Important body issue

[joejag308]

We have John Seymour submitting a report re the issue in the JEC magazine on the subject of the front corrosion, John has asked me to put this report in the forum ...........Joe

From: John Seymour - Hi Joe, hope you are well. I have just read Rob Jenner\'s article on inner wing corrosion in Dec. J.E. I actually sent in an article with similar photographs to Nigel Thorley, who reduced it to a very few lines with a photograph of somebody else\'s outer wing in the J.E. a few months ago!
I would whole heartedly agree with Rob Jenner and encourage every owner to check inner wing area, together with bottom of front outer wings at least annually. The construction of the inner wing includes a strengthening plate behind the shock absorber,which is spot welded along its top edge. Very little,if any sealing or paint is used in this area, and in wet weather, water sits on the top edge of this plate, and finds its way down between the spot welds to the inside of the plate, where it causes corrosion from the inside out of this plate, which eventually holes. It is a disgrace that any car, never mind a Jaguar car costing £37500 in 1998 should have this sort of a problem in 2006 when mine was found! I know that my MOT inspector would not pass this damage. The egineering of this problem is about the standard of British Leyland in 1965.
The good news is that at least on mine, the main load bearing structure on the inside was found to be clean, and unaffected, after the remains of the plate were ground off. A new plate was fabricated, and mig welded into positon with a continuous weld, well painted with anticorrosive paint, and undersealed with a very heavy synthetic based polyurethane rubber underseal. Both sides were treated in the same way.
Please, please, publicise this problem through forum. and at least forward e.mail to Rob Jenner
..........We have to use these forums for issues like this,as the editor and the main JEC magazine cant always accomodate the space and the timing of reports like these.......its a big enough job trying to give out the overall Jaguar information within the magazine so please use the forum for any urgent or immediate issues....Joe

[joejag308]

After the initial report from John Seymour and Rob Jenner re their inner wing corrosion has anyone else had this problem and what steps were taken to rectify the problem.
The reason for my enquiry is one or two non members have contacted me re the problem at their MOT test.
It does seem to be worse than we thought or is it speculation?
Anyone else had the problem?........Joe

[Brakebuster]

i have a 1999 XJ8 with 90k on the clock,

i have none of the above signs of corrosion , and i have examined the area in detail, especially after the article,

after i inspected the area i went to the trouble of coating the whole inner arch with underseal, just to ensure more trouble free motoring,

she flew through an MOT last month with no ( none at all ) hint of corrosion

BB

[MrTeatime]

Had the same issue with my 308, welded up both sides. Also had lots of corrosion at the sill ends on all four corners and part of the floor on each front footwell needed patching. Both sides of the car had corrosion where the floor meets the lip on the sill, it wasn't completely gone but bad enough to warrant just cutting out the whole length and replacing.

I've made some modifications to the bodywork as I've went along to counter some of the design flaws that allowed the rust to set in like that in the first place, hopefully that will keep the car in good condition for another few years!

I'm in the process of finishing off the repair work now but I am surprised how much corrosion there was. Just goes to show that as great as these cars are they fall into the same pitfalls as any other car.

Cheers
Dave

[Brakebuster]

MrTeatime

i will point out that my post was over five years ago ,

and lets not forget that any car made of steel will corrode eventually , and given that all of these X308 cars are now older than eleven years old it is not unresonable to expect some corrosion

lets look at the good old XKE , a timeless classic , that rots like its a submarine

jags are not imune to tinworm..... just like Rolls Royce's and Ferrari's etc

BB

[MrTeatime]

Aye, I did notice that, just though I'd post anyway.

Certainly agree with your comments, however there were some silly design flaws in the construction of these cars which do exacerbate the corrosion issue. The rot in my car, even given it's age was worse that I would have expected. Still, with that said despite the flaws the XJ8 is a loveley car and well worth the effort I'm putting in to get her healthy again!

Cheers
Dave

[oldtimer]

Hi Joejag308,
Are you able to identify the names and suppliers of the anti- corrosive paint and also the underseal with a very heavy synthetic based polyurethane rubber referred to in the above article.

I'm sure many of us would be interested in these products especially if they are more recent to the market

Oldtimer

[maybach_man]

Hi All:
(Rant mode on)

I cannot believe any car manufacturer in the late 90's and newer would dream of selling a car in the uk without some sort of underbody protection!! Unfortunately it matches the quality of the mechanical parts.

I inherited a 2000 XJ8 from my father at 28000 miles in Jan 2007. Within the first year i had it i had to replace the complete bottom front wishbones at less than 30000 miles. Serviced by Jaguar main Dealers. The car has now done 37777 miles and will need some work done to corrosion in the front inner sills to pass its mot.
The headlining is doing a great impersonation of seat covers.

As a reference point i am currently restoring a couple of Porsche 928's and one is from 1984. Although there is rust that i am having to replace, the underside is in far better condition than i feel the Jag will be when it gets to the same age. Also although i am replacing all rubber bushes on the rebuild...some i would happily use again!
The build quality of the two cars are polar opposites.

(Rant over)

Geoff

[PaulGover]

Weird. I had a 1997 X308, bought 4 years old, kept it for 9 years. At the end, no underbody rust at all; interior looked as new. And I was in no way a conscientious cleaner; no concours here. It was my daily work vehicle, used throughout the winter and summer, with only an occasional hose down of the underside.

The only rust issue was the fairly common patch on the flitch plates behind the suspension turrets, cured with a little welding. Sadly, the engine (an original Nikasil 3.2) died at 195,000 miles, so it went for scrap.