Disco 2 TD5 Water in the air box

Hi all, hope you had a good Christmas.
Has anyone had water entering air box ? I drove home from Swanage last night about 160 miles in the pouring rain without issue. I went out this morning & when I got up to 70mph I lost power & 'limped along at 55 so I stopped & plugged in the Foxwell & noticed the air flow reading was not right so presumed my new Seimens MAF had gone boobies up. When I got home & took the MAF out it was blocked with paper see pics. I had removed the air box & cleaned it when I fitted it & wondered if I'd left some paper towel in there but after lifting the air filter housing lid discovered the 3,700 mile old air filter had exploded due to water getting in. At the time I put a new gasket on the intake to inner wing including new plastic nuts, new air box lid clips, the drain nipple on the bottom of the air box was removed & cleaned & there's no damage to the air cleaner case so I'm a bit miffed although it's thankfully an easy fix.
Is it OK to block the drain nipple completely & drain it weekly ? as I can only presume it's sucking the water in there.

Andy Warren said:

Hi all, hope you had a good Christmas.
Has anyone had water entering air box ? I drove home from Swanage last night about 160 miles in the pouring rain without issue. I went out this morning & when I got up to 70mph I lost power & 'limped along at 55 so I stopped & plugged in the Foxwell & noticed the air flow reading was not right so presumed my new Seimens MAF had gone boobies up. When I got home & took the MAF out it was blocked with paper see pics. View attachment 255437 View attachment 255438 I had removed the air box & cleaned it when I fitted it & wondered if I'd left some paper towel in there but after lifting the air filter housing lid discovered the 3,700 mile old air filter had exploded due to water getting in. At the time I put a new gasket on the intake to inner wing including new plastic nuts, new air box lid clips, the drain nipple on the bottom of the air box was removed & cleaned & there's no damage to the air cleaner case so I'm a bit miffed although it's thankfully an easy fix.
Is it OK to block the drain nipple completely & drain it weekly ? as I can only presume it's sucking the water in there.View attachment 255435 View attachment 255436

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Interesting! I drove back from Fishguard in Welsh Wales back to Hampshire yesterday, 250 miles in 6 hours of monsoon. Car ran faultlessly, but I haven't checked the airbox or used it since. I'll see if I can have a look sometime tomorrow, but maybe that will be too late, all the evidence may be gone by then. I've so far not seen evidence of water in the airbox, but there's always a first time....

PopPops said:

Interesting! I drove back from Fishguard in Welsh Wales back to Hampshire yesterday, 250 miles in 6 hours of monsoon. Car ran faultlessly, but I haven't checked the airbox or used it since. I'll see if I can have a look sometime tomorrow, but maybe that will be too late, all the evidence may be gone by then. I've so far not seen evidence of water in the airbox, but there's always a first time....

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Thanks it would be interesting. I have taken the filter out a couple of times since the last time was about 1,500 miles ago when I put a new intercooler pipe on & it was fine then so as you say it must have been the monsoon, I'll be keeping an eye on it when I get my new filter.

There is supposed to be a "duck bill" rubber fitting on the drain for the airbox. Supposed to let water out but not in. I and many others have blocked the drain in the wheelarch completely without any problem . I found that a top off a 5 litre oil container fits nicely....

Holy cr@p!

Hellastony said:

There is supposed to be a "duck bill" rubber fitting on the drain for the airbox. Supposed to let water out but not in. I and many others have blocked the drain in the wheelarch completely without any problem . I found that a top off a 5 litre oil container fits nicely....

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Brilliant I'll be modifying mine shortly. I suspect the flaps on that duck bill have got a bit loose, terrible what old age can do to things. This has only been road use so if I was off roading/wading it's definitely worth checking.

Andy Warren said:

Brilliant I'll be modifying mine shortly. I suspect the flaps on that duck bill have got a bit loose, terrible what old age can do to things. This has only been road use so if I was off roading/wading it's definitely worth checking.

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Well, I've just been out and checked mine. The air box is completely dry and dusty with no signs of water having been there and the filter is also completely dry, no signs of having been wet. Odd, after what yours is like, and that's after wading at 50mph down the M4 on Monday!!

Has your inner wing been modified or anything like that?

I checked mine today too as although I've a raised intake and sealed the drain hole etc even smallish puddles splash straight over the bonnet, windscreen and roof! Luckily Mine is also dry and a little dusty

PopPops said:

Well, I've just been out and checked mine. The air box is completely dry and dusty with no signs of water having been there and the filter is also completely dry, no signs of having been wet. Odd, after what yours is like, and that's after wading at 50mph down the M4 on Monday!!

Has your inner wing been modified or anything like that?

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Hi, no all bog std & when I removed the complete air box today the new foam gasket fitted between the inner wing & intake was bone dry.

So removed air box & used a champagne cork which fits snuggly in the rubber drain along with plastic cap, see pics. There is also a hole already in the bottom of the air box which would let water out so I can only presume it's sucked up the rubber drain under heavy breathing. You can see the square hole below the ducks bill.

Replaced the water sensor on the bottom of the fuel filter (along with a new filter) as the light on the dash kept illuminating despite there being no water in there.

Andy Warren said:

Replaced the water sensor on the bottom of the fuel filter (along with a new filter) as the light on the dash kept illuminating despite there being no water in there.View attachment 255563

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I can't do the same mod to mine, I can't afford Champagne!

It's interesting that although we did similar journeys on the same day, yours drowned and mine stayed completely dry. Land Rovers, you have to love them.....

Mine son has just been here in his 04 face lift D2 & I looked at his 'ducks bill' only to find it has a different inner w/arch liner, see pics. His is the covered one, mine is exposed, so I think that's why mine sucked all the water in during that monsoon we both drove through. Looking at the parts list there are two different p/no's for that liner so I'll get a later one for mine.

Andy Warren said:

Mine son has just been here in his 04 face lift D2 & I looked at his 'ducks bill' only to find it has a different inner w/arch liner, see pics. His is the covered one, mine is exposed, so I think that's why mine sucked all the water in during that monsoon we both drove through. Looking at the parts list there are two different p/no's for that liner so I'll get a later one for mine.View attachment 255612 View attachment 255613

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Yes, mine's an 04 facelift too. Yours does look exposed, with luck the later liner should sort it!

So after I put a champagne cork in the air box drain I haven't had any water ingress despite having driven through plenty rain over Christmas( pics when I checked yesterday).