Hi All,
My '95 XJ Sport makes a sound like water being stirred as soon as I start the ventilation fan. I'm pretty sure rain water is getting into the fan unit. Unsuprisingly, the windscreen is regularly misted up. Could there be a blocked drainage hole ? Is it normal for rain water to enter the fresh air system ?
Many thanks in advance !

 

Yes it sounds like you have water in the heater blower units. If they're still working then get this fixed asap before it becomes a much bigger issue.

I think there are 2 possibilities.

1 - Rainwater from the front cowl. i.e the piece between the bonnet and the windscreen. I think this area drains through the wiper mechanism housing. It would be worth removing the cowl (remove wiper arms and then 4 or 5 (?) small Tx screws) and checking inside to see if there is any lying water. The blower motor units connect to this area for feed of fresh air.

2 - Air Con condensate overflow. There is a drain on each side of the heater/air con unit that can become blocked. If you never see puddles of water under your car in that area then they are likely blocked and causing condensed water to build up and overflow in to the blower units.

This is the drain tube you are looking for




Don't worry - no need to remove dash to get to this! You may need to remove some bits of trim and or glovebox and pull back the carpet. Remember one each side.

 

Thank you so much for such a precise reply ! I'll go through your suggestions today & report back !

 

So, removed cowl (5 screws, size 20 torx) to discover a lot of rotting leaves & mess. Cleaned this out as best I could and started to blow stuff out with a compressor air jet. There was still a lot of water in there so I tried to poke a bent wire up through the exit hole at the bottom of the wiper cowling, which is very difficult to see in situ. As it turns out, the hole is covered by a flexible flap valve (presumably to stop engine odours returning into the ventilation system) so you can't poke anything in from below. So I pushed a rubber tube into the cowl from above and attached the air line. this pushed the sludge out. A quick check by pouring clean water in from above & the flow was fine. Fixed ! I'll try to clear out the aircon drains, as suggested, just to be safe.
Thanks B1MCP for your help !

 

B1mcp ,

Do you have a pic of the right side ?

 

That's good news cafran, thanks for updating us.


@LadyP - this is the best picture I have of right side. Hope it helps.

 

Yes , I was interested in the cabin air plenum valve motors .

You went in deep