cleaning up the sport

dark92xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Collins, CO
So pulled out all my seats/carpet etc....found two huge rust holes in the floor pan (super). I have a few questions...

Is there an easy way to clean off the front passenger carpet?

Whats the best way to clean my new seats that i bought...they have vinyl on them and i dont think the washing machine will be too friendly with them.

Also whats the best way to go about fixing the rust holes? I was thinking about either getting some sheet metal and brazing it on or just riveting them in?
 
For cleaning the carpet.... just take it to a carwash. Or if you have a pressure washer spray till clean. Seats if you can get the covers off the seat throw them in the washer and let sit out in the sun till dry! Not sure how to fix the rust though.
 
Get a good household carpet cleaner and spend some time scrubbing... works wonders, on the Powerstroke forum I'm on there's a bug goin around where for some reason we're all removing the seats in our trucks and scrubbing the carpets down lol, it makes a world of difference on the look of the interior.
X2 on what Kiefer said bout the seats.
As for the rust, cut out the places where the cancer is, and make sure to be liberal on the cutting (within reason) and give a good few inches of clean-looking floor between the rust and the cut... if you don't get all of it, it'll just come back. It's like weeds, or actual cancer. Then take some thin sheet metal, 1/8" should be good, and weld it in if you're good with a welder, or have somebody do it for you. I wouldn't rivet em if I were you, being a unibody it'll flex a little here and there and move the rivets around and scrape off any rest-prevention coating you put on the holes and then you'll get rust there. Weld em, cover it all in rustoleum or similar, and then replace the carpet or bedline it.
 
These trucks usually rust from the inside out , I bet you have a leak in the cowl or somewhere under the dash . I'd find and fix that first , then I'd patch
the floor pan . I thought mine was all good but after all the rain we've had
I found a quarter inch of standing water in the floor .

With the carpet out it should be easy enough to tell .
 
The bad thing is that the rust hole is actually right above the muffler. Ill get some pics and post them up later after work. Come to find out there were two holes in the floor pan.
 
These trucks usually rust from the inside out , I bet you have a leak in the cowl or somewhere under the dash . I'd find and fix that first , then I'd patch
the floor pan . I thought mine was all good but after all the rain we've had
I found a quarter inch of standing water in the floor .

With the carpet out it should be easy enough to tell .
pretty much anyone that i've talked to with an XJ has found a wet spot on the carpet just below the left side of the steering collumn... WTF... me no comprende... and I've got the same thing when it rains or snows real hard!
 
The best way to find the leak is to pull the carpet , dry everything out and use
a power washer on the cowl , spread out some baby powder on the floor of the cab and see where the water is coming from . Put the powder down first , then
hose the crap out of it , inside the cowl , around the doors and windows .

These evasive leaks can come from anywhere , sometimes finding them is easy , fixing them is a whole different story . I like to use windshield urethane
and primer on anything I find a leak on , that doesn't require a new seal like the door jams .
 
about the leak in front of the wheel. i had the carpet out of mine for a few days and let the jeep sit out side in the rain for that time and i found that water was leaking in through the hole in the fire wall where the fuse box mounts. yours could also be a clogged drain in the cowl
 
Couple spots ive found for leaks:

under the hood (near hinges) pinch seam (fender side) - leaked on both sides of mine
around the grommet for the main harness to get from cab to engine
around the blow motor (97+) - has a neoprene gasket that dry rots

havent encoutered yet, but around any hole from the cab to the engine bay. the rubber dry rots over time and you loose the seal. clear silicone fixed all the leaks i had
 
Click free:

DSCN1290.jpg
 
Back
Top