Air intake / pollen filter water leak fix

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kieronf

New Member
Posts
223
Location
Holsworthy, Devon
My '96 4.6 has been suffering from intermittent water leaks into the air ducts and passenger's footwell. It being a sunny day I decided to strip it all out and find the problem.

I hope the photos will help anyone else with the same problem who is contemplating a fix -

First of all I removed the windscreen side finishings by removing the screws on the A post under the rubber seal. Then I removed the finisher and clips from the bottom of the screen, wiper blades and finally the air intake cover.

I then removed the remaining plastic finisher on the n/s and then the metal panel underneath by undoing six 10mm bolts -

1.jpg



By removing this panel you have direct access to the pollen filter housing and can remove the filter and any residual debris -

22.jpg


Remove the pollen filter and this reveals eight screws.

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Undo the eight screws and remove the plastic filter cradle, this allows for easy cleaning around the whole area, particularly the drain aperture which is circled in white in the image below -

4.jpg


After a thurough clean of the area and flushing of the drains, refir is a simple reverse of removal.

It turned out that the drain was clogged at the top and any water that ingressed into the air intake soon overflowed into the pollen filter air intake and into the car.

The next stage was to remove the perished foam from the air intake, and clip into place pre-cut sections of new foam -

5.jpg


All that remained was to refit and then clean out and replace blower motor, glovebox assembly and kick panel.

Total time - two hours
 
I also did that, plus sealing the filter covers with silicone and it still leaked in the passenger's footwell. This summer, while replacing the foam, I sealed a rubber plug that hides the hole for the RHD windshield wiper (mine's LHD) and no water so far. Fingers crossed!
 
I also did that, plus sealing the filter covers with silicone and it still leaked in the passenger's footwell. This summer, while replacing the foam, I sealed a rubber plug that hides the hole for the RHD windshield wiper (mine's LHD) and no water so far. Fingers crossed!
Hi, looks like i know your pseudo ;) from another rr board i believe.
I own a LHD too but didn't see that rubber plug hiding a hole.
I've been through cleaning, replacement of pollen filter covers with brand new covers (before i tried silicone gasket...) and it still leaks on LHD side. (ie on my feet when driving)
 
Been out this morning, the intention being to spray around with the hose and check for any sign of leaks. I forgot to mention in the original post that when I refitted the pollen filter housing I used silicone sealant on the basis that this was an obvious leakage point.

Anyway, I ended up giving the car its quarterly wash, sprayed the hose around the screen area (and using different strengths of spray - been caught out by that one before) - no sign of any leak. Removed N/S kickpanel, checked around ducts and blower, all seems dry.
 
Mine are still dry 18+ months after deciding to deflect the water away from the point of ingress in the first place with plastic shields in front of the pollen filter caps. :)
 
Thanks for this thread. Just done this job today, including plenty of silicon sealant when reassembling so I hope that's cured the leaks. We will see soon with this weather.
 
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