Michael2
5th November 2008, 08:10 PM
I noted a water stain coming from one of the three bolts on the firewall that hold the clamp for the windscreen onto the firewall.
I removed the clamp to investigate and noted the following :
1. the bolts seem to be a half a mm too long. They bottom out and damage the thread before getting the clamp really tight. I also checked minnithemoochas Defender, and the bolts on his exhibited the same pattern of damage. This was remedied by adding a spring washer to the flat washer on the bolt.
2. if they're loose (not really loose - just not really tight) then water and dust get in there and make a home for rust.
3. the gaskets on mine had perished, allowing moisture in and some lateral movement that also caused damage to the side of the bolt thread. The other Defender had no moisture and no lateral damage to the threads, just end damage where they'd bottomed out.
I cleaned it up, luned the inside of the bracket and the holes and fitted new gaskets with Sikaflex on each side.
The repair takes about 10min per side and you need a 13mm socket on an extension bar, a set of gaskets, some sealant, lube and spring washers. Also a scraper for removing the old gasket.
Check yours today, if they seem loose, don't wind the bolt in any further, unbolt it and fit a spring washer before you damage the thread. Fortunately all the thread damage was on the bolts and not on the clamps.
I hope this helps remedy a water ingress problem now, and a rusty firewall problem in the future.
oops - the title says winscreen instead of windscreen. I saw it just as I hit the submit button, but alas, the EDIT function won't allow me to edit the title.
I removed the clamp to investigate and noted the following :
1. the bolts seem to be a half a mm too long. They bottom out and damage the thread before getting the clamp really tight. I also checked minnithemoochas Defender, and the bolts on his exhibited the same pattern of damage. This was remedied by adding a spring washer to the flat washer on the bolt.
2. if they're loose (not really loose - just not really tight) then water and dust get in there and make a home for rust.
3. the gaskets on mine had perished, allowing moisture in and some lateral movement that also caused damage to the side of the bolt thread. The other Defender had no moisture and no lateral damage to the threads, just end damage where they'd bottomed out.
I cleaned it up, luned the inside of the bracket and the holes and fitted new gaskets with Sikaflex on each side.
The repair takes about 10min per side and you need a 13mm socket on an extension bar, a set of gaskets, some sealant, lube and spring washers. Also a scraper for removing the old gasket.
Check yours today, if they seem loose, don't wind the bolt in any further, unbolt it and fit a spring washer before you damage the thread. Fortunately all the thread damage was on the bolts and not on the clamps.
I hope this helps remedy a water ingress problem now, and a rusty firewall problem in the future.
oops - the title says winscreen instead of windscreen. I saw it just as I hit the submit button, but alas, the EDIT function won't allow me to edit the title.