Lockdown Rain, Elan - what would you do?

[Allison]

Put it outside and see where the rain comes in. I feel its about time I could drive in the rain without a wet carpet and wet ankles! Maybe one day.

[alan.barker]

On my first 1968 +2 when it rained there was sooo much water on the Driver's side i had to roll up the bottom of my trousers. So i removed the driver's seat and Floor Carpet. When it rained i sat in the Passenger Seat and waited to see where the Leak was. I was amazed to see the Leak was from the Air Vent in the side of the Roof. Water was making a Puddle inside the Air Vent then coming through the badly laminated grp. I had to remove the vertical quarter panel trim around the Seat belt to see it. After some resin and chopped strand matt all was fixed.
On the outside of the Air vents where the alloy grill fits you need a little notch at the bottom to stop the Puddle forming.
The moral of the story is not all leaks are from the windscreen Seal Rubber
Alan

[Allison]

Not obvious that there's leak from the air vent - but I'll check it out! Main problem was the plenum chamber and the multitude of holes through the bulkhead where grommets have failed or were absent; also fixing points for handbrake, bonnet catches and wipers. I had spent some time leading up to this with a watering can followed by attempted back break as my torch and I stared up from the floor looking for drips!

[Keith Scarfe]

The place where I found the most water ingress was where the wiper arms join to the bodywork via that angled boss. There is a little paper gasket for the joint so I made one up and glued it with silicone sealer. No water comes in there now.

[Alasdair]

I frequently had wet carpets and trousers on both sides of my S4 that I have owned for almost 36 years, took me a while to realize it was the old windshield rubber that had deteriorated at both lower corners, a new windshield rubber cured it!

[TBG]

I have a DHC and the roof is a super fit so no leaks there - BUT I have had to silicone up all the holes in the bulkhead around every wire/pipe/gap and now Mission Control no longer has to sit with a rubbish bag on her lap!

[JonB]

Also try flowable silicone. Works a treat on those old bulkhead grommets and the pedal box gasket. On my Plus 2 I have poured it carefully round the pedal box, on the wiring grommets and anywhere else that might leak (including the join line between screen and lower trim. It sets translucent and can be peeled off if you don't like the look of it. You do not need an applicator, just drip it judiciously round the suspected leaky join. Let gravity do its thing - it will sink into, and fill, the hole (up to a point). The finished job should look pretty tidy.

Result: no leaks.

Incidentally, there is another product called Tolley's Creeping Crack sealant, which is used in the boating world. Looks like milk and uses capillary action to fill small cracks. I found it was quite useless on the Elan, it does not seem to set and just gets washed off next time the car gets wet. One to avoid IMHO.