So unfortunately it rained inside my car yesterday but I followed the instructions of ym42 (here) and I cleaned out near the passenger side air filter where the grommet was holding all kinds of pine needles and gunk.

But I noticed the grommet was just sitting there by itself, no wires through it or anything. And the drainage (bottom) section of the grommet it just a tiny little slit which is why everything was built up in it.

So I was wondering, is there any reason for me not to take the grommet out completely, or even just cut the bottom of it open a bit so all the pine needles can flow through it?

I"ve drained everything out for now and cleaned it all up but I"m gonna stop by my Ford stealership tomorrow & pick up a new cabin air filter (the current one is very dirty and very drenched) so I was thinking I may as well open up the bottom end of the grommet to increase flow and avoid any such problems in the future.

Thoughts?

 

i never had leak problem but i took my grommet out long time ago too. No problems

 

I cut the bottom off !! Nothing hangs up now.

 

I don't think they are grommets, I think they are drains for the cowl area. I think they are supposed to act as valves, they let water out but don't let air/heat from around the engine up into the cowl and in through the air filter. Remember the fan runs continuously so it is constantly sucking in air through the cowl vents and if you cut the bottom of the rubber off it can suck air from right above the exhaust manifolds.

 

Can someone please tell me whaere these grommets are? I have opened the hood and looked for them but I can't seem to find the. Do I have to remove anything to see/get to them? Thanks for any help.

 

+1, fair enough. I don't know what they're called exactly, but it's that rubber thing on the bottom of the hollow space in the space in front of the firewall (or is the space considered to be the firewall?) and it's just got a tiny little slit in the bottom, perfect for gooey crap from nature like leaves and pine needles to get piled up in and flood water through your cabin air filter and down your passenger side floor vent.

Would having this rubber grommet/drain valve/etc opened up a little wider in the bottom cause any problems? Perhaps it will suck in a little more heat from the engine (the rubber thing sits almost directly over the passenger side cat) but could that be anticipated to cause any problems? Certainly it's already getting pretty warm there as is even with just the narrow slit in it.

 

A big +1 to that.

You have to remove the COWL VENT SCREEN to see the 'valve/grommets'.

I found an 'extra' plastic trim item in mine when I investgated.
It was one of the plastic itmes that the fingers from the cowl
vent screen insert into when its reinstalled.

 

You can get to the bottom opening of the slits from the engine compartment. The passenger side is between the battery tray and the valve cover on the fire wall. Ask me how I know it's near the valve cover? Because I started to check it to see if it was clean when the engine was hot and I burned the back of my arm on the valve cover. Use a flashlight to find it the first time, while the engine is cold. You can flick it and reach up inside the slit opening to make sure it's clean. It is in a similar location on the drivers side. They are hard to see because they are black, relatively flat, facing down and low on the firewall.

I try and remember to check them a couple times a month when I'm under the hood for something else. If you park under trees I'd check them more often.