Rain Water, floor pans

Are there common locations the Cherokee leaks rain water in, I just bought a 99, and every time it rains the floors get soaked.

Thanks.

The XJ has several common areas that leak:
-windshield seal
-door seals/door frame adjustment
-A/C blower motor seal
-am/fm antenna wire grommet
-firewall seals/grommets
-firewall sheet metal seams
-undiscovered holes in the floor pan

Make sure the doors are fitted correctly in the openings and fully compress the seals. Use a garden hose and helper to test other problem areas.

Like Tim said, most of my water leaks have been from the bottom up. Pin holes in the floor pan, mostly on the passengers side. The rotation of the tires is constantly slinging water up against the floor pan. The heat from the exhaust and the CAT, tend to accelerate corrosion IMO.

And the rear wheel wells, same thing, you get rust on the seams, they rot and separate a little and the tires sling water up through the openings. The water eventually finds it's way to the lowest spot.

I have a tiny seep in my windshield someplace. Water leaks through to the inside of my rear hatch.

Door rubber and door fit. I use a dollar bill. Close the door on the dollar bill between the door and the rubber and tug. You should feel a slight resistance. Try different spots on the door. It has been my experience when the seals leak, the front part of the door is more likely to be where it is leaking.

A word to the wise, don't let those wet carpet pads sit there full of moisture for months. Especially if they salt the roads where you live. You track salt inside, it gets in the carpet and eventually finds it's way into the carpet pads. A bad mix, metal and salt. It would probably be wise to pull the seats and look under the carpet and try to catch it before things get out of control. I know it is a pain, a bigger pain is having to weld the floor pans. Rubber floor mats aren't the answer, they tend to trap the moisture underneath.

Awesome advice guys, thanks. I just got my hands on this jeep, looks like floor pan are already rusted through, i didn't catch it when i checked the jeep out. I was in a rush, BIG mistake.

Been there done that. I bought one, that the guy had camouflaged the floor pans so well I never noticed he used tin foil. If he had spent the same amount of time fixing it as did camouflaging it, it would have been fixed.

8Mud said:

Been there done that. I bought one, that the guy had camouflaged the floor pans so well I never noticed he used tin foil. If he had spent the same amount of time fixing it as did camouflaging it, it would have been fixed.

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What did you do to fix the floor pans, go straight for full weld in replacements? Pull the carpet, cut out, and weld in. Or? Im thinking if i pull the carpet, id replace it new. I really dont wanna pull the carpet though.

I managed to fold and prop the carpet up out of the way far enough to weld what I needed in the front. I left the consol intact and mounted. The rear carpet came out fairly easy. I used sticks to hold the carpet up out of the way and kind of wedged them in there.

I replaced the sections I needed to with sheet metal (21 gauge). And welded them in with a MIG. 23 or 24 gauge may have worked out better, but I had a sheet of 21 gauge in the shop.

Don't be afraid to strip back more paint and undercoating than you think you should. You may find some surprises under the paint and uncoating. An angle grinder with a wire wheel strips the paint and uncoating off fairly fast. But it is dangerous, full face shield and a heavy jacket. Thick leather gloves and throat protection. Those wire wheels on an angle grinder are spinning fast, I think I remember reading somewhere around 10,000 RPM, if a bristle flies off it is flat dangerous. I had to pull one out of my cheek with a pair of pliers, kind of like Cholla Cactus thorns.

I'm pretty good with sheet metal and managed to mold my patches in pretty well.

I painted with a coat of Hammerit flat black and dried it with some 500 watt lights. Then put on a coat of gloss black, dried it with the lamps and then undercoated the bottom.

The best technique I found to weld the replacement panels in is a series of spot welds. It is kind of slow going, but it the long run saves you time trying to deal with burn throughs while trying to run a bead. Running a bead can also cause you issues with heat warp. It isn't a bad idea to weld a section then move over aways (4 plus inches) and weld another, king of stagger your welds so the heat spreads out and dissipates.

Another technique that helps is, once you heat the metal up some by welding a section, you can hammer it into shape fairly easy with a medium sized ball peen hammer and help make a good tight fit.

Another tip is to wire wheel the factory mastic strips off of spots they were applied at the factory. Like the rear seat cross brace and other spots. The rust starts working under the mastic strips.

The .024 or the .030 wire for the MIG is likely the best choice. Maybe start out with the .024 and switch to .030 as you get a rhythm going. Kind of labor intensive, it is slow going. I spent around 60 hours over a two week period welding mine up.

Another technique that helps is to wire brush off the flash and soot periodically, welding to clean metal is a lot easier. And weld as much from the top as possible.

Another tip is to have a pump spray bottle full of water handy, two reasons, if the undercoating ignites and/or you can spray down the stuff that is heat sensitive with water before you weld. One thing you rarely hear anybody mention is you can MIG weld wet metal, if you get sloppy with the water it doesn't mean anything or case any issues. I often wet down sheet metal when welding to help avoid heat warp.