FC3S Declogging the rear hatch drain holes
 

As the titles states, first wash and the recessed lip the hatch sits in is flooded. The holes on each side (I assume drain holes) are badly clogged. (To the point I wouldn't be surprised to see rust inside.) How should I go about unclogging them and is there any preventive maintenance or modifications I can do to them to prevent it from re-occouring. I'd guess this is common on most older RX's.

TIA

I shoved and picked at mine with a screw driver and got the most i could out with it and then i pressured it with air from a compressor.... you also try and force pressured water thru it

As you can see, I had the same problem when I bought my car:

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...zdaRX-7040.jpg

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...zdaRX-7041.jpg

First check if the tubes are connected from the top holes into the holes on the ground inside the car walls, so that the water won't just flood the inside of your car when you try to declog it.
You'll need to open the side walls in the interior of the boot to reach those tubes.
To open them, you'll need to unscrew and remove the top plastic that goes from the speaker to the hatch lock, that's right underneat the isolating rubber. I didn't had to do so because the interior tips were already broken :( But if you don't want to break the ones in your car, you'll have to do that.

You'll understand it better through this pictures:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...zdaRX-7049.jpg

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...zdaRX-7048.jpg

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...zdaRX-7047.jpg

As you can see my car had one of the tubes out of place and it was all flooded. I had already de-floded it when I took the pictures.

I've drawn some arrows on the picture so you can understand better what is the tube:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...bevertical.jpg
As you can see the tube is horizontal and not connected to the hole in the floor of the car inside that compartiment. It should be vertical and connected to that hole I mentioned so that the water enters the drain hole on the top, and then leaves the tube underneat the car.

So, after checking the tubes and connecting them correctly in the case they weren't, you can then declog the drain holes.
I used a stick from a tree that was on the side of the road (lucky me there was one with the perfect size and shape and it was already on the ground) that was like 30 cm long (I think it's like 12 inch) and thin enough to not break and to fit the drain holes. So use something like that to push the dirt and help it with water so it goes down easily. After declogging it, clean all of the drain path (the recessed lip you mentioned) in that area so that it doesn't happen again.

The only preventive maintenance I can think of, is to keep that area free from dirt whenever you can, and when you wash it, use a reasonable amount of water to the drain holes and check to see if the water goes down to make sure they are not clogged again.

Good luck with that.

Oh, by the way: do it to both sides, of course. Not only the driver side as shown on the pictures.

I was curious about this as well.
Thanks for the pics and advice!

After you get it unclogged, blow compressed air through it after washing, rain ect as preventative maintenance.

Thanks guys, I kind of figured it would be similar to a sunroof's drain holes.

I got some pipe screens and fit them into the drain opening to prevent debris from clogging the lines. It's helped a ton and pipe screens are super cheap.

That's a great idea OniFC! I'll do that after unclogging mine...

What's a pipe screen???

Thanks Projex, I got a 4 pack of stainless steel screens for about $8 at a local tobacco shop.

use a hanger

rust is the reason i got rid of my last rx7

OniFC: That seems a little pricey, but it has been a long time since I bought screens, so maybe I'm a little behind the times, lol

Eduardo Santos, any tobacco shop should have pipe screens, in various sizes. Pipe screens do basically the same thing in a pipe that the filter does on a cigarette: keeps the tobacco where it is, preventing inhalation of tobacco. If there aren't any tobacco shops around, you can source the same basic thing for a faucet from a home improvement store. Most sink faucets have screens to help the water flow in an even steady stream

Ricardo, rust sucks, I'm sorry for your loss... but yeah, a wire hanger would do the trick...

Thank you for the explanation :icon_tup:

just use a pair of flat heads pick at it. blow it out with air, then use a solvent to clean it out if you dont clean it out it will just build up agian

You're welcome. Hope it helps.