Well it is now some months since I last posted regarding the wet footwells and alot has happened, and been spent, since then! A phone call to Clarkes XJS specialists in Sussex put me on the right track. When I bought the car two small bubbles of rust on the scuttle panels up against the lower windscreen chrome surround and two similar ones on the roof up against the chrome were pointed out to me and dismissed as being insignificant. They were not!!! Clarkes told me that these small areas were the tip of the iceberg as beneath the chrome I would find large holes which would not have been noticeable when the screen came out as the screens come out without having to remove the chrome surround. Aparently this is a very common problem with later facelift cars of 93, 94, 95 and 96 vintage, affecting most of them. As I am 300 miles from Sussex I knew of a specialist classic car firm near me who, although more Austin Healey than XJS specialists, decided to take on the job. Their sprayer was fantastic and, after Autoglass were called back to remove the new screen again, removed all the chrome and trim carefully to reveal the most disgusting mess you can imagine! Two big holes on either side of the scuttle panel virtually hidden by trim apart from the tiny little edge which I had seen and dismissed. The whole of the edge of the screen aperture behind the central grill panel had gone and both A pillars were hanging on by a thread. the roof where it meets the chrome was rusted through too. Considering that before I went to the expence, £1800, of having this job started I prematurely had the car MOT'd and fully inspected underneath with absolutely no rust or rot found anywhere, I was more than a little surprised with this awful discovery. However Kevin the sprayer did a fantastic job of preparing for welding and matching the colour so perfectly ( this is Spruce Green and very difficult to match )that you cannot see the join anywhere saving me a great deal more cost in whole panel repaints. The screen was duly replaced and no further water can possibly get in.....but first day out and guess what.... more water and all I had done was wash the car. NOW WHAT. Well it turned out that the windscreen, although the main one, was not the only problem as it was also leaking from the blocked air conditioning drains which stupidly hang down either side of the transmission tunnel. Once unblocked that stopped completely. So bit by bit we are getting there. One last problem (having got rid of the major cause the rest was easy to isolate) were the door rubbers where the upper front edge of the doors meat the front wings and there is a massive gap for rain to fall into giving the rubbers an awful time if they are not virtually air tight. This bit of work is in progress but the car can happily sit outside, uncovered in all weathers now with the smallest amount of water running down the door trim and over the the round speaker covers onto a towel. The towel is not ideal but I am getting there and have every confidence that it will soon be completely leak free. Now if I could only sort out the central locking which won't let me into the boot every now and then it would really be a cause for Celebration!!
Celebration Leaks Nearly Sorted
rickybabe- Posts : 9
Join date : 2010-02-11
Age : 75
Location : Scarborough Yorks
- Post n°1