Thread: Defender doors airtight or not?

havent you noticed the "no animal testing" logo on the defenders?

I thought the doors were the exit path for the "Flow Through Air Conditioning" and to let the water out.

Very efficient

Yep and they kept finding kittens in the cavities from then on. Those squeaks you hear in your Defender are not squeaks but kittens descended from that original moggy.

When I bought my new Defender I thought I would ask the sales man how well the door seals work. (just to gauge his honesty)

He paused for a moment then replied "The new Defenders drain really well"

Hahaaha

Originally Posted by jik22

Was just reading an article on difflock about adjusting Defender doors, and I came across this:

Just a quick note regarding shut lines on a Land Rover Defender . . .

In the early 80's it was widely reported that Mitsubishi wanted to test the effectiveness of the door seals on the Shogun both to prevent water ingress during wading and to keep out the sand when entering the various desert races they had entered. All their measuring equipment proved inconclusive so they locked a cat into the vehicle and went away for a few hours. When they later returned the cat had suffocated, neatly proving that the air-tight security of the Sogun was satisfactory.

Not wanting to be outdone the men-in-brown-overalls at Solihull decided to try the same experiment with the (then) new 90 and 110. A scraggy moggy was obtained and locked into a Land Rover fresh of the line. The engineers firstly ensured that all doors and windows were firmly closed then went to lunch.

When they returned the cat had escaped!

So maybe those gaping shut-lines on your motor are a design feature?

They are still using a similar story at Solihull on their factory tour! Only the reference vehicle is a BMW.

the leaks on your doors provide several functions..

1. they provide the fresh air inlet and outlets for when you have the flaps shut windows up and aircon on.
2. they allow water in during deep wading to help ballast the car
3. they let the ballast water back out again
4. they provie addidional cab drainage to deal with the roof/window/windshield leaks

I was wodering why I have never seen mice in my fender even when parked in the hay shed that is full of them