85 XJ6 leaking water around windshield
 

Hello, I am neither a car mechanic or hobbyist. I bought the car on a good price for my daughter's first car. Rain leaks in above the windshield on the driver's side. There is rust there. I took it to our local body shop guy and he doesn't even know where to get parts. I am in a rural location and the shop sees mostly american made cars. I have found the trim and gasket seals. I would like to have the body shop repair all the rust around the front windshield but where do I get the glass to go for the windshield. Sorry if this is a basic question. Thanks, Erin in KS

Hello, Erin,
Unfortunately new windshields will Not come from your local NAPA.

You should be able to get one from David Bodger at EverydayXJ (http://www.everydayxj.com/). He posts in here sometimes and is Very helpful; knows these cars inside and out as he takes them apart for a living and sells the parts online. He might even have the gaskets and other stuff.

EDIT: By the way, when you get a moment you might want to fall by the New Members section and post an introduction; here:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...-intro-must-5/

Welcome to our playpen from ElinorB.
(';')

I got my new windshield from rockauto.com 150 plus shipping. Was cheaper than anywhere in town.
Good luck

Do you all recommend a good manual on the car, like for repairs not the owner's manual, I have that already. Thanks. Erin

In full disclosure, this listing is on my site, so I do have an interest in this post..
I have a used Factory Repair manual listed here for $20.
Jaguar XJ6 Service Manual Series 3 AKM9006

The same manual is available online as a download (some for free).. but if you want a paper manual this is what you'd want to look for.
Good luck on your repair!

David
shop.everydayxj.com

David, Is this different from the owner's maintenance manual?

Prepare yourself for a lot of maintenance. This is not a Toyota but rather an expensive luxury car that requires a lot of attention preventative / maintenance.

Not what you want to hear I am sure,.. but I would be buying a more dependable / practical form of transportation for my daughter. One that is easily serviceable with easy to find parts and less chance of leaving your daughter stranded.

I know I know I know,, the Jag lovers on this board will howl... but if the truth is admitted ,...you need to be a hobbyist mechanic or know and trust someone who is. even then a lot of ongoing attention will be required .

Best of luck with it.

This book is essentially the workshop manual. Owners got an Owners Handbook that contained almost no information on maintenance except for basic stuff like checking the oil, coolant and tyres. The green book suggested by davidboger is the best thing you'll ever buy if you're going to do DIY on this car. Other thing to try and find is the Parts Manual.This has all the exploded diagrams for the parts and, again, is a mine of information

Assuming the windscreen is broken or cracked, I'd look at shipping the glass, I also come from an area that doesn't have much for my old Daimler, sans a few Jaguars stripping for spares now and then. I sort of agree with Alyn here, not to say that it can't be done though, owning one of these as a student etc can pose an interesting challenge, one of which I certainly enjoy... So best wishes, we're all here to help.

Do you need glass or just the seal. Victoria British is near you. Long's British parts ( same as Victoria ). Seals can be had at SNG, XKs, Welsch Ent. Sometime a removal and reseal goes a long way. While glass is out fix rust. This is normal front and rear.

Erin,

I got an old used XJ6 for my first car in Arkansas City, Kansas in 2007 which later developed a weepy windshield so I can definitely sympathize.

And last year vandals smashed out my rear windshield.

As has been mentioned, I followed the same procedure both times: order new glass from either an online retailer or David Boger at everydayxj, order replacement rubber seal and replace.

Owning this as a first car as a student was a rewarding experience but I have a working interest in learning about at least maintenance and the more accessible repairs - when they are in their great to tip top shape they are just as if not more reliable than many cars but allowing small problems to go unresolved often results in cascading problems (and costs).

As an older somewhat more sensitive car than some, the driver needs to know how to listen for and detect potential problems and be pro-active rather than unthinkingly relying on it without performing regular maintenance.

Also, check for any small rusted spots when the glass is out - those might be the true source of the leak.

Try X-Seal Acrylic-120 - Seek-n-Seal Acrylic C120 by X-Seal

Try X-Seal

Not sure if this is the right thread but my question relates to water leakage in a 2004 XJ6. I live in Hong Kong and some months back after a particularly heavy rainfall (car park not covered), carpets in both front footwells were soaking. Couldn't immediately see where it had come in from until I noticed the front edge of the headlining was wet and there were drop of water on the automatic gear lever so assumed it must have forced its way in through the factory fitted sun-roof. A separate problem developed, presumably water on the electrics, but for a few days, the car would not go into gear, almost like locked in neutral. Anyway, car dried out and it's been fine since.
And then last Saturday, while driving, some water started to seep through the material and then drip from driver's side (RH Drive car) during a light shower. This led me to check the drain pipes from the sun roof today. On the rivers side, water quickly drained away and came out under front wheel.
Not so on the left side sun-roof drain where wateNr accumulated. I ran a piece of piano wire down the drain hole for about 48" but then it seemed to hit a dead end. Couldn't push any further. Is it a plastic tube that runs down from the sun roof and any thoughts on further steps I could take?
One extreme solution as I never used the sun roof would be to silicon-seal it in position but I prefer not to.

Have you looked at the end by the front wheel to see if it's clogged with road crud? When I cleaned all the drain tubes in my S3 I used a length of 1/4" nylon air tube. It is flexible enough go around corners, but is stiff enough to withstand some forceful pushing. You might try running something up from the wheel end of the drain tube too.

Dave

Don't try to do what I did and that was to put an air hose to the drain and try to blow out the clog! It blew off a hose connection somewhere downstream and the drain was KAPUT! I never drove it in the rain again! Mind you that was a 1992 Nissan Maxima, buy the principle should still apply.
Ian

Yes, I agree with Ian. If you use something as I suggested with the 1/4" nylon tubing, just use it as a "snake" to push through the drain tube.

Dave

Dave, thank you for your quick reply. I was thinking the same thing about working backwards but I am struggling to see exactly where the drain exits under the car. Need to get down underneath somehow to get a closer look. It's also not so easy to get the wire (or perhaps air-line) into the drain through sun-roof. As you can see from attached picture above passenger seat, the sun-roof guide rails obscure the drain point.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...1073773d40.jpg

Not under the car, but just in front of the front door, running down the outside of the A-pillar.
At least that's where mine run.
(';')

Flingel, here's how my memory has it, but it's amazing how fast things are fading.

The HVAC drain tubes come out in the trans tunnel under the unit.
The front sun roof drain tubes come into the removable panel in the rear of the front wheel well. I extended mine to keep water out of that cavity. see pic.
The rear sun roof drain tubes come out the very bottom of the "C" pillar in the recess for the bottom/rear of the rear door. Have to get on a knee, head down, look up.
The rear boot catch tray (my term, not official) in the upper part of the boot just below the bottom of the rear windshield drain tubes exit into the rear wheel wells.

Others will chime in if I've made a mis-remember.

Dave

P.S. My picture made me reread your first post. When you were fishing the front drain tube and came to a halt after about 4', you could very well have come into that cavity shown in the pic and your piano wire just hit against the side of the cavity. Take the screws out of the cover panel and see what you've got. Try fishing it again.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...24a79cbbf3.jpg