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Hi Digband,
As promised, here is the procedure I follow every 12 months to keep my Duckbill slick and clean, with pictures. Works perfectly for me and my 2009 XKR 4.2 Portfolio and my wife has not had a handbag full of water since I've been doing this.
Being right handed it works for me if I go in from the right hand side of the car but I guess it would work just as easily from the left although, I've not tried.
Start by removing the engine cover as this will make it a little easier to remove the R/|H air intake pipe.
R/H air intake pipe that runs from the R/H air filter (bottom right) up to the aluminium "T-piece" above the throttle body (top left)
Slacken off the Jubilee Clips either end of the air intake pipe
Unbolt the air intake pipe from its mounting bracket (10 mm)
Detach each end of the air intake pipe and carefully remove. Whilst you have this removed you may want to clean all those hard to reach places underneath!
Slide your hand down underneath the throttle body (palm facing the bulkhead) until you can feel the end of the Duck Bill. It's quite far down (+- 600 mm (+- 2')) and it's a fairly tight squeeze for your arm. Once you have located the Duck Bill, pour some silicone lubricant into the palm of your hand and just tease the end of the rubber Duck Bill with your middle finger. Keep on repeating with more silicone lubricant until it feels slick and smooth inside and out. Yes, that's a Jaguar tattoo!
This next pic is just to illustrate how far you need to reach. The end of the Jaguars tail is about 50 mm (2") above my elbow.
Refit the air intake pipe ensuring the Jubilee clips are nice and snug and refit the engine cover.
Finally take a couple of gratuitous pic's to post because I never seem too!
Please could someone help, i have removed the right hand side intake pipes as well as the vanity cover, i can see the ridge on the gearbox and have forced my hand down there feeling around but can seem to locate the dreaded duckbill ,is is in line with the ridge on the gearbox?
I have fashioned a tool with a bade as per the pics in the forum but dont have a camera, can i slide the tool in along that ridge is there anything up behind there that i should know about.
on 2010+ models there is carpeting covering the drain tube, so you have to remove the carpeting
or stick your hand inbetween the gap of the carpeting on the firewall above the transmission.
Yes it is in line with the transmission center.
I had to angle mine and feel around until I thought I was partially in the hole. Then keep wiggling and turning until the tool sat straight up. It won't do that unless it's inside the opening. Yes, the hole is directly over the center ridge of the transmission.
I had to angle mine and feel around until I thought I was partially in the hole. Then keep wiggling and turning until the tool sat straight up. It won't do that unless it's inside the opening. Yes, the hole is directly over the center ridge of the transmission.
Thanks going to scratch some more so the hole is generally a space behind the wall?
The hole is on the firewall itself. The duckbill is up inside the hole. See pic attached...Also attached is a pdf that has been posted. This helped me complete the picture in my mind.
The hole is on the firewall itself. The duckbill is up inside the hole. See pic attached...Also attached is a pdf that has been posted. This helped me complete the picture in my mind.
Thanks for the pic I assume on the cabin side of the firewall as opposed to the engine bay side?
thanks for the pic now I am more confused there are pics on this thread that show the tool wilth a blade going behind the firewall on the cabin side?
when I push my hand down on the engine side of the firewall all I can feel is some felt but it’s a 2008 I see there are posts where the 2010 5litre has felt over it.
Mine is a 2007, no felt. My hand is too thick to get into the hole. I can barely feel the edge of it with my finger. I marked my tool with a sharpie, like kj07xk did, so I'd know when I was at it.
If yours has felt covering the hole, it'll have to be removed or cut through. I would invest in a camera so you'll know for sure.
Chiming in here, I have a 5.0 car with a VIN number comfortably beyond the point where the duckbill was changed to the newer design, yet I'm getting water in the passenger-side (UK right-hand drive car) footwell when the A/C is used. I'll try and get at the drain tube in the next couple of days but in the meantime, is there anywhere else the condensate could be getting blocked up to spill back into the cabin?
OK thanks, I'll try and get hold of a camera. Here's another thing, has anyone tried removing the blower motor and getting a hand inside the A/C assembly to clean out the drain pipe from within?
OK thanks, I'll try and get hold of a camera. Here's another thing, has anyone tried removing the blower motor and getting a hand inside the A/C assembly to clean out the drain pipe from within?
One guy quite awhile ago made a post of how he cut through the heater box wall, fixed the drain from inside, then reassembled the heater box. I don't remember who, when, or what the thread was called. May even be in this thread.
I had the best success with this by cutting/slicing the duckbill with a tool I fashioned from this site. It has been several years since I sliced up the duckbill and I have had no problems since. I did try the method of drilling into the heater box and making my own drain and tube via a tip found on this forum. It was an utter failure, and it failed for the original poster as well. I also tried (before) drilling, to snake a wire through the box/ducting via the removed blower motor area to try and open it from the inside out, but also no good. I learned that it’s a good idea with this and any “fixit forum” to read as many accounts as possible before putting drill to jaguar. I had to use JB Weld to seal the holes I made in both the heater box and floor area for the “condensate by-pass hose surgery” I performed. To illustrate why the diy by-pass fails; imagine this: Your ac/blower box is a short gutter on your house. On the closed end of the gutter sits your large blower motor seated in a hole. The other end is sloping down toward the downspout and at the end of the downspout is your duck bill to keep critters out. The ac condenser is in between these two points and making a ton of water as the warm air flows past it to get cooled. This water travels downward to the downspout, but can’t escape the stuck duckbill, so it backs up into the gutter where, Add the motion of a moving car sloshing the water around like a shaken over flowing bucket. No hole drilled in the “gutter area” is going to catch all this sloshing water no matter where it was located; water will end up on and through the blower motor.
on 2010+ models there is carpeting covering the drain tube, so you have to remove the carpeting
or stick your hand inbetween the gap of the carpeting on the firewall above the transmission.
Yes it is in line with the transmission center.
Tarokyama, how did you get access to yours - did you cut or move the felt/carpet mat? I tried to get a hand down above the transmission and can only feel the mat above it, seems odd that the mat would obscure the duckbill, wouldn't there be a hole cut in the mat to allow the water out? How is the mat fixed to the firewall, can it be dropped a bit to allow access?
I tried the "fast fans with vents closed" trick a couple of times, on both occasions I got no water in the footwell and loads of it dripping onto the road under the car. Almost as soon as the climate control is set back to auto I get water in the footwell again. This, and a few other current issues, are really sucking the joy out of owning this car for me just now, it's days in my possession may be numbered.
TMI! LOL.
Duck Bill
