The XM seems to have decided to throw a wobbly today. Things started badly when I clambered into it for the first time in a few days. We’ve had some pretty horrendous rain of late, with localised flooding. It seems that included the passenger footwell of the XM. Given that I’ve now resorted to sealing up the sunroof entirely, as that is a known problem due to a rusty frame, I was baffled as to where this new leak was coming from.

I reckon this is the answer.

Could these roof-rack mount holes be the new source of water leak?

These holes lurk behind the door seal and are used for mounting a roof rack. What a poor design! You can see where a bead of sealant has come away above the hole – was this the factory solution to prevent leakage? I’ve taped over the holes with my trusty friend – aluminium tape. I’ll see if that finally cures the leaks! Again, the roof lining was absolutely drenched. I’ve got a dehumidifier in the car now drying it out.

On top of that, the XM started flashing low coolant warnings at me earlier. The level is fine, but I noticed that the cooling fans are running too. There are no signs of overheating, and the temperature gauge showed no reason for the fans to be on. I think I’m going to assume that damp is causing some electrical confusion as that’s less scary than thinking the entire cooling system has failed. Once it demists, I’ll take it for another test drive but at the moment, it’s a bit steamy in there!

Steamy windows for drenched XM – condensation overload!

So, just as I write about why old bangers make sense, this old banger decided to remind me how niggly faults can cause much frustration! I’ll get there in the end though. I still like it…