Whats the point of drain plugs and what sealant to use?

[1bolt]

I know most of you are familiar with the rust out spot right behind the passenger seat, there's a drain plug right there... What exactly is the theory behind these anyway? Are they supposed to allow water to seep out slowly? I assume the sealant is something special that sweats water out that is pooled up on it but resists the spray it gets from underneath going down the road.

Anyway I'm wondering if I should bother trying to get the factory equivalent sealer for this plug as the old has crumbled away while I was doing some rust repairs.

What I'm getting at is, this area is ALREADY a major rust out threat even in younger Cherokee's. That's with the drain plug, if the plug does something then sealing it up would just make the area retain even more water, and rust even worse.

 

[BlueCuda]

I think that drain plug is kind of like the one in your oil pan. If you want it to drain, its gotta come out. With the plug installed there is no drain.

JMO

 

[RichP]

In every vehicle I have ever driven with drain plugs, M151, M113, M577, M2 Bradleys, you pull the drain plugs if an when you get water in there to drain, in the case of the tracked vehicles we stored them with the plugs out because the seals don't always work well when you have 3 or 5 feet of snow on them over the winters when they are parked outside in the motor pool.
In our TJ's we pull the plugs and carpet before heading out, I tend to think the drain plugs in XJ's and ZJ's are more a hold over than anything else and I somehow don't think jeep intended them to ever get submerged. It was not untill the late 90's until I ever even saw an XJ modified for off roading
I want to redo my interior this summer, some sound proofing, better seat covers and maybe new carpet plus I want to check out any rust that may be back there as well. I'm also thinking of opening up an access hole in the cargo area so I can get at the fuel pump from the inside w/o dropping the tank. We'll see..

 

[ZacSquatch]

Their there so you can pull emm and drain the floorboards... unless your just to lazy to pull up the carpet before its starts rustin...which seems to be your case...

 

[1bolt]

Their there so you can pull emm and drain the floorboards... unless your just to lazy to pull up the carpet before its starts rustin...which seems to be your case...

Nice attitude, not sure what prompted you to bother posting, considering others have already posted the same thing, only better put and less assholian in nature.

For what it's worth I've owned my 94 for about two years, and about 40k of it's 250,000 miles; In that time I have stroked it to 4.6, cut fenders, rolled up rear quarters (due to rust), repaired and fixed all sorts of rust, home fabricated my own Cowl induction hood, my own Cold air intake, completely redone the interior, put lockers front and rear (well Truetrack in the front is LSD and was done by the PO), replaced the radiator, the entire AC system with an R12 one, and the entire heating system.

So the next time you feel the burning desire to ASSUME something about someone you know absolutely nothing about, just do us a favor and... well.. you know...

 

[Blaine B.]

Get a pic, I'd like to see the hood.

Just curious - Going to R12.....how many cans of that stuff do you have? If you ever have to recharge its going to be a biotch.

 

[90Blue_XJ]

Yeah I'd like to see that hood as well.
And for anyone interested almost all cars prior to the 90s had drains in the floors covered by rubber or plastic plugs. I have an old MB280CE which has drains and I know no one expected to have the carpets pulled to drain out the interior. A buddy is restoring a 65 Mustang and it has drain plugs as well. I have seen them in tri 5 Chevys too. So who ever thought they were exclusive to Jeeps they are W R O N G...

 

[JEFF]

I replaced the entire front section of floor pan on mine last spring, and I got some "body seam sealer" from my local auto parts store. That worked good than I covered the whole pan with Hurciuliner(sp?). These plugs have to be manuaily removed to get the water out, but there hard to get to under the carpet. You could probably pop them loose from the bottom and then push on the carpet in that area when you have drained the water out to get them back in place.

 

[1bolt]

Mike got your PM responding here since others asked as well. Hood write up is here posted under my previous ID
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=100961

Pics

I do have a R134 compressor sitting around if needed but my R12 will probably outlast the Cherokee or at least the rear sheet metal which is a patchwork at this point. But there's also always Ebay for more R12

 

[Blaine B.]

Damn that looks cool. Never saw those rims painted black either - and that front grille looks like hot sex! Thumbs up!