General advice
Discussion
Looking for advice in couple of areas...
1) Got a damp smell in the coupe that need to be rectified. Believe it's either the top or carpets that cause this smell.
What should be my first step before replacing the carpets?
Are there any common areas where water get that should be sealed up?
Is it worth getting most carpets out for a proper clean?
2) About to get a mobile jump start battery to keep with me in the boot.
Anyone got experience of using the standard Halfords one made for 1800cc engines?
If Halfords version is too weak, please recommend where I can get one that is powerful enough..
3) About to replace old spark leads and the spark lead/plug "sockets" (what's the proper term for this?).
Any recommendations where I should turn for these spare parts?
>> Edited by nordin450 on Wednesday 25th January 09:06
1) Got a damp smell in the coupe that need to be rectified. Believe it's either the top or carpets that cause this smell.
What should be my first step before replacing the carpets?
Are there any common areas where water get that should be sealed up?
Is it worth getting most carpets out for a proper clean?
2) About to get a mobile jump start battery to keep with me in the boot.
Anyone got experience of using the standard Halfords one made for 1800cc engines?
If Halfords version is too weak, please recommend where I can get one that is powerful enough..
3) About to replace old spark leads and the spark lead/plug "sockets" (what's the proper term for this?).
Any recommendations where I should turn for these spare parts?
>> Edited by nordin450 on Wednesday 25th January 09:06
try [url]www.actproducts.co.uk/ignition.php[/url] for the ignition leads...cheap, reliable and good quality!!!
The dampness could be comming from anywhere. Are any of the carpets wet? Try getting someone to poor loads of water onto different areas and see if you can see anything comming in.
The dampness could be comming from anywhere. Are any of the carpets wet? Try getting someone to poor loads of water onto different areas and see if you can see anything comming in.
If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend getting hold of Steve Heath's book on the Chimaera and Griff (he posts on pistonheads as "shpub" ). Full of useful advice including a list of places water can get in.
FWIW here are the places I have found water can enter.
(1) through the hood just behind the electric windows (near the bottom where its held in place with velcro). Make sure this bit of the hood is well water proofed and velcroed in place properly. Water makes its way down the carpet flap over the door solenoids and magically appears on the floot behind the seats.
(2) when the stiching starts to root around the rear plastic window, water can start to get in and flows around the frame that tensions the bottom of the hood ... so the puddle can be a distance from the leak.
(3) The footwells extend into the wings of the car. Rain water flows across the top of the wings and can get into the footwell if any holes in the wings aren't sealed properly. Holes include break fluid resevoir, throttle cable, bolts for windscreen wiper mechanism, sections of the loom, etc, etc. Silicon sealant time.
(4) The heat exchanger for the heater in the cabin may spring a leak. In this case the passenger footwell will collect a puddle of coolant, not rain water.
(5) My current minor leak: the door seal. Looks to me like water may run down a fold in the door seal rubber in the direction of the door's hinge, and if it isn't sealed properly where it runs horizontally as it approaches the hinge, it may allow water to leak into the footwell. Looks like an accumulation of gunge may be causing the water to overflow from the seal, and the seal is not bonded in place, so I'm about to get the silicon sealant out once more.
Drying tip ... if a removable bit of carpet is wet, dry it inside the house. Quite a bit of the "fixed" footwell carpet can easily be removed for drying and cleaning and can easily be reatttached with carpet tape or similar. Once you've mopped as much out of the car as possible, bung whole newspapers under or on the damp carpet. Seems to be able to suck quite a bit of water out.
>> Edited by ATG on Wednesday 25th January 11:04
FWIW here are the places I have found water can enter.
(1) through the hood just behind the electric windows (near the bottom where its held in place with velcro). Make sure this bit of the hood is well water proofed and velcroed in place properly. Water makes its way down the carpet flap over the door solenoids and magically appears on the floot behind the seats.
(2) when the stiching starts to root around the rear plastic window, water can start to get in and flows around the frame that tensions the bottom of the hood ... so the puddle can be a distance from the leak.
(3) The footwells extend into the wings of the car. Rain water flows across the top of the wings and can get into the footwell if any holes in the wings aren't sealed properly. Holes include break fluid resevoir, throttle cable, bolts for windscreen wiper mechanism, sections of the loom, etc, etc. Silicon sealant time.
(4) The heat exchanger for the heater in the cabin may spring a leak. In this case the passenger footwell will collect a puddle of coolant, not rain water.
(5) My current minor leak: the door seal. Looks to me like water may run down a fold in the door seal rubber in the direction of the door's hinge, and if it isn't sealed properly where it runs horizontally as it approaches the hinge, it may allow water to leak into the footwell. Looks like an accumulation of gunge may be causing the water to overflow from the seal, and the seal is not bonded in place, so I'm about to get the silicon sealant out once more.
Drying tip ... if a removable bit of carpet is wet, dry it inside the house. Quite a bit of the "fixed" footwell carpet can easily be removed for drying and cleaning and can easily be reatttached with carpet tape or similar. Once you've mopped as much out of the car as possible, bung whole newspapers under or on the damp carpet. Seems to be able to suck quite a bit of water out.
>> Edited by ATG on Wednesday 25th January 11:04
New spark leads and extentions ordered from Tim. Thanks for the advice.
>> Edited by nordin450 on Wednesday 25th January 12:22
andy-w said:
try [url]www.actproducts.co.uk/ignition.php[/url] for the ignition leads...cheap, reliable and good quality!!!
>> Edited by nordin450 on Wednesday 25th January 12:22
Excellent advices, I will check all your points and refer to the "bible". Will go through all this over the weekend. Hopefully complete this will help sorting out the smell 
ATG said:
If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend getting hold of Steve Heath's book on the Chimaera and Griff (he posts on pistonheads as "shpub" ). Full of useful advice including a list of places water can get in.
FWIW here are the places I have found water can enter.
(1) through the hood just behind the electric windows (near the bottom where its held in place with velcro). Make sure this bit of the hood is well water proofed and velcroed in place properly. Water makes its way down the carpet flap over the door solenoids and magically appears on the floot behind the seats.
(2) when the stiching starts to root around the rear plastic window, water can start to get in and flows around the frame that tensions the bottom of the hood ... so the puddle can be a distance from the leak.
(3) The footwells extend into the wings of the car. Rain water flows across the top of the wings and can get into the footwell if any holes in the wings aren't sealed properly. Holes include break fluid resevoir, throttle cable, bolts for windscreen wiper mechanism, sections of the loom, etc, etc. Silicon sealant time.
(4) The heat exchanger for the heater in the cabin may spring a leak. In this case the passenger footwell will collect a puddle of coolant, not rain water.
(5) My current minor leak: the door seal. Looks to me like water may run down a fold in the door seal rubber in the direction of the door's hinge, and if it isn't sealed properly where it runs horizontally as it approaches the hinge, it may allow water to leak into the footwell. Looks like an accumulation of gunge may be causing the water to overflow from the seal, and the seal is not bonded in place, so I'm about to get the silicon sealant out once more.
Drying tip ... if a removable bit of carpet is wet, dry it inside the house. Quite a bit of the "fixed" footwell carpet can easily be removed for drying and cleaning and can easily be reatttached with carpet tape or similar. Once you've mopped as much out of the car as possible, bung whole newspapers under or on the damp carpet. Seems to be able to suck quite a bit of water out.
>> Edited by ATG on Wednesday 25th January 11:04
i have still got water leaking into mine...have sealed the usual bolts under the dash. I am going to attack it this weekend and re-seal the brake reservior and clutch access panel...if that doesnt work then it is going to be filled up with expanding foam and i am going to sell it!!!!!!!
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