Thread: And I thought Defenders had dust ingress problems!

I had the same issue in my Zook.

The plastic flap in the vent had perished an was curved up leaving it basically open, but this is not a problem if you always drive with all the windows up and the aircon / fans on as it maintains positive air pressure in the car, meaning air goes out not in the vents.

One particularly hot day when I was low on fuel in the middle of NSW nowhere (annoyingly Ivanhoe petrol station was closed during my transit window when driving from Lake Caregillo to Mildura via Mungo National Park), I decided it was wiser to drive slower with the aircon off and windows down to make sure I made my next stop without needing to dig too deeply in to my reserve fuel rations.

As it turns out this led to about 3 buckets of bulldust coming back in the vents, most inside the panel & trim cavities, and my car was never quite the same again.

I reckon for about 5 years afterwards every time I turned on the fans I noticed a smell of dust for a second or two. Always reminded me of the view in the picture below, so particularly when the stretch between trips becomes too long that's not a bad thing...

My last D2 was the same,only difference was the colour of the dust,very red/orange.

I'll give it a clean up, good vacuum, etc and make sure everything is where it should be before I re-assemble it.
Suppose I should do the other side too

Where are these vents and how do I get to them?

Originally Posted by Disco Muppet

Suppose I should do the other side too

The other side should be ok, there is only a pressure release vent on the drivers side.

Mine had also come away, found it when I noticed red dust on the cargo space vent and started looking for where it came from.

Originally Posted by CountP

Where are these vents and how do I get to them?

I had to remove the storage bin/lower trim, upper trim, and the piece that goes along the top of the roof line. Nothing too difficult.
As for the what, Kelvo says they're pressure release, would make sense as the should only open outwards.

So today I attacked my trim and interior with some Gumption, water, rag, vacuum cleaner, etc.
Turned out quite nicely.



Filter is back in place, might sikaflex it in.....maybe...

Water was pretty feral when I finished



Trim piece is glued up, needs a sand and paint but that's tomorrows job, if our little cyclone feels inclined to move along that is.

If you want some control over dust ingress, plate that release vent over and seal it. By doing that you can then create higher pressure inside with the fan/aircon on fresh and prevent dust entering. You can quite easily control the amount of pressure by lowering a rear window. The idea of that vent is for flow through air but you cannot adjust it.
I never had dust entering the falcon because of that system. oh I just remembered you have a sunroof! You can use it for pressure control Although in reality there is enough holes for air release with out it1 It is a Landrover!

Cheers Scott