Well Thanks all, It's nice to have had your responses! When my wife let me free after some gardening duties earlier today I went into the garage with a more, look here mate attitude! I was, after all an automotive engineer in R+D for part of my career and I know I'm probably too precious with the Mog, party because of the price of the damned things, But having been a Defender man for most of my life I'm finding the LR to be precision made compared to the Mog! The seal ends were clearly out of sorts so I had a more robust look and found that the shape of the screen bottom as opposed to the scuttle means that the screen starts to move further away from the scuttle for the last couple of inches each end. Now this results in there being a loss of pressure from the scuttle to the screen seal which in effect holds the seal in place in the channel at the base of the screen. Now here's the problem! The sealing lip of the rubber which forms the seal to the scuttle to the front is pushing upwards resulting in the seal wanting to rotate and its this rotational pressure that rolls the seal out of the screen channel making it appear that the seal is rolling under the screen! Oh! and creating a BIG hole at the end allowing you to collect bath or drinking water inside the Car!
So what to do! Well, I think it just might be age to the seal that is causing this issue, either way it looks like a screen out job and going to that amount of work I think I'll fit a new seal, I'm also going to secure the seal at the outer edges in the screen channel with a suitable silicone adhesive to help prevent this.
A few things which should be known when removing a screen:
Firstly, remove the wiper blades and cover the spindles with padding. Pipe lagging is great!
second: cover the bonnets and scuttle with some form of protection. I find the sort of rubber matting used for the rear of estate/hatchback cars ideal as it prevents sliding of the screen on the bonnet.
third: The screen is held in with 4 countersunk cap screws (Allen head) on each side of the pillar.. PLEASE NOTE the lower screws each side are slightly longer. make sure they go back in the correct order.
Fourth: Don't worry the screen won't fall out when all screws are removed! Next it's a two man job, or man and a girl if you're lucky enough! The screen is removed in a forward direction, ie. towards the front of the car. you will have to work it out of its pillar channels by finding which side releases the easiest by using your thumb on the inside , fingers around the pillar and using a rolling action whilst pushing with the thumb! WARNING ! when it releases from both sides don't yank it away if it's a post 1979 car with a heated screen as right in the middle of the bottom of the screen are the wires for the heating element! Black and Blue if memory serves me well!
Fifth: carefully roll the screen forward onto the padded bonnet and use something like polystyrene or closed cell foam to pack each gap at the bonnet edges to stabilize it.
sixth: Now it depends on what you are wanting to do! I'll be refitting a new seal and reassembling in the reverse order. If however you are replacing your screen and the current item is scrap then you can just cut the wires and remove the old screen. The connectors can be found behind the dash which you will need to lower down and lean forward to gain access. The black wire, I believe the ground and is joined to a black wire behind the dash with a bullet connector but the blue isn't, sorry can't remember what it was joined to but it's something like green/purple however, don't quote me on that! Here's a cheat for you to save removing the dash to access the connectors. Cut the wires close to the old screen and solder them to the wires of the new screen and use heat shrink tubing to insulate the join. don't forget to slip it onto the wire before soldering though!
seventh: So, whatever task required you to remove the screen you are now ready to refit it. Carefully feed the wires through the scuttle top from the heated screen and as you finally start to roll the screen into the upright position, bottom first! just apply a small amount of low modulus silicone to the hole the wires go through on the scuttle as this is a notorious leak point for water to enter behind the dash. If water can get in behind the seal anywhere the force created by the wind when driving will make sure it finds that hole!
Seventh: Apply some silicone lubricant. preferably the type that resembles Vaseline to the seals on the windscreen pillars and to the bottom of the windscreen seal, scuttle side. you will find the screen goes in easier than it came out ,as before it was stuck to the pillar seals however the addition of silicone to the seals on replacement will also aid the seals ability to prevent water ingress. do take care though as you refit it to the pillars and use gentle but firm pressure working it up from the bottom to the top, again with a rolling hand action easing the pillar outwards, you should not use tools for this procedure but some times a lubricated credit card can act as a good guide to prevent catching the seals.
Eighth: well that's it really! don't forget the longer lower screws and a minute amount of thread locker on the screws is a good idea. Gasket red Hermetite also works! and don't over tighten them! remember you're screwing into a frame holding glass and the edge of the glass is its most vulnerable area! just to be safe I stick them through holes in a card and label them as to their location when removing, we are dealing with a hand made car and they might just have been sized to prevent interference with the glass!
When my new seal arrives and I get time to actually complete the job i'll give an updated report and highlight any issues that I might find!
