Okay, so here is some background.
1) I'm a younger female college student, so my knowledge about cars and fixing things is limited. When explaining something, please dumb it down/use explicit detail.
2) I have a 2002 X-Type with 114K miles

Issues I'm having:
1) My vinyl is "shrinking" as my dad says. I have to park outside, and often times in full sun, causing the vinyl on my dashboard above the passenger side defroster vent to buckle up under neath it and pull away. What can I do to fix this? What can I do to prevent this in the future? Do I need to replace my entire dashboard? Is this going to cause major issues down the road?

2) When I get my car washed, the passenger side floor gets wet. I went to a glass shop that I thought was reputable since they helped glue my rear view mirror back on after the glue basically gave out. They said that the leak was coming from my sunroof and that it wasn't properly closed, and when they push the button to close it, it doesn't close all the way, as if something might be blocking it, and that I might have to go to the dealership to get the button reset since they didn't see anything blocking it. They then said that they closed the sunroof all the way and that if it was still leaking water than the only solution is to seal off the entire sunroof. What the hell? That can't be right. And yes, there is still water leaking onto the passenger side floor.

*Side Note* I went to a new car wash place and told them about this leak, they then taped off my sunroof. Since it's summer, and I can't roll my windows down right after a car wash since they will get wet and streaky, I turn on my air conditioning so I don't die on my way to the next destination. My air conditioner makes this weird sound, almost like a buzzing, or as my friend said "a plane taking off". This ONLY happens after it rains or I get a car wash, and if lets say I go to the car wash and go home, and don't drive again for maybe an hour, I don't have this issue. My air conditioner was replaced entirely last year due to an accident so I highly doubt there is something wrong with it. My dad says that he believes there's a crack somewhere at the bottom of my windshield that is then causing water to leak into my air conditioner causing this noise. Can anyone identify what the problem is and how I go about getting it fixed?

3) I recently had my front and back brakes and rotors replaced. When I am reversing and turning my wheel significantly (ie parallel parking, 3 point turn) I hear this grinding noise, a low noise, not a squeak. What is this about?

4) After cleaning out the junk I've accumulated in my trunk, I realized that the rubber seal around the edge is cracking and it seems like the foam-ish material that lines the trunk is pulling away from the walls of it. I could be very wrong, and the small gaps that I see are normal, but since I'm posting about all these other issues I might as well discuss this one as well.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me solve even one of these issues. Often times I am faced with large mechanical bills from people telling me that I have X, Y, and Z wrong with my car and it's hard to know if that is actually true since I don't have much knowledge in this arena.

 

Vinyl can be glued back using JBWeld glue, you have to keep vlnyl down for 30 min or an hour.
But you cannot stretch it. Buckling vinyl also breaks vent grilles, which are about $100 a piece.

 

Rotors are breaking in. The noise should stop soon.

 

You can also prevent the vinyl from future damage by tinting your front windshield with the lightest legal tint for windshields. Each state is different and some don't allow the front windshield to be tinted, others do if at least 70% of light can get through. You'd need to check your states laws, but tinting would cut down on the UV and reject heat from baking the inside.

 

Hi Sarah, and greetings from Australia.

You have several issues to solve, and good advice is rolling in. At the expense of putting him on the spot, I suggest you contact one of our long term gurus on all the X-Type variants ... his name is Thermo ... and I'm sure that he won't mind getting his feet soggy just to help you !!!



My reaction would be to locate a used dash cover from the car wreckers, but my field is S-Type and I have lost count of the occasions I have relied on Thermo's help and expert knowledge of the X-Type. Contact him by PM unless he picks up on this post ... <User CP> menu, down to <Send a Message>.

Best wishes,
Ken

 

The sun roof leak could be because the drains are clogged, you can try pushing a coat hanger down them to unclog anything that could be in there. Do not let anyone tell you to "seal the whole thing up". That's just nonsense since whatever is causing it, be it the gaskets needing to be replaced or the sunroof not closing all the way, can be fixed without rendering the sunroof useless.

 

Possible sunroof fix for you.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...properly-4140/

 

I use that reset fix because only one side of my sunroof was trying to open. After the reset it works perfectly.

 

For the water leak in the passenger side, I'd bet it's either leaves built up in the area around the cabin air filter letting water into the area where the a/c blower motor is under the dash or the plastic panel that holds the cabin air filter (attaches to the firewall with two screws) has a seal that gets old and lets water in. All you have to do is take off the wiper arms, remove the cover panel, and you should clearly see what the problem is. If the seal is bad just take off the plastic panel and use a little bit of RTV underneath the plastic air filter panel to stop the leak.

The noise from the rotors when you turn the wheel all the way is usually a sign that the wheel bearings are bad. When they get sloppy, it causes the rotors to no longer sit in the center of the bracket that holds the brake caliper on and when you turn the wheels all the way the rotors rub on the caliper bracket. Take off the wheels and have a look at the rotors and you'll probably see where they are rubbing.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

Sarah, I am Thermo. I am here to make things as simple as they can be.

As for problem 1: I had this problem and I used some small nails that were about 1/2" long and I pushed the nails through the vinyl and into the underlaying plastic vent. The nails need to go into the recess area where the top colored vent piece sits (the nails will be under this piece). You can push them into place using a pair of needlenose pliers. Once they are in, you can bend the nails slightly so they don't back out on you. Just need a nail every 3" or so.

2) OPen the hood of your car and look back at the windshield wipers. Look to your left some and you will see where the black plastic that goes under the wipers comes down into the engine bay (the black plastic piece is known as a cowl). You will see 4 plastic fasteners holding the lip of the cowl in place. Get your finger under the fastener and find the point and then push upwards. You should see the center of the fastener rise. Get it up about 1/4" and you should then be able to remove the fastener. Once all 4 are removed, you can lift up on the cowl and look under it. You should see a filter there that is about 4" x 20". Make sure that this is sitting all the way back and inside the recess area. If the filter is not all the way back, it can let water past the filter and into the cabin of the car. THe water will collect in the dash fan and that can cause the noises that you are hearing. To re-install the fasteners, simply push the cowl down and slide the fasteners back into their holes with the center post up (may even want to remove the post). Once the fastener is back in its hole, push the center post down till it is flush again. Worst case, this may be a good time to put a new filter in and they can be had at most auto part stores for around $20 for a basic filter or $40 for the charcoal filter (removes bad smells from outside the car).

The other possibility is that your sunroof is not draining properly. In this case, get yourself a 2 quart pitcher and fill it with water. Then open the sunroof and stick the top half of your body out it (ie, stand on the front seats). If you look back down into the car, you will see that there is a little catch tray that is just above the headliner of your car. THis is what catches any water that gets past the sunroof (the sunroof is not weather tight, so, it will let some water through). In each corner of the tray, pour a little bit of water (8 ounces or so) and see if you get a puddle of water near each wheel. If you do, then all your drain lines are fine. If you don't see water draining down one or more places, then you will need to clear the drain. Get yourself a can of compressed air (like what you use to blow out your keyboard, DO NOT!!!! use an air compressor, you can damage your car unless you know what you are doing). At the end of the straw, use some masking tape to wrap around the straw and build it up to be about 1/4-3/8" in diameter. Push the tape up against the little hole in each corner of the sunroof tray area. With it sealed, press the trigger and use the can air to blow out the line. Pour a little more water down the drain to verify that it is clear.

3) this can happen. It may go away. Worst case, get someone that knows something about cars and have them apply a little bit of pad glue to the backs of the brake pads to glue them to the caliper. That should make your squeaking/grinding go away. If you want to do it yourself, let me know. Not hard, but can be intimidating if this would be your first adventure into repairing a car.

4) Unfortunately, that is fairly normal with a lot of cars. PUsh the liner back and see what you can do about pushing the rubber back over it. NOt much you can really do about it unless you want to apply some double sided tape to hold things in place or use screws to hold things in place. Kinda overkill if you ask me.

 

Thank you to everyone who has responded on here! I have relayed the information to my dad and we will be attacking these issues 1 by 1 over the next week and I will definitely come back with updates and any questions.
Thanks again for all of your help, I greatly appreciate it!