too and the best way to clear them is to use a trombone cleaning brush. Just like a bottle brush with a long flexible handle. Worth a look?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Trombone-Snake-Brush-Double-Ended-Wire-Brush-/351741938341?hash=item51e5740aa5:m:mP6EsvJ74ViZBy7o_Uudk6Q
 
Got one on order! Making progress. I have gone from blocked to drips to a constant dribble. Best success was sticking a long cable tie down into the tray from the back around about the middle. Trying to cross the top of the drain hole. It seems that right above the drain hole there is only about 1 or 2mm gap between the motor housing and the tray. Silt gets stuck in this gap. Working from the bottom did nothing for me and I doubt compressed air would do much either.
 
Djtuffer said:
I wish I could see what was going on down there. I might have to invest in one of those little boroscope camera thingys. Is the drain hole at the very lowest point of the tray? It's a facelift car if it makes any difference.
Click to expand...
I also sometimes peek with a boroscope. But my car is garaged so generally it is very clean in there.
I sometimes use one of those flexible pick up tools (a little grabber) if I see a leaf down there :)
As for cleaning I use some compressed air from down at the rubber plugs. Sometimes I see a small leaf getting blown out.
 
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