I am a new owner of an old Jag...
In the last 3 months of ownership I have discovered:
1. Soaking wet carpets on front passenger side
2. Squeaky clutch pedal
3. Orange viscous fluid leaking on to the drive when parked

The coolant is orange...but friends have had it up on ramps and can see no leak. And overnight on cardboard under the engine in the morning is just a tiny speck, but by mid morning, a pool of orange liquid)

Any advice very gratefully received....

Must say, I do love my Jag, but am beginning to think perhaps I bought a "wrong un" - The boot (window) wont open, and just last month the front driver tyre shredded, and now one passenger front bush is being replaced as we speak...phew...

 

I am assuming from the posting that this is a 2005 Estate, is that correct? A full identification of your car would be useful in getting correct responses to your questions. Now, assuming that this is a gasoline (petrol) - not Diesel engine (3 litres?), the orange
liquid will be coolant; a likely origin of the leak is the coolant reservoir, either at the outlet nipple or on the underside where cracking often begins unseen. The water pump may also be the cause, and/ or a leaking hose.
With regard to the tailgate glass not opening, the culprit is almost always the release switch which, being exposed, is often (but not always) subject to water damage. While some have removed the triangular exterior cover and cleaned the contact strips, the most effective cure is replacement of the switch.
The squeaky clutch pedal: this is merely a matter of lubrication at the offending spot!
The wet carpet on the passenger side - here we have a lack of information: is this a French-market car and therefore left hand drive? Or is it by chance a transplanted U.K. car and therefore right hand drive? It matters because the engine computer (ECM) is in the footwell (right side) while on cars with automatic transmission (not in your case) the transmission computer (TCM) is in the left area - and both can suffer from water ingress.
One cause of the water accumulation is clogs in the cabin filter area ahead of the windscreen. Your owner's manual will tell you how to access the cabin air filter there. Remove it and clear the area of any debris. Another possible cause is a windscreen replacement that has not been carefully done.
These are very good and reliable cars if properly maintained (and that applies to tires as well as mechanical bits).

 

lostinfrance, quick question, left or right hand drive? Making the assumption that you have a left hand drive, I ask that when you turn on your A/C, do you get a sweet smell from the vent ducts? Have you noticed that your defroster does not seem to be clearing the windshield quite as well as it used to? If you answer yes to either one of these, it is very possible that you have a leak in your heater core. This would cause a coolant leak that will come and go and if you make a fast turn to the left, it will cause the coolant to get into the vent duct on the passenger side and leak out the blower motor, leading to the wet carpets. Not quite sure how the squeaky clutch pedal may play into this, but possibly if you make the hard right turn, it can get into the ventilation system and make its way to the clutch pedal.

Granted, you may have 3 separate issues. The easiest to fix most likely is the clutch pedal as a little bit of spray lubricant on the joint for the clutch pedal should fix the squeak. While there, you can see if you can spot where water is getting into that area and then back track things from there.

As for the water on the floor, if you notice this most often after it rains or you take the car through a car wash, then I would open the hood/bonnet and lift up the cowel (plastic cover just in front of the windshield). On the passenger side (opposite side from the overflow bottle), you should see the passenger compartment filter there. If that filter is pulled away from the firewall, it is possible that water is coming down the windshield, leaking around the filter and into the vent duct, leading to it coming in around the blower motor, making your passenger foot well wet.

As for the coolant leak (orange fluid). Knowing the relative location of the leaking fluid is very helpful in this case. Some of the common places to see coolant:
-behind left side front tire (would indicate a bad water pump)
-under the car, just in front of the left side front door (would indicate a cracked overflow bottle)
-under the very front of the car, most likely to either side (would indicate a leaking radiator, requiring a new radiator)
-under the car, pretty much at the firewall, centered under the car (would indicate a bad heater core).

Hopefully this will give you a few things to check to help get things back to 100%.

 

One other possibility for the water is the evaporator drain line from the ac/heater unit.

 

One other for the coolant would be the thermostat housing.

Roger

 

Location where cabin filter resides beneath w/screen wipers. You may find the gaskets either side, which were originally made of foam (as arrowed), have broken down, allow water ingress. Replace with latest rubber type.

Regards dampness, check cabin filter; is it damp/ is the area it sits in full of leaves etc?