Puma Leak

[bemm52]

After a few indicator issues after some wet driving in Victoria I checked areas advised in another thread...............Thanks Guys.

Decided to give the car a good clean..........on lifting the mat in the rear (MY13 90) I found that water and dust had ingressed where the floor panel meets the cabin panel behind the front seats under the roll bar :eek:

This appears to be a lap joint with the rear panel laying on top of the rear of the cabin panel dust and water mark showed water had come in across full width of vehicle and under mat was wet a week after driving through rain.

Is this a common fault..........I could Sikaflex the join but I'm concerned that under the lap join will be a structural steel(chassis) member and I don't want to encourage corrosion by sealing water in.

Want to keep this car for a long time so I'm thinking preventative maintenance had a 2a many moons ago where the A pillar was rusted out and the problem never surfaced until I was TBoned by a lunatic who drove through an intersection without looking..........passenger side luckily seat empty but rust was in both pillars

Cheers Paul

[debruiser]

I havn't noticed this, but I do get some dust ingress back around the rear seats, where they bolt through the body I think. I always drive with the windows open so you can hardly tell with all the other dust in the car!

[debruiser]

Was just thinking about this while having Breaky; and was thinking that the sealing quality of Defenders seems to be a bit hit and miss, you have your tub leak, I have the classic defender drivers foot drip....

I think that the files tab has a document re: water ingress for Defenders, I have a copy saved on my harddrive somewhere. It's a very handy document that describes a whole stack of leaks and solutions for each. WITH pictures :D It's was aptly named "Land Rover Defender Water ingress manual"

[BilboBoggles]

When I bought my last defender I also bought 3 tubes of Butlyl Mastic from Bunnings and went to town underneath sealing up the seams. It's not really a quality issue as they are designed to bolt together like that and consequently have seam gaps. If it were welded it would not be a Defender.

But here is a special trick - get a very bright light source and place it against the inside of the vehicle at night where the leaks are. Then hop out, and let your eyes adjust to the darkness. lying under your back, look under neath and you will see light where the gaps are. Using a torch so you can see, squirt the Butly mastic into the gap until you don't see light. Then repeat from the outside in. I used three tubes on mine, and still have a few gaps to seal.

I used a 18" double flouro fitting as it does not generate much heat. (Be careful you don't burn the interior with a halogen.)

Any way after a few goes at that you'll get the Defender fairly leak (dust) free.

[Cracka]

Don't mean to hijack Bemm, but it is leak related.....

Debruiser, the foot drip I have found I get it if I'm parked with the drivers side slightly down. I found it is coming in through the windscreen rubber, the outside portion of the rubber section that goes around the body side not the glass.

It seems it gets in at the top of the windscreen, runs down and then makes its way inside where the welds are in the bulkhead. I can see mine just in front of the tweeter on the dash, it then runs down the bulkhead, drips onto the bonnet release, fills that up and then overflows.

I also found I was getting a little in via the rubber plugs in the bulkhead for the wipers on left hand drive models. Slipped them out, tiny bit of sikaflex, back and all good.

Mick

[debruiser]

I haven't even looked for mine. It's going for it's 1st service in a couple weeks, they can fix it for me. :D

[bemm52]

Lift the mat and have a bo peep if its the same problem let us know the cure I'm under warranty too

Cheers Paul

[discojools]

Just had my 90 in for water in the foot wells..warranty job. They said they did fair bit resealing inc top of pillar where it meets the roof and bottom of the windscreen amongst other things.
Will have t wait for it to rain now.

[cooperrat]

Just lifted the rubber mat in my 90 and found water under mat and on marine carpet I had put in too..guess its time to crawl under the car tonight when the sun goes down.........oh and the obligatory swarf as well. Watch out for your fingers if your trying to find the water!

turns out i didn't have to wait for the sun to go down. Moved the seats forward and i could see daylight thru the bulkhead joint. Had a look underneath and the sealing tape in the joint was hanging loose. From the factory i guess. A squirt of body sealer goo type stuff with a silicon gun sorted that… Will check it out again after the next rain session. cheers