I dont think that is a good idea. I think it would be better to pop rivet some plastic to the underside of the metal overhang which will be both hidden and provide better long term protection.
Does this look right?
- Thread starter Mhaise57
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Wow, I am glad to see this photo because I had a big back and fourth ordeal with my dealer before my 05' LR3 went out of warranty about that black plastic cover deforming which was allowing water to get into the HVAC motor area and the dust filter. Mine pulled away from the windshield right over that intake you see in the photo.
Every time I washed my truck I would find a small amount of water in the passenger floor board which would lead me to pull the dust filter out and there was the water.
Hell, it looks like with the holes in front of it that there should be some factory cover that goes on it unless those are to mount the ********* plastic cover ?
Regardless I can see some sheet aluminum fabrication in my future to cover that opening properly to divert water. What a stoopid design.
And this opening is your fresh air inlet for the HVAC so it does need to be able to enhale outside air.
Every time I washed my truck I would find a small amount of water in the passenger floor board which would lead me to pull the dust filter out and there was the water.
Hell, it looks like with the holes in front of it that there should be some factory cover that goes on it unless those are to mount the ********* plastic cover ?
Regardless I can see some sheet aluminum fabrication in my future to cover that opening properly to divert water. What a stoopid design.
And this opening is your fresh air inlet for the HVAC so it does need to be able to enhale outside air.
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Well after Mhaise57 started this post I started gathering supplies and now that we are about to get some rain here in north Texas I went for the water deflector install tonight.
After getting the wiper arms off (gear puller required) and all the plastic cover it revealed the stupid design just like the first photo in this thread.
I used aluminum flashing material from Lowe's.
Used aluminum pop rivets to secure the deflector I cut out. I cut the piece of aluminum tall enough where it went up under the windshield and started to deflect slightly. This way I would insure it would not pop out at the top.
Here it is riveted in place.
The plastic cover piece was a pain in rear to get back in place while keeping the retaining clips intact. But it is complete now and I will not have to worry about water entering via this location. It is amazing this design got out of the engineering department. The water diversion from this intake relied only on that plastic cover at the base of the windshield that warps from sun exposure over time allowing water to run under it. My new one (2nd one) warped after one summer in Texas. Very **** poor engineering LAND ROVER ! Of course they will blame it on Ford engineers.
After getting the wiper arms off (gear puller required) and all the plastic cover it revealed the stupid design just like the first photo in this thread.
I used aluminum flashing material from Lowe's.
Used aluminum pop rivets to secure the deflector I cut out. I cut the piece of aluminum tall enough where it went up under the windshield and started to deflect slightly. This way I would insure it would not pop out at the top.
Here it is riveted in place.
The plastic cover piece was a pain in rear to get back in place while keeping the retaining clips intact. But it is complete now and I will not have to worry about water entering via this location. It is amazing this design got out of the engineering department. The water diversion from this intake relied only on that plastic cover at the base of the windshield that warps from sun exposure over time allowing water to run under it. My new one (2nd one) warped after one summer in Texas. Very **** poor engineering LAND ROVER ! Of course they will blame it on Ford engineers.
davidfkon
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Gotta keep this in mind!! . . .damn . . . nice fix . . . any potential issues with air inflow?
foofighter
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nice work!
I really doubt there will be any air flow intake issues. The entire mouth of the black metal intake is still open behind the deflector I attached. It draws its air from that open area under the entire width of the windshield.
I used the HVAC system this morning coming into work and everything seemed to work as it should.
Mhaise57
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I would suggest making the fix whenever you get the chance. Had I not pulled down my glove box to check my HVAC filter I would have never seen the water intrusion. There are quite a few critical components in that area of the dash that are going to cost you 10 times the amount of this simple fix. If you wait until you find water drops on your floormat, thenit has already gotten into your blower motor and saturated the sounds dampening insulation that is under your dash and all the wiring to your ECM and fuse panel. You can find various post on just this forum that are related to ac blower motors, throwing various faults due to corroded wiring and connectors etc. This is a flaw that can cost you and as you can see and have heard, is very simple and cheap to correct. And it gives you time to learn more about your rover. Cheers!!
techboydino
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Great post. Wonder how we can bring light of this to LR. If they would even do anything, seems odd though that something so obvious was overlooked. Although I never had this problem on my 06, I changed the cabin filter a few times. Im gonna have to take a closer look.
