My Two P's Plenum & Pollen Done

[Arctic]

HI All.
After reading on this great site about plenums & pollens i decide to tackle mine even though i have never done any in my entire life i have messed with cars when i was a bit younger but that was only oil filter air filter plugs and the like.

So thought right i will tempt the spy hole mod along with draining the plenums at same time replace the pollen filter got all the tools round me and off i went i even managed to get a 15mm pipe bender from local car come diy shop, below you will see how i got on from reading all the help on here and from following the great idea of the quick drain mod i nearly forgot to say i also fitted Jules leaf catcher plenum Drain Shield lets go.

1st pic shows both driver side & passenger Sides scuttle hatch


2nd pic near side scuttle close up


3rd 4th 5th pics un-clipping and lifting scuttle hatch.




This then reveals the main SCUTTLE COVER 6th pic which will have to be raised to remove the plenum cover to get to the drain hole and also remove the pollen filter.


7th 8th & 9th pics those dreaded clips as stated by (Christopher on his great spy hole mod thread) remove three plenum clips under the windscreen carefully with thumb over top which helps them from flying into space, this aids the removal of the lower plenum cover later.




10th 11th pic Next you can pull back the rubber edging to the middle or even take off if you are going to do the Jules plenum shield like me.



12th 13th pics remove plastic screw also to aid removal of plenum cover.



14th 15th pics lift scuttle cover and support with piece of wood or tube which ever you have about 8"in length this will help when you wiggle free the plenum cover.



16th pic with plenum cover wiggled free ready for the ECU & Pollen Filter to be removed to aid the draining of the lower plenum hole directly below, you can now insert your rod or as i have used a plumbers 15mm pipe bender cost £3.29p as you can see i have tied a lace to mine so if i need to push it futher down i can retrieve it easily .


17th 18th 19th 20th 21st pics ECU removal prior to unblocking the lower plenum hole. pull up carefully but sharp as maybe a little stuck as mine was watching any wires joined set aside by battery this will reveal the lower drain hole also the pollen filter if you wish to replace this as i did.






22nd pic is removal of the pollen filter which is unclipped at top by to clips then pulled forward so it can easily be taken out with an upward tilt movement. note how dirty the pollen filter as become and was also wet about 1" up from bottom not bad from all accounts i have read about on here but still not good, this will then reveal the full view of the plenum drain hole below and it's water contents next pics.


23rd 24th 25th 26th pics the water contained in the lower plenum and the unblocking with the 15mm pipe bender inserted through the rubber hole to the underside of the car body. at least three pints of water came out i kid you not.





27th 28th pics just showing a little water showing under the brake servo not to bad this will move from unblocking hole from beneath car when i do my oil change later or from the car going round bends ?



29th 30th replacing the pollen filter (note the difference in the colour of the pollen filters) and ECU with a dry lower plenum not forgetting i have to do the spy hole before i replace the lower plenum cover,



31st 32nd pics locating the ECU back in it's place note the bracket in 31st pic on which it hangs. and the locating lugs on the back of the ECU pic 32



33rd pic ECU back home where it should in it's dry pocket. line up the lugs to the bracket shown in the previous pics and push down making sure no wires are trapped or pushing against the pollen filter fins, nearly finished now just the spy hole to do and replace the plenum cover and scuttle hatch. will show this in the next paragraph along with the fitting of Jules plenum shield. this as been possible from all the hard work other have put up with regards to the plenum drain holes hope my photo's have helped and contributed to making what seems an hard job a bit easier quite full filling really Arctic

[freddie]

going to do mine soon do you have to take the wiper arms off

[Arctic]

Hi Freddie.
No well i did not have to quite easy as long as you take out the third clip alond the windscreen panel pointed out in 8th and 9th pics will be putting up the spy hole mod later today. good luck Arctic.

[BigBus]

Great contribution and fab pictures. I hope we see more stuff like this as the garages are getting fewer. Great work!!

[johnny english]

This has to be one of the most important critical jobs on our cars so thanks for providing a great how to do it. I done mine last week and found the same senario.So if anyone reads this post dont delay get the job done
otherwise your car will die and will cost about a grand to put right.

cheers.

[Arctic]

Hi All.
This is the follow on job i done after tackling the plenum drain hole's above the time saving spy/roding hole first shown to us by Christopher what a great idea. Hope the pics help other to see how easy it is to do this qucik mod.

1st pic is marking out the line from which to measure back to the hole to be drilled in the plenum cover.


2nd 3rd pic the measurement 97mm from inside line drawn i used a metal rule but a tape will surfice




4th 5th pic i used a 10p piece to draw a circle then i used a 22mm wood drill bit to drill the hole shown futher on.




6th 7th 8th is drilling of the spy hole while having some wooden support undeneath the cover, the 22mm hole can be filed to 24mm if you like which i did as i did not have 24mm bit.






9th 10th spy hole drilled and cover put back in it's place showing the measurement .




11th 12th pics show the spy hole in action for prodding the drain hole made easy note i have a lace tied to the end of the pipe bender and when closed with 25mm rubber domed bung, cheep i manage to buy a bag with 10 in for £3.50 over the top.




13th 14th all closed up untill i need to check again which will be ever week while i check my oil and water levels please do these jobs will save you money in the end on ECU and pollen filters, Note i have taken the blank out fron the window wiper, as if it was a left and drive took a photo looking down through it guess what you can see.




yes a dry plenum and clean filter.
next photo's mod's in these jobs i need to undertake is the Jules shield placement please continue to follow this revealing thread all thanks to those whom have shown us the way before me much appreciated, this my take on some of the jobs hope it helps, if anyone wants bigger detailed photos of the jobs please PM me with your email address and i will forward them onto you Arctic.

[carpmanjay]

im not sure why people take the pollen filter and ecu out when clearing the drain, i managed to do mine perfectly easy without
moving these items...

[Arctic]

Hi
We all can with the spy hole mod plus my pollen filter needed changing dont you think it was the wrong colour for the car care to explain how you done yours cheers Arctic

[ardvark]

I know is sounds long winded but I take the wiper arms off when doing all this. Saves me fiddling about.

[carpmanjay]

Originally Posted by Arctic

Hi
We all can with the sry holemod plus my pollen filter needed changing dont you think it was the wrong colour for the car care to explain how you done yours cheers Arctic

lol it did look a little dirty!!

same as you really, half the clips out from the windsgreen part, then all the plastic bits out then rodded it. i found the ecu and pollen filter were not in the way at all. cant really say much else lol