Every time it rains hard my 82 xjs coupe AND my 91 xjs convertible leak on both sides of the dashboard. It comes out underneath. It seems that these cars have this problem designed in. I already replaced the windshield seal in the 82 so it's not that. Anyone else had this leak? Anyone know where it needs to be sealed? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Bud

 

Well there are several ways you could be getting water in there. In relative order of difficulty:

(i) One is through the windshield washer drain system (area under the black grill at the exterior base of the windshield). There is a left hand and right hand drain line that empties out behind each front tire; this line often gets clogged with all sorts of junk. Once the washer tank fills with water, it will drain through the climate control and out through the sides/bottom of the dash as you describe.

You can easily check this system by pouring a glass of water into the washer drain area. You should hear/see water pour out behind both front tires. If it doesn't come out both sides, open the bonnet and find the drain lines. You can disconnect inside the engine bay and clean them out.

(ii) The chrome trim on the A pillar (on both sides of the windshield) actually covers a drain line from the roof. This can block up, and the sealant that prevents it from coming into the cabin eventually rots out and you'll have water in through here, probably appearing in the cabin at the bottom corners of the windshield or coming out the bottom sides of the dash.

The trim is held on with rivets you'll have to drill out. Not a big deal and you can replace them with stainless sheet metal screws on reassembly. A bigger deal though is mine were also held on with some sort of adhesive that did not want to release. Also, on the outside the chrome is held on by the windshield gasket. My gasket did not like having the chrome removed and messed with, and started to tear.

Because my convertible top isn't draining into that pillar like the of a coupe should be, I just ended up leaving the chrome trim in place and sealing up the drain entry with silicone. This is admittedly a second best solution, and probably not a good idea on a coupe. It did cut down my water leaks however.

(iii) There is what is described as a 'wing rail drain' covered by the bodywork outboard of the bonnet on both sides. Opening the bonnet, you can see an entry to this drain on the outboard rear (on my car on the LH side this is right next to the 'don't slam the bonnet' sticker). Water draining off the back of the bonnet or coming down on either side of the windshield washer area will find its way in here.

Water drains out here through a series of channels and eventually comes out in front of each door under the hinge. You can see a portion of these channels if you open the doors all the way and look in front of them. You should see a gutter (which is the lower line) more or less following the curvature of the bodywork. Above it you'll see a gutter coming from the front of the bodywork, covered by a plastic 'dingus' at the rear. Any number of problems could crop up with this system.

On my car, the LH side plastic 'dingus' that is supposed to divert water to the lower line was all deformed and not functioning properly. As well, there was a body seam that had a gap in it at around this area (I had to peel back the door gasket to find it), and was allowing water from the exterior to enter the cabin. Sealed this gap up with silicone and ended up drilling a drain hole in the upper line to allow water to flow properly into the lower gutter.

(iv) There is an internal scuttle covered by bodywork that is supposed to route water out behind the front wheels. Many people report this scuttle rusts out with no visible external sign and allows water entry to the cabin as well. I think this scuttle is fed by the A pillar drain described in (ii) above, but apparently there are other ways for water to get to that area as well. To fix it (and actually to see the area) you have to pull the fender guard bodywork above each wheelwell. If that is too daunting, reportedly you can have limited access to it by pulling the aft bodywork in the front wheelwell. Warrjon covers this in some detail in this thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...r-leaks-77948/

Hope this helps...

Cheers,

- Will

 

Thanks Will! I'll refer to your info like a trouble shooting guide as I check each and everything you advised. Again, Thanks for taking the time to try to help me. Bud

 

No problem...

Might be good to have a pitcher of water handy with a hose to refill it as you go along. You can test if water is draining from various areas this way. Especially helpful for the windshield washer drain and the wing rail drain from the bonnet, as water should quickly find it's way to the ground from those areas. It wasn't until I watched the flow of water through the door gutters that I figured out it wasn't working properly on the driver's side.

Some of these areas have to fill up to a certain capacity before they start leaking into the cabin. Almost like they have an external reservoir that can handle a certain amount of water before you start getting leaks under the dash... so the pitcher of water trick doesn't mean you are 100% safe. The A pillar drain seems particularly to have a 'reserve' capacity before you start getting internal water (or at least it does in my case).

Also reread Warrjon's advice on the other thread... he wasn't referring to the wing rail drain, but rather a different drain line that the A pillar drain leads to... apparently there is other ways for water to get to that area. You need to pull bodywork to get access to it, but I suppose that would be a fourth way for water to enter... Editing my original post.

Cheers,

- Will

 

Wouldn't ya know!! Even the leaks on this car are complicated. Does this car have ANYTHING that ISN'T? Foof! Here's a quick question. Why is there ANY place for water to come in? How is THAT a sophisticated design???? UN believeable!!