Discovery 2 'plenum cover' (lower windscreen trim).

[davros]

Hi All!
Been a while but it's back to the font of all knowledge- AULRO!
Anyone had issues with new plenum covers, the plastic trim that goes under the windscreen (wipers come up through it)?
I replaced my cracked one last year with a new genuine one. Within a few months it warped like crazy along the top edge. Rovacraft were good and replaced it no issues. But within a month the new one has also 'chucked a wobbly'!
Rovacraft contacted LR Aus, who replied they had only had one complaint and rejected it as 'during install, the A pillar covers had not been removed and replaced, hence the plenum cover was squashed inwards and warped' ???!! Baloney, I thought, and checked mine. 1-5 mm gaps at both ends in true LR fashion. It doesn't in any way touch the A pillar trim. Made a video showing the clearance and Rovacraft contacted LR Aus, who have now said 'oh well we'll send a new one!'.
But why is it warping? It's not that hot here (SW WA). The new cover does look a slightly different plastic to the old (more waxy and matt than the original).
The warping seems to occur between the two wiper spigots (visible mostly along the top rubber seal edge against - or not! - the windscreen). It's almost as if in heat it is trying to expand lengthwise and the wiper spigots stop it, so it warps. But the original never did this (it just cracked in half!).
And ideas or experiences?
Dave

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Oh good!:rolleyes:

[singlecell]

I had the same issue with a new one I bought about 12 months ago. Massive warping along the top after only a couple of weeks.
Led Richmond replaced it for me. I think the new one has some minor warping now. I'll check it tomorrow.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AULRO mobile app

[ozscott]

Ok so I will sika the middle crack in my original unwarped one...

Cheets

[bronson]

I recently replaced mine with a second hand piece, after a couple of months it cracked straight through the middle. I have a feeling that the mechanic may have fitted it without taking the bonnet off which inturn you need to bend it upwards to get it on. I think I notice a hairline crack afetrwards which then grew.
How much was the new one you bought?
Did you fit it yourself?

cheers
bronson

[lewy]

my new one has been on for about 4 months,so has gone through the buildup here in Darwin as well as a few 40+ days at tennant creek,still as straight,Bought from TRS perhaps they use a different supplier,Just wondering given the comments about the wiper hole interfering are the left hand drive wipers in a different position.if so perhaps perhaps the plenum is different.

[bronson]

my new one has been on for about 4 months,so has gone through the buildup here in Darwin as well as a few 40+ days at tennant creek,still as straight,Bought from TRS perhaps they use a different supplier,Just wondering given the comments about the wiper hole interfering are the left hand drive wipers in a different position.if so perhaps perhaps the plenum is different.

How much from TRS mate?
cheers Bronson

[davros]

Hi Lewy,
They are universal - there are blanking plugs in the Left hand drive wiper holes.
The holes in mine are in the right place, not interfering, just it seems that the warping is 'between' them - as if when the wiper spigot nuts are re-fitted, they clamp on the plastic and stop length-wise expansion?

[davros]

Think it was over $300 but it was a year ago now...

[davros]

Hi Singlecell,
What were the results of your warping analysis?
Cheers,
Dave

[ramblingboy42]

I have recently had mine replaced as part of an insurance claim......took them ages...I mean weeks to obtain the correct part......they called it a 'scuttle panel'

anyway, mine was cracked too and an 'a' pillar shroud was replaced at the same time.

will keep an eye on mine.

btw colour matched sikaflex does a great job on any plastic cracks on the d2......use a well spiitted finger and light pressure to blend it in neatly.

[singlecell]

My new one is still good. Last one I could almost fit my pinky finger behind it.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AULRO mobile app

[bronson]

Check out when you open your bonet youll notice the bonet puts pressure on the plastic panel causing it to crack. Dont open it so far :-)

Cheers
Bronson

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Oh good!:rolleyes:

Had mine done at obriens at Sale, side trims survived but scuttle panel was cracked, the owner acknowledged fault, I wasnt really concerned till a week later and the panel has now cracked in the middle and lifted off the screen on the pass side.
My main concern is whats actually under there to get wet????

[kelvo]

One of its functions is to stop water/rain getting into the blower intake. If you know it's going to rain I'd be parking undercover.

[ozscott]

Hit the re-circ button until you fix it if its raining.

Cheers

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Obriens are arranging to install another panel,,
though after all the bad reports on the new panels---:angrylock:

[bronson]

Check out when you open your bonet youll notice the bonet puts pressure on the plastic panel causing it to crack. Dont open it so far :-)

Cheers
Bronson


Heres your answer

[awabbit6]

I replaced my a-pillar trims and plenum cover in January. The plenum is now warped and one of the a-pillar trims has also bent. Just going through the process of arranging replacements now.

Are the replacements staying straight? I'm not keen to have go through this every 3 months.

[Forged]

Can i just ask, what is under this 'scuttle panel'? As the one on the Disco i just purchased has a crack straight down the middle and its been ****ing down with rain the last few days. Should i be concerned with how much water has entered into this space?

I'm just going to use black silicon to seal it up i think.

[AndrewMilne]

Can i just ask, what is under this 'scuttle panel'? As the one on the Disco i just purchased has a crack straight down the middle and its been ****ing down with rain the last few days. Should i be concerned with how much water has entered into this space?

I'm just going to use black silicon to seal it up i think.


Hi Forged,
If you have not been getting water coming in on the floor in the front passenger-side footwell, then I don't think it matters how much water gets under the scuttle panel.
Under that panel are drains that lead to just in front of the front doors, one on each side.
Under the LHS (that is, the passenger side) of the scuttle panel, located above and behind the drain channel, is a raised air intake for the cabin ventilation. On mine, that intake was an open rectangular hole facing UP!
Water was getting into it and appearing on the front-passenger floor.
I fixed that by making a hood for the air intake out of heavy aluminium foil that I shaped by hand and glued over the air intake hole with silicone. Air can still enter under the hood, it just "roofs over" the intake hole.
Cheers, Andrew

[AndrewMilne]

Like a lot of D2 owners, my plenum cover is cracked right across the middle. See Pic 1.

As I am having my windscreen replaced, I decided to take the plenum cover out prior to that job and see if I could repair it before re-fitting.

The plenum cover doesn't bear any weight (doesn’t support anything else) and is only held in place by one scrivet near each end and a bolt through the centre of a plastic flange along the bottom edge.
I think it likely that over-tightening of this centre bolt down onto the plastic flange is what initiates the cracking.
In my case, part of the plastic flange adjacent to the bolt head had cracked and broken off.
The crack terminates (or begins) right at the bolt-hole there. Pic 2 shows this.

I decided to brace the plastic flange along the bottom edge of the plenum cover with a narrow sheet-metal strip to bridge the crack and hold the opposite sides of it together.
I cut this strip from a scrap of Colorbond fence sheeting.
The outer side of the plastic flange has a trapezoidal recess where the bolt-hole is, so I also cut a shape to fit in this recess as a sort of shim to level the surface up (Pic 3).

Pic 4 shows the shim and longer metal strip in position before fastening, and Pic 5 shows them (mocked up) prior to setting rivets to secure them.

Pic 6 shows the assembly after setting the rivets, with detail shown in Pic 7 (which also has the centre plenum bolt in place).
Pic 8 shows the setup from the exterior aspect.

I then spread Plasti-Bond over the crack on the underside of the plenum cover, and used "T-Rex" waterproof tape (courtesy of onebob) to cover the crack on the upper (visible) surface.
Also painted the visible part of the metal strip black, so it doesn’t draw attention to itself.

When the windscreen replacement has been done tomorrow, I'll (gently) re-install the plenum cover.
I notice that the scrivet holes at each end of the plenum cover are elongated rather than being circular.
This may be to accommodate lengthwise thermal expansion of the cover, in which case it is best not to overtighten the scrivets when installing them.
I think I'll even lightly grease the holes.

The wire strand that runs along the foam filter strip in some of my pictures is there to prevent air flowing through the filter foam from pushing it forwards into the plenum cavity, which I found was happening despite the retaining clips for the foam strip being in place.

I can add a couple of cautionary points for anyone intending to remove their plenum cover:

1) The plenum cover cops a lot of sunlight and heat, and at 15 years or of age more the plastic is very brittle. Handle gently!

2) The upper edge of the cover (which overlaps the bottom of the windscreen) is held in place by 4 hook-shaped plastic lugs, one of which is shown in Pic 9. These lugs tuck under the bottom edge of the windscreen glass. To release the 4 lugs, it is necessary (after removing the scrivet at each end of the cover and the bolt in the bottom centre) to tilt the lower edge of the cover (beneath the foam filter strip) upwards and gently pull back.

It is very difficult to do this without damage unless you unbolt the bonnet hinges and slide the bonnet forward FIRST.
There is an Atlantic British video which shows how to do this job.
You can find it in the sticky entitled "British Atlantic's DIY YouTube how to guides".
The specific video title is: "Atlantic British Presents: Installing Centre Air Intake Moulding – Discovery Series II".