89 dashboard removal

Pics will be up soon.

dash came out pretty good for an amateur! Not sure if I like the ski slope or not but it looks much better than what was there

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David …

Very nice work there mate, the dash top turned out really well !

I especially like the console lid and ski slope. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done before and if you would have asked me I would have said “No way” … but it really looks great, a very contemporary touch.

The only negative comment I have is you going with the retro “Bar Wire” look under the dash, it’s been so-o overdone :smiley:

I decided a while back I would put the bolsters back when I got all the issues strait, just about ready when the dash gauge lights flickered off and on, I think I’ll hold off for a bit!

David …

Did you ever get your dash gauge lights fixed ? I recently dealt with the same thing and finally tracked down the problem.

It hasn’t happened again, but I think I will leave the bolsters out on the drivers side for now. Currently chasing a water leak on the passenger side floor.

A/C drain tube blocked, damaged or disconnected?

No, I do park on a slope with the passenger side low, starting to think some other,joker valve?

If you are getting water in the footwell when the car is parked and the A/C is not running you may have a clogged plenum drain valve (commonly called the duck bill, see #2 in the diagram below). Info about this problem is in the archives.

Does the car have a sun roof? If so blocked drains for that will cause the problem, but I would think you would get a shower when moving off if that was the case.

David …

Toss us a bone ! Does your car only leak when it rains or-r-r not.

Yup only when it rains, silly question, but not always, I park on a slope with the passenger side low so I am thinking about a leak under dash not all draining thru the duckbill. No leaks with ac on but it does seam to be coming from the tranny hump side.

I’ve had the same problem with water in the passenger side footwell following heavy rain .I’ve been chasing the problem for months now. The weird thing is it is intermittent. It can rain for weeks, I’ll check daily and the carpets remain bone dry, then one day I’ll check and it is saturated. I’ve removed the duckbill completely and thought that had fixed it but I was wrong. I removed the knee bolsters and the glove box and sprayed a power washer all over that side of the car and not a drop came into the car. I left the carpet and the foam sound deadening out for about 3 months and despite some of the heaviest rainfall during which time I used the car daily, the floor and transmission tunnel remained bone dry. I refitted the the mats and everything was great for several weeks then one morning there was a puddle about an inch deep and I had to remove the lot again. I had a similar problem on my last XJ40 but I traced that to a rusted hole around the large rubber grommet where the loom enters the car underneath the plastic shield that protects the area beneath the wing, but on this car that area is in perfect condition and the grommet is sealing perfectly so I’m currently baffled. The only clue so far is, it seems to depend on which way round I park my car on the sloped driveway. If I reverse into the driveway so the front of the car is lower the mats seem to get wet more frequently, but not always. Parking with the front of the car on the top of the slope ALMOST eliminates the wetness completely but I can still occasionally find them wet after a heavy downpour.

This spot is a favourite entry point for rain or car-wash water and depending on parking position, road camber and whether RHD or LHD will manifest itself in either the driver’s or passenger footwell.

It drove me crazy finding out how water was getting into my footwell as I too checked every possible entry point and came up ‘dry’ …still, there it was, wet carpets.

On my LHD car, parked at the kerb on a flat section of the street, the driver’s side was slightly higher due to road camber. When it rained, rainwater ran down the windshield and into the gutter at the bottom of the screen - normally, right?

Now this gutter, which continues for a short distance (3"- 4") under the fender then ends abruptly, is designed to let the water drip down harmlessly into the wheel well and on to the road. That was the theory, and indeed when the car is moving or on a level surface, it works as designed.
Unfortunately, when the car is not level, gravity lets the rainwater fall on to the electrical harness directly below and wends it’s way along the harness to the big 2-1/2" grommet that brings the wiring to the fuseboxes. It then seeps around the seal and gets drawn inside the car.
In a wet climate, this grommet area being almost continually damp will eventually rust into a large hole - as I’m sure many owners in the UK have found out.

On my car, I found the problem before it rusted and soon after I stopped parking under cover. The way I ‘fixed’ the problem was to take a 6" length of 3/4" rubber hose, cut a 2" slit in one end and “impaled” it on to the gutter end, zip-tied to the sunroof drain tube to keep it in place. I also cleaned the grime from the grommet mating surfaces and added some gipe to further ensure it was sealed up.

With this kluge in place, the drips don’t eject from the gutter any more but move along the hose to a point a few inches beyond the harness where they can find their way to the ground unimpeded.

Larry …

Very clever fix to a rather devious problem.

found some old pix that illustrates the issue:

looks like I zip-tied it to the wiring harness not the sunroof drain …

Where is that last pic, in the wheel well?

David - the last two pics are in the wheel well, looking up inside the fender with the plastic inner wheel arch liner removed.
No guarantee this is where your car is leaking, but when you remove the wheel arch liner, check out the lower grommet where the harness enters the footwell - or do as I did, get under and have a look while you run a hose onto the windshield.

I think I will try the hose first, I have it parked on a level slab and will check whenI get back next week, if dry she goes back o

n the slope and out comes the hose! As the pic shows she is on a slope to the passenger side.

Parked like that, if you had the “grommet leak” like I did, the leak would be in the driver’s footwell not the passenger’s …:grimacing: