It is my understanding that Jag superseded the old 'duckbill' valve with a newer version. Essentially this is 'cut-away' somewhat.
I couldn't find a parts catalog online to see the part number, or if it shows 'from VIN ....'.
My guess would be it was part of the extensive changes for MY2010 (the 5.0 engine).

Most of the problems seem to be with MY2007 or earlier (in the US, the X150 was launched as a 2007, but elsewhere they were MY2006). My 2008 (built Nov 2007) has just developed this problem.
I haven't heard of any problems with 2009 models, but they just might not be old enough yet ! I hope you're spared, but I'd keep an eye on it.
(In my case , it was a "yelp" from the wife when I went around a left-hand corner that alerted me)

 

The new part is no valve anymore, just a straight rubber tube. Since it was built into my car, replacing the Duckbill valve, I didn't have any problems anymore. Just less money!

 

This is the silly "duckbill" that causes the water overflow in the airco and the removal of lots of interior parts for a repair (or alternative methods)

 

This was my car when the "duckbill" valve was removed.
A 7$ article with total costs amounting to 1000$.

British Engineering at its best.

 

Scary!

 

Looks scary, you're right, but since then no water problems anymore. Only cold air.
The duckbill design was meant to keep out spiders or ants to enter the airco-parts.
The flaps probably become less elastic in due time and harden up. Next probable cause is deposits building up at the narrow slit.
In my case, both were the cause for water flooding in the passenger foot space.
My wife was surprised by a cold water bath during a drive on the stelvio pass on a hot summer day with the top down. suddenly it gushed out of the lower outlets (approx. 1 litre) whilst driving through a hairpin.
It spoiled her leather bag as well as her shoes (bad day for a woman), a good reason for a shopping day in Merano

 

I'm back on this thread after reading SYNSTR's idea with the scope. I am fortunate to have a lift in my shop and consider my mechanical skills to be above average. And as Jeremy commented I am a "Doctor of Dental Surgery" so I have pretty good hand skills working in tight spaces. After 1 1/2 hrs I was able to drain the infamous duckbill and drained a lot of water. The big question is will it drain by itself now? I wish I could get some type of tool in there and cut the "bill" off.


Here are a few pics to help others. Maybe someone has other ideas.


As mentioned the access is on the drivers side. If you aim the scope just in front of the transmission shifter linkage( with black boot) you will be on target.

Using the standard tip on the scope you will see this opening. Up inside this hole is where the duckbill is located.

I was unable to peer up inside the opening so I added the angled mirror tip which comes with the scope.

It is hard to get a good picture of this but here is the duckbill with a drop of water on the bill. It is oriented sideways. The larger base of the duckbill on the left and the tip on the right with a drop of water

I fabricated a tool out of copper ground wire about 3/16" in diameter. I sharpened the tip. It needs to be rigid to open the duckbill

I had to revert back to the standard scope tip as the angled mirror tip and my tool conflicted with each other. Using the standard scope tip I was able to hit the opening and blindly poked around until a flood of water came out.


Any ideas would be appreciated. Maybe SYNSTR is more skilled than I, but I found it very difficult to aim the camera and use the tool at the same time!

 

My skills are amazingly average LOL!

WOW! That is a great tutorial.

I think I got lucky finding mine after a few minutes. I did have the advantage of the parts reference picture of the evaporator case from the dealer. I had a good idea of where it was before I dove in.

I think now that the "crusties" are knocked out, that earlier post about turning the blower on high and closing all the vents might be a good preventative practice.

 

Yeah SynySTR, I was thinking the same thing. I originally used a "tool" discribed on another thread made of steel brake line and that only worked for a few months! Now that I have installed the additional drain tube I was thinking I should cork it up so the air blast is directed to the duckbill . I am frustrated because I LOVE this car and hate to give in and have the dealer tear it apart! Thanks for your help.

 

Thank you sooooo much!

This trick seems to work for now.

One question ray, did you use cold or hot air to recirculate?

I did both.

 

I almost had a fire. The water pooled around the blower motor and started burning...melted the motor housing!

 

P.s.

I will most definitely file a complaint!

 

Although I am always open to any ideas to fix this problem I find it hard to believe you could get enough volume of air through the vents to force the duckbill open? The other question is how often do you need to do any of these ideas to keep the water out of the system? Pull into the garage, kick on the compressor, duct tape the hose up to the vent and blow her out? Every night after work?

I wish we could come up with a reasonable DIY fix. I' m still working on one!

 

@DenverDDS,

perhaps you can mount an aquarium water pump between airco and your alternative duct. If you use a water sensor it will automatically pump the water away.

This was not serious. I would have my car repaired with the proper alternative. Since that was done with my car, I never had any problems anymore. It is a big job because of all the things that have to be removed and my car was in the shop for two days but it was worth the money spent.

It is just ridiculous that it was necessary to do the job because of such a small part that was constructed like a duckbill to keep away insects and spiders from the airco.

The new part is just an open tunnel with the diameter of the original duckbill without the duck design. Just a straight pipe of silicon rubber.

 

Denver DDS,
Like you I did the secondary drain, only to find it did not do what we hoped. The jag mechanic was good enough to provide me with AC tape to plug the hole I drilled into the plastic. I tried your technique with the jack stands I have, but was unable to contort beneath my car to make that approach work. So instead I used the flags that came with my dogs invisible fence. That wire was just just right to attack from above after removing the plastic engine cover. Then using the famous closed vent system, it finally worked for me to see a real stream of water flowing under my car.

 

Even as a repair to allow the water to escape is pursued, isn't there still a possibility of damage to the fan motor due to the water contamination?

 

Hey Stu72,
I'm glad that worked for you! I also took that approach the first time. The question is will that allow it to drain correctly now? Unfortunately, in my case, the answer was NO. So do we do that after each drive?

 

I removed my blower (only 3 screws and a small harness. Very easy) and sprayed the brushes with a little WD40. There is a little shield that pops off to expse them. It has been a month since I pryed my duckbill open with the coat hanger. We had a lot of rain in Phoenix recently. Still no signs of trouble.

My guess is that since most of the cars this is happening to are 5-6 years old, it takes some time for the water crusties to bulid up (if they are at all). I would think the a/c vent procedure once a month would be good preventative maintenence.

 

I think one of the causes is the location of the infamous duckbill just inches above the transmission. If you have tried to reach in there from the engine side after you drive you realize that the transmission is HOT! The heat may contribute to the "crusties" forming and sealing off the duckbill. It also makes it hard to determine if the duckbill is functioning properly as the water drops on a hot transmission and most of it probably evaporates. I have yet to see a puddle under my car regardless of trying these ideas. I do see one when I opened the bill and she dumped a pint!
Just my thoughts....still working on this!

 

Hey I had a thought...are there any heart surgeons out there? You know how they can go through an artery in your groin with a scope, crawl up into one of your clogged pipes and install a stent? Can we do something like that?