Question why do Defenders leak ?

[Greyfox]

I know there is oodles of replays on this forum for how to fix a leak , and there is an entire manual on the leaks and how to fix them.
But my question is , " why do defenders leak".
Let me explain further,
We have just come back from a week in Victoria, it was a great trip and "Henry" our defender performed faultlessly, however we had some big storm with heavy rain.
Good ole Henry, has only one leak in the drivers footwell right on top of the accelerator pedal, anyway the misses asked " why do defenders leak".
I had to think of a reply to this as Henry always leaks, I came up with the following answers.
Answer 1, It is a design feature to let you know that it is raining.
Answer 2, All defenders were made on a Friday of a long weekend.
Answer 3, Just to remind you that you are driving a defender.

My question to you all is, what is the answer that you give to this question?

Merry Christmas to you all and safe driving.

If every car on the road is a defender there would be no road rage and lots of smiles :p

[sheerluck]

It's simple. It's because every Defender is lovingly nailed together by two guys by the names of Clive and Wayne in a ratty old part of the Land Rover factory in Solihull (the new shiny bits of the factory are used for the posh toys like the Evoque), where sometimes the lights fail.

Clive and Wayne are very dedicated though, and when the lights fail they continue working by touch and candlelight. Those leaks you have are the results of their dedication and high work ethic.:D

[redneck.woman91]

Not the question being asked, but does anybody have any idea what that particular leak that Greyfox is talking about is? I have the same one and for the last 10 years I havent been able to figure out what it is or how to stop it!

[THE BOOGER]

Its water and if you park in a garage that doesnt leak neither does the car:twisted:

seriously if it leaks when your driving have a look at the air vent try to see if it is sealing my series leaks through then vent then drips down onto the pedals:)

[redneck.woman91]

Lol it is the strangest leak, we have replaced the bulkhead vent seals before and it didnt stop the issue.

[Scouse]

Lol it is the strangest leak, we have replaced the bulkhead vent seals before and it didnt stop the issue.The gaskets under the windscreen frame to firewall brackets are prone to leaking too.

[jimr1]

:( hi ,greyfox,i'm sure your wife and mine would get on just fine. My stage one V8 my 110 county and my td5 extreme all leak .You would think that being made in one of the wetest countrys in the world,plus they'v getting made since 1948 they would have got it right. I sopose it will be one of lifes great mysterys. The two lads in the land rover shead , working by candel light , explains a lot ,so if any one knows how to stop or fix them leaking please let us know .Have a merry christmas .:)

[Blknight.aus]

Its a traction Aid thing.

When you're fording if you dont get extra weight in the ehicle it will float the back end and become uncontrollable. The holes in the floor let the water in bu if you didnt have vent holes in the roof the water wouldnt be able to get in in the same way that water cant get into an up turned glass if you push it underwater. Similarly it wouldnt be able to get out (just like if you turn a glass upside down under water you can lift a body of water above the normal surface level)

Typically where air gets out water can get in.

[Landy Smurf]

ah the old peeing on the right foot. I think they do it on purpose just for laughs

[Tombie]

It's simple. It's because every Defender is lovingly nailed together by two guys by the names of Clive and Wayne in a ratty old part of the Land Rover factory in Solihull (the new shiny bits of the factory are used for the posh toys like the Evoque), where sometimes the lights fail.

Clive and Wayne are very dedicated though, and when the lights fail they continue working by touch and candlelight. Those leaks you have are the results of their dedication and high work ethic.:D

Sorry mate, but the guys bolting your Landies together have names like:

Rahul
Ajay
Aaryan
Sidharth
Sameer
Vikram
Nikhil
Anshul
Tushaar

[PAT303]

Try the door seal,water fills the V in the seal and runs down to the floor,one fix is to put a hole in the seal so it leaks back out instead of back in,also one of the many upgrades the TDCi's got was better door seals,retrofit to your earlier model. Pat

[superquag]

The only reason LR keep selling...is because of a masochistic, patient, understanding but othewise insane group of owners... and the best marketing strategy(s) in the world.

Apart from treating their customer-base with respect, other manufacturers take pride in getting the little issues correct as well as the Big Ones.

[JDNSW]

The serious answer to the question "Why do Defenders leak?", is more or less as follows.

The basic design (1948) was not intended to be watertight, as it was a working vehicle, in a time that if you worked in the rain, you accepted getting wet. (Remember that at the time no Australian made car had a heater, for example, and it was illegal to drive with the driver's window shut, as you needed to make hand signals.) In 1948, any form of roof was optional, as were door tops - and door seals were not even optional.

Since the basic design has not changed, sealing has had to be more or less improvised to add to the basic design, rather than being designed in from the start. The design aspects that lead to sealing problems are:-

The body is bolted together from a large number of separate components. This enables the wide variety of different bodies, but every bolted join is a potential leak.

Being designed to need minimum tooling means that door openings etc have sharp corners. These are very difficult to seal.

The usual source of leaks onto your feet are - water coming through the bolt holes for the brackets at the base of the windscreen; faulty join between the clutch or brake pedal assembly and the footwell; Damaged or missing rubber plugs in redundant holes in the bulkhead; rust holes in the footwell. Vents are often blamed, but rarely the real culprit. Door seals a little more often the problem.

John

[nedflanders]

Sorry mate, but the guys bolting your Landies together have names like:

Rahul
Ajay
Aaryan
Sidharth
Sameer
Vikram
Nikhil
Anshul
Tushaar

Just think what they'd be called if they didn't build em in Solihull!

[NT5224]

Sorry mate, but the guys bolting your Landies together have names like:

Rahul
Ajay
Aaryan
Sidharth
Sameer
Vikram
Nikhil
Anshul
Tushaar


:lol2: Good one!


When Mrs NT5224 and I did the factory tour last year we were pleased to spot a good few women wielding their screwdrivers and hammers on the assembly line. I was particularly impressed by one lady who was charged with hoisting the engines manually into position tugging on a bare chain run through an overhead pulley system.

So perhaps we should include a few Sarvitha's in your list -Although pulley girl looked more like a Vera!

Cheers

Alan

[Sparkys]

Where are the defenders built nowadays?

[THE BOOGER]

Still assembled at sulihull from bits from all over the place:p