Been facing this issue about a year or so now, anytime the Jag would sit our for the night and we would get a decent rain, the next morning's drive would include water being dumped on the drivers feet, and occasional on the passengers. I was able to ignore it for a while, but now that it's a daily driver the issue had to be confronted.

Turns out the source of the leaks is that the two channels, in the wiper assembly area, that were supposed to dump water into the forward fender wells had rust holes. The reason isn't hard to see, the lowest point of the recess where the wiper assembly mounts is lower than the lowest part of the drains, so water would just sit there. As Neil Young said, "rust never sleeps", and eventually the metal was just eaten away.

The holes were not immediately obvious because the flexible rubber pieces that are mounted near the drain holes had to be peeled back first.

My solution was to coat the rust areas with quick-setting epoxy (so the epoxy wouldn't have time to drain into the holes and whatever is beneath, then coat the area with water sealant.

What I've not done yet, but plan to do, is use some substance to raise the level of the recess in the wiper assembly area so water won't have any choice but to go to the drains.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12

 

Sorry, forgot to rotate pictures!

John

 

Thanks for sharing!

Interesting. The rusting in your pictures appears pretty substantial

My '85 XJS also leaks water, but on the driver's side. That's why I don't drive/leave the car in a rain anymore.

I opened up the wiper motor well a few weeks ago, but did not notice anything that unusual. See below. Maybe I should take another look, to confirm.

 

I can't tell by the perspective of you photo, but on mine there are two rubber sheets that surround the drains. These had detached calking around them. I couldn't see any of the rust until I pulled them back. If yours doesn't have the rubber sheets, then I would think any rusting would be obvious.

One thing I learned in finding this leak was that it was very helpful to jack one side of the car up so the water would run to that side. As soon as I put the hose into the drain area (after jacking the car so the right side was higher than the left side) then water would start running down just above the bonnet release.

Good luck with it!

John