A 1986 Series 3 has bad water leaking from the front windshield or somewhere. I tried to remove the windshield chrome piece to reseal it, but didn't know how. Can someone help me out on this? Thanks,

 

It's stainless steel, actually....and very delicate. You have to cut it out of the rubber to avoid distorting it. You'll need a utility knife, extra blades, and patience.

Just in case you didn't know, the rubber pieces around the glass don't have anything to do with keeping water out. The glass is sealed by the glue that holds it in place. The rubber pieces (there are 3) serve only to close up the gap between the glass and the body and to hold the bright trim.

Sorry to say but if you remove the rubber you're quite likely to find rust. In many cases the water is leaking in through rust holes.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks, Doug. Is the rubber piece under the stainless trim? That's different from the two rubber seals around the stainless trim, right?

Is I just remove the two rubber seals around the stainless trim and fill in the sealant into the gap without remove the trim piece, would that stop the water leaking?

Thanks,

 

The bright trim is 'captured' by the rubber; the rubber locks it in place.

As for sealing....I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean. But ideally you need to apply your sealer between the perimeter edge of the glass and the body of the car.

Cheers
DD

 

There were two rubber seals around the stainless trim, one above and the other below the trim. Are you referring to those rubbers? On my car, they can be easily pulled out. I am thinking to just pull them out and fill the gaps with silicone sealant. Would that stop the water leaking?

 

There are 3 rubber pieces. Two that hold the bright trim. The other sort of closes out the gap between the glass and the body of the car for cosmetic purposes only. None of the three have anything to do with sealing water out of the cabin.

If you remove the two locking strips and bright trim....be careful!.... I don't think the area that needs to be sealed will be revealed. All you'll see is the third piece of rubber...the larger piece.

I guess you *could* seal the glass to that third rubber piece, and then seal the rubber piece to the body of the car. But ideally you want to seal between the glass and the body of the car, removing whatever needs to be removed to do so

Cheers
DD

 

OK. I will give it a try and see what I can do. Thank you so much, Doug.

 

So, I worked the trim pieces today. It actually turned pretty straightforward. All I did was pulled out the upper and lower rubber seals and then slowly pulled out the stainless trim pieces, didn't need to cut the rubber. After I pulled out the stainless trim, it was found the leaking was actually from the bottom of the windshield seal - the third rubber piece around the windshield glass. There water trace goes between the seal and the body and then gets down to the inside wall. Removing the windshield was also easy by just slowly lifting up one corner and applying the even force and waiting. The seal will then gradually separate from the body. There were some rust around the edge but not holes. So I sanded the body around the opening and painted with rust paint.
Now the question is how I suppose to put the windshield back? Do I need to glue it?

 

Good work ! And glad the bright trim came away easily !

The windshield is intended to be glued into place; you really shouldn't have been able to lift it away from the body. Typically the bond needs to be cut away with wire...but age and water must've taken a toll.

I can't remember the name of the original glue that Jaguar used but nowadays the standard go-to is urethane windshield adhesive. Most any auto parts store will have it.

Cheers
DD

 

Thank you, Doug.


I re exam the windshield this morning. I was sure the stuff around the windshield edge is one piece. It seems there is a inner rubber seal that goes around the inside of the glass and a thick rubber-like sealant around the glass edge. The thick rubber-like sealant attaches the windshield to the body frame. The inner rubber seal is also glued to that thick rubber-like sealant stuff. At the lower corner where the water leaks, the thick rubber-like sealant is kind of separated from the windshield glass (and probably from the body frame too) and that's where the water gets into the passenger side cabin.
In this case, I am thinking if I can just glue the windshield back to the body without removing all the thick rubber-like sealant and the rubber seal around the windshield? If so, that will be pretty straight forward by just adding some sealant to the sopt where the seal is separated from the glass, and then add a layer of sealant around the body frame and put the windshield back on. Would this be strong enough and practical?
Thanks,

 

I found a similar problem on my car very early in my ownership, but on the top driver corner:

The Previous Owner had attempted to close this leak with clear silicone and done a Really Poor job! I got caught in a spring shower the first 6 months of my ownership and got a lap full of rainwater. This also explained part of the rot of the driver floor, but that's another story.

To fix this right I removed ALL the previous silicon and cleaned as much of the past 30 years' dirt and dust as possible, and then, using a new tube of Black RTV and the included nozzle, I filled the gap between the body and the rubber as far under the retainer clip as I could force the RTV.

It took several passes to completely fill the void and smooth the ends, but unless you look Really close you can't see that it's been slathered up.
Of course my car is black, which helps the Black RTV to escape notice.

The next time I got caught in a spring shower (3 weeks ago) I had no wet lap!
(';')

 

To fix this properly, the window needs to be out, all the old sealant needs to be removed from the window and the body carefully.

On first sight, you will probably will not see any holes in the window frame.
BUT: in most cases it is there, underneath the paint.
The complete window frame needs to be cleaned to the bare metal, then resprayed with a anti-corrosive primer and then paint.
Allow a few days for the paint to dry out completely.

The glue the window in, using the proper Automotive window glue / sealant.

You don't want to know the extent of damage that water seeping in can cause....been there, done that....

 

Definitely do it right.
Remove all traces of sealant from the body and the glass and cut out anything with rust. Replace the rubbers new and it should be fine for ages. The fact you just lifted it out, minor pressure should not budge it, shows the sealant is stuffed.

 

Many thanks for this useful thread, both the OP & main respondent. I learned heaps about how these windscreens are fitted, & I hope it helps me to preserve any trim I'm working on.
This is the very essence of why this forum is so important to the preservation of our beloved Cats.

 

There is an inner seal that isn't really a seal at all. It fits on the edge of the screen aperture and gives the screen something to sit on that leaves a space for the glue to be squeezed out onto. So when the screen is fitted back on it pushes down onto this "seal" and the glue is then squashed up sufficiently to contact the screen all round and start curing, but the "seal" stops all the glue from being pushed out. The external seals and "chrome" finishers must be inserted before the glue hardens up.

It is not a good design, and the later XJ40 is better.

 

There's a guy on here, Alyn Murray in Seattle, who replaced the outer two finishers altogether, with a caulk of some kind, that he was able to smooth before curing so that it looked almost indistinguishable from the rubber finishers (material was black.) In doing so he completely filled the void around the edges of the windshield, which often fill with sitting water that begins the rusting process. Of course, his car was/is dark green, which of course hides any imperfections in caulk lines.

Just one more way to skin the cat...

Andrew.