With the recent discussion of various rust spots, unless your car is a
lifelong southwest car, I would venture to say that you could be deluding
yourself thinking that your XJS is “rust free.” For those with cars over a
decade old, there are places that you cannot readily see where rust forms
easily. If you quickly walked under and around my '84, you may think that
it looks pretty solid. Let me tell the list where I found the cancer, so
that other owners and potential owners can TRY to look. There is rust (when
I say rust, I mean that metal has been eaten THROUGH, not even counting the
surface rust) in the trunk (two holes in the lowest points on both rear
corners), in the outer body panel that goes from the rear bumper down to
meet the trunk floor, all around behind each rear bumper piece (if you don’t
pull away ALL of the carpeting, you won’t see it), and in the front fenders
where they meet the rockers.
Now, I can’t SEE any rust (even surface rust) on the rockers, but I have to
believe that they are rusting from the inside out, as most things do. The
worst is the floor - there are many pieces of sheetmetal that are SANDWICHED
and overlap, so rust forms between the sheets all along the tranny tunnel
and up to the front of the footwells. This is from the inside, and for
many, the outside panels which includes the jacking points have been mangled
and are rusting, too.
My car’s radius arm mounting points are solid, as are the spring “cups,” but
this is another, more dangerous rust area, as is the rusting fuel tank many
are familiar with.
Sorry so lengthy.
-Darren
'84 mechanically great, still might patch and drive until it falls apart_________________________________________________________________
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With the recent discussion of various rust spots, unless your car is a
lifelong southwest car, I would venture to say that you could be deluding
yourself thinking that your XJS is “rust free.” For those with cars over
a
decade old, there are places that you cannot readily see where rust forms
easily. If you quickly walked under and around my '84, you may think that
it looks pretty solid. Let me tell the list where I found the cancer,
Sorry so lengthy.
-Darren
'84 mechanically great, still might patch and drive until it falls apart
So, what state is your car quietly rusting away in?
Mike----- Original Message -----
From: “D Stern” mummatup@hotmail.com
To: xj-s@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Sunday, 28 October, 2001 10:20 AM
Subject: [xj-s] Rust free??!
Even the southwest cars are in trouble now. Until a couple years ago we never
saw salt trucks here in SW Missouri. They used to use crushed gravel (limestone)
on the slick roads, still do on most roads. I avoid driving the Jag and a few
other cars on wet winter roads now.
A good ‘end’ of winter project that should be on everyone’s list is a good ‘top
to bottom’ inspection, cleaning and detailing. I don’t thing there are many that
would go as far as I do with this ‘spring cleaning’, removing the bumpers, all
bolt on trim pieces and rubber seals. A little overkill but it only takes one
weekend to do this work. After seeing Ed’s photos of the interior rust I will
be removing the rear carpet on my convertible, the front and boot carpet have
been checked already. So far the wiper box drain area is the only rust I have
found, not counting the fan shroud and cooling system parts.
There are a few ‘rust free’ XJ-S’s out there. How long we can keep them that way
??
Al Askevold
90 XJ-S CONV.
The Ozarks, USAFrom: “D Stern”
Hi All,
With the recent discussion of various rust spots, unless your car is a
lifelong southwest car, I would venture to say that you could be deluding
yourself thinking that your XJS is “rust free.” For those with cars over a
decade old, there are places that you cannot readily see where rust forms
easily. If you quickly walked under and around my '84, you may think that
it looks pretty solid. Let me tell the list where I found the cancer, so
that other owners and potential owners can TRY to look. There is rust (when
I say rust, I mean that metal has been eaten THROUGH, not even counting the
surface rust) in the trunk (two holes in the lowest points on both rear
corners), in the outer body panel that goes from the rear bumper down to
meet the trunk floor, all around behind each rear bumper piece (if you don’t
pull away ALL of the carpeting, you won’t see it), and in the front fenders
where they meet the rockers.
Now, I can’t SEE any rust (even surface rust) on the rockers, but I have to
believe that they are rusting from the inside out, as most things do. The
worst is the floor - there are many pieces of sheetmetal that are SANDWICHED
and overlap, so rust forms between the sheets all along the tranny tunnel
and up to the front of the footwells. This is from the inside, and for
many, the outside panels which includes the jacking points have been mangled
and are rusting, too.
My car’s radius arm mounting points are solid, as are the spring “cups,” but
this is another, more dangerous rust area, as is the rusting fuel tank many
are familiar with.