Thread: Dust! Entering into Puma Cabin!

For any vehicle, the secret to keeping dust out is simply to make the air pressure inside higher than outside. With the Defender, this is simply a matter of opening the vents. Oops! Sorry, no vents on the Puma!

Failing the front vents, the solution will be fresh air (not recirculating) and probably maximum fan speed. Change to recirculating for a minute or so when passing oncoming cars or when you stop until the cloud of dust subsides.

Any vehicle that has a flat or near flat back like the Defender has quite a low pressure area there, and it is almost impossible to keep the seals perfect even if they are to start with. If you keep the pressure inside higher, they don't need to be. Note that driving with the windows open, particularly the rear windows, will result in lower pressure inside, and consequent dust ingress. One of the problems with dropping the vents is that you cannot have fresh air without opening the windows.

John

Does the recirc function on the Defender actually use 100% recirculated air or still mix it with a portion of fresh air ? Anyone pulled Tdi, TD5, Puma airboxes apart and can comment of the differences ?

I know some modern road cars still mix fresh air with cabin air on recirc, there's just less fresh air. Something about concerns on recirc air quality.

we have spent yrs trying to make our defender dust tight, all new seals,, adjusting doors so there perfict line up, everything,, and we still get a little dust in, no were near as much as new, but its all the little places it come in, like were the bolts go thru for the seats, the seal under the windscreen, the boxes under the front seats, all that stuff,

Others have touched on the solution, but I don't think anyone has nailed it - I drove all across Australia in my Puma, including the top end, Kimberley, Gibson and Simpson deserts - all over. In fact, now I remember - we actually met on this trip - if you are the same "Thomo"! How's things? Anyway, everywhere I went people asked how I kept the dust out, and commented how clean and dust free the cabin was (outside was a different story).

As mentioned - keep the inside air pressure greater than outside. To do this, always have the air not on recirculate, but on outside air. I know this doesn't make intuaitive sence - and that is why most people don't do it. It is also why many complain about dust ingress.

Outside air setting for your fans or AC will create positive cabin pressure - keep all your windows shut too, of course. Do this even when in a cloud of dust from other vehicles. The moment you change to recirculate, you suck air into the vehicle.

This can be easily seen if you ever have a broken window and put plastic in it's place. Outside air setting - plastic baloons outward, recirculate - it sucks in like an Essex gal!

But yes - also remember it is a Defy and gaps are part of the mystique - some are better than others, mine must be fairly well sealed.

Originally Posted by Scallops

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This can be easily seen if you ever have a broken window and put plastic in it's place. Outside air setting - plastic baloons outward, recirculate - it sucks in like an Essex gal!

Excellent example! Also in hot weather with the cooler on, if you wind down your window you can instantly feel the hot air(+ dust) on your legs pouring in through the seat boxes.

Yeah
Landrover engineering at its finest again. I owned a 1980 series III V8 same thing, then a 1988 110 County 3.9 same thing, then a 1996 Defender same thing. Guess what after all these years they still cant keep the DUST OUT of a Landrover, perhaps the engineers should should take a walk down a assembly line in Japan.
PS; Dont go crossing any creek crossings in the wet season. Buy a tube of roof & gutter silastic & put a flood light underneath in the dark & check out the light coming through in all the folded corners extra.

Yep, ours was totally unacceptable when we picked it up too. The door seals had big gaps that you could see daylight through and would have been woeful offroad in the dust stakes.

If you have a look at the bottom door seal on your Puma, you will notice it is attached to the door, unlike on our TD5 which had all the strips attached to the bodywork. Methinks LR did this to stop any scuffing and damage to the bottom strip as you enter and exit the vehicle. That's good in theory of course but in our case, when the rubber seal (plasticky) on the door is over an inch too short at both ends and does not marry up to the body seals (rubber), you have a slight problem!

The dealer could not get us a longer door seal so I made them remove the bottom strip (off the door) and fit the bottom strip off a TD5 instead (fixed to the bodywork). Now all the seals on our Puma are a good, unbroken fit. The rest of our vehicle seems to be OK as far as dust goes so this quick fix was all we needed.

Originally Posted by ROBERT110763

Yeah
Landrover engineering at its finest again. I owned a 1980 series III V8 same thing, then a 1988 110 County 3.9 same thing, then a 1996 Defender same thing. Guess what after all these years they still cant keep the DUST OUT of a Landrover, perhaps the engineers should should take a walk down a assembly line in Japan.
PS; Dont go crossing any creek crossings in the wet season. Buy a tube of roof & gutter silastic & put a flood light underneath in the dark & check out the light coming through in all the folded corners extra.

If you want a vehicle with all the corners and joins nicely radiused and accurately fitted, buy a japmobile - do not buy a Defender.

On the other hand, if you want a vehicle that has bolt together bodywork, flat floors with no sills so it can be swept or hosed out, get a Defender, but don't expect it to be dust tight - the square corners are almost impossible to make dust tight, and the bolt together body, made on tooling some of which is fifty years old, is probably not going to be either.

John