Hey guys, I'm in the process of diagnosing why my rear my right rear air spring is jacked up about 3" higher than the rest of the car on my '04 XJ8. It seems to be related to a faulty reading from the height level sensor due to a short in the wiring somewhere. When I plugged in my scanner, I can see the right rear height sensor display changes depending on whether or not the dome is light is on. It jumps from +90mm to -30mm. The car does not physically move. After pulling out the rear bench to access the ASM, I noticed the bottom of the cushions were wet, and when I peel up the insulation, there is standing water on the metal chassis underneath the rear bench. In the short term, I'm going to drill a few drain holes, but ideally I want to find the source of the leak. It was snowing/raining today, and the rear window seals seamed dry, as did the seat back, and metal chassis behind the seat back.

What are the most common areas of water leaks on these vehicles? I ran out of daylight today, so I haven't completely inspected it yet. Still need to remove the seat belt brackets so that I can remove all of the insulation. The inside of the trunk is bone dry, including the bottom of the spare tire well. I'm wondering if there is way for the water to leak around the trunk seal and into the bottom of the back seat area. Any ideas where to check first for this leak?

 

Would not drill holes in the floor myself.
But i would investigate where the water is coming in from.

 

Pull up TSB for water ingress and follow all instructions.

 

Rear sunroof drains. Follow abonano’s advice. Good luck!

 

Thanks guys, I never would of thought of this being related to the sunroof drains. Guess I know what I'm doing today.

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/...ng%20Panel.pdf

 

Well, today was warm enough here in Michigan to pour some water down the sunroof drains. Water trickled from the passenger side to the rear drain, but no water came from the driver side. I dropped the headliner in the back on both sides, the driver side was plugged. I unhooked the rubber drain hose, and blew compressed air down the drain tube, and also the nipple for the sunroof drain. Some decomposing leaf fragments came from the plastic nipple. I hooked everything back up, verifying that the drain tube was routed between the foam blocks and continued pouring water until the water came out clear. Did the same thing on the other side, just to be safe, as the water poured out much faster on the driver side after clearing out the tube. Now the water flows freely from both.

So just to be clear, the reason my right rear wheel was jacked up 4" above what it should be, was water leaking from a clogged sunroof drain, getting connector FP6 soaked (under rear passenger seat) causing a short in the right rear height level sensor circuit. Gotta love these cars!!!

 

another problem fixed and the fix posted for all to see. great job and happy new year