Big_Tex

Wanted to share my experience with a leak in my new-to-me 2010 S. Water was dribbling on to the passenger floor mat when subjected to a car wash. I assumed the problem was like lots of Cayennes that had leaf-clogged sunroof drains, but that wasn't it. I removed all the plastic around the wipers and some of the equipment up against the firewall, and found dirty but not seriously clogged drain grommets.


What I found was that the cabin air intake tube, the big plastic housing on the passenger side, was not properly seated against the firewall. The two upper bolts were fine but the lower side was not. Upon removal (which was quite difficult) I found the real problem - the lower section of the tube attaches with two clamps from the inside of the tube. This means the clamps cannot physically be secured with the housing up against the firewall.








Are you supposed to remove everything inside the cabin so that you can reach through to clamp this on? Tiny minions that can crawl in the intake? There is either some trick that I am missing (clearly possible - I do not have a service manual) or breathtakingly bad engineering. I did some re-engineering so I am good, but I'm curious if anyone else has dug in to this.

dudecs

Thanks for the post.

Do you have the "cowl grille" on the passenger side (see diagram below, part #4). This part number is for 2013+ and not sure if it is applicable for your 2010. The cowl grille will catch the larger debris and minimize clogging the drain in the future. This part was added to more recent models to address the problem that you encountered.

Big_Tex

I have a grilled cover there, looks a little different from the later models. But again, my problem turned out not to be debris clogging the drains.

DogWood

Hey Big_Tex did you ever get this figured out?
seems rather bizarre

Big_Tex

Yes, and no. The problem was a little odder than I thought. First off, I never have leaks with rain, only in the torrential flood of a car wash (no haters - I bought this car used and it's front paint is not remotely concours).

But this fix did not solve the problem. Still had water dribbling on to the passenger floor mart. Finally, I discovered that the water intrusion happens immediately upon entering the car wash, and that water is blasting up. So, maybe the engineering is okay for normal rain coming down, but they missed something for water coming up.

Finally, my brain turned on and I tried going through the wash with the interior air vent closed (recirculate button). And no leaks! So that is still where the water is getting in, but I'm calling this fixed. Just switch to recirculate, no problem.

DogWood

that is an odd one, thanks for the update

lexusbajo

I know this is an old thread, but in the future for anybody else dealing with this. The 2 lower clips can be accessed by dropping down the a/c blower motor in passenger footwell. one black screw holding a/c duct in place has to be removed to access last screw on blower motor. Then you can reach up inside the blower housing and reach those clips from inside the car. im still chasing water leaks, but at least figured that part out.