There are six drain hoses in your Alfa Spider that can cause problems. You should be aware of their existence, so you can prevent clogs and/or diagnose issues that might arise.Front Drain Tubes First, there is a pair of cowl vent drain tubes that drain the large cavity in front of your Alfa's windshield (where the wiper linkage is located). These can become clogged with leaves, insect nests, etc. In the case of a partial clog, you won’t have any symptoms unless it rains very hard; then water will appear in the car. Depending upon the slope where you park your car, this water may pool in the area behind the seats (it’s a low spot). You can see these tubes under the dash; they're attached to the underside of the cowl vent cavity, running down and curving out to drain into the fender wells. They can crack and leak, but usually the problem is that they are plugged up (we sell them as #43643). If you have an air compressor with a long, narrow probing nozzle, you may be able to blow out the debris; otherwise, you'll have to carefully remove the cowl vent cover. You unscrew and remove the chrome trim piece in front of the windshield, remove the screws that hold down the front of the cover, and slide the cover towards the front of the car. When you replace the cover, you may want to cut a coat hanger into a handful of L-shaped pieces about with 1-2-inch legs. You can use these to hold the spring clips open while you engage the cover into the clips. Alternatively, you can remove the hoses from under the dash to clear them out. This can be a pain (on the passenger side) if your Alfa has A/C. Convertible Top Drain Tubes Alfa Romeo Spiders also have drain tubes that clear water from the area immediately around the back side of the top (when it is erected). These are hidden from view by the side panels behind the driver and passenger seats. There are two small rubber tubes which come from the area beneath the rear window, and two larger ones on the sides (see photo, below). These run down into the area behind the doors, between the inner and outer panels, and drain out to the ground. When you wash your car, you should be able to see water coming out of a pre-formed opening in the rocker panel seam. We know of at least one instance where an Alfa's side drain hose had been bumped out of place (probably by someone working on the Bosch ignition ECU on the passenger side); water entered the car during heavy rains, and the rocker panel rusted on that side of the car. You should keep these drains clear, but be careful poking up into the opening too aggressively; you don’t want to dislodge the tube.
- Mark Lee
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