My windscreen washer hose has become detached from the connection under the passenger-side wiper and it looks like I'll need to remove the scuttle panel (referred to as the cowl vent panel in the workshop manual) in order to reattach. Obviously the wiper arms and hoses need to come off first, that looks simple enough, the manual then only says to "Release the retaining clip" and then "release the 3 clips" with little indication of where they are or whether they just pull free or need some other sort of manipulation to release.

Anyone had to do this before? Any good advice regarding removing this panel without breaking it or any of the retaining clips?

 

 

I haven't had to do anything around this area yet, but the substance your referring to is probably Butyl... Commonly used in the auto industry for all kinds of things, great product....

 

I managed to get underneath the scuttle tonight to get the hose reconnected - an easy job for a person with small, neat hands, unfortunately I'm not that person so it was a bit of a pig but got the hose reconnected in the end. Initially I still didn't see any fluid from the passenger side jet but realised it was coming from the bottom hole, just not the main spray so I had another look at the main nozzle and played with the slot-head screw and not all jets are working. I didn't have a small enough hose fastener to hand so just pushed it all back into place for now but hopefully it holds and if not I know how to get back in about it all. Thanks again for the help guys.

 

As was mentioned above, to remove the cowl panel I had to pull it free of the glue that held it to the base of the windshield... and now I can't get it to reattach properly. The reinstalled plastic cowl doesn't press tightly against the windshield, so debris falls into the crack and the cowl flaps a bit at high speeds. Have any of you found a fix for this?

PS -- the black plastic cowl panel has faded over time to a dark gray. Any recommendations for restoring that part to match the cowl panels that aren't exposed to sunlight?

 

I just removed and painted mine a few weeks ago. A can of black bumper paint from the auto store worked well.

Not sure if the 5.0 models are the same, but the 4.2 panel has 1 long 'clip' that runs the entire length. Take a plastic trim tool and run it along the panel to release the glue. Then do it again to pry up the panel from the long clip. The 3 single clips will pop up as you go.

If painting the panel, mask off the rubber part that presses down on the windshield. It is flexible and the paint will chip off right away.