Word to the wise.

matthew mcelhaney

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Word to the wise. It May be worth while to pull your blower fans off every once in a while and clean out the debris. Or you can do what I did today and frantically remove your blower motor in a parking lot while smoke is bellowing out your vents and hoping you get it opened up before they turn from smouldering leaves to leaves on fire.
 

IDIBRONCO

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This was my solution for keeping leaves out. I installed aluminum window screen underneath the cowl panel.

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IDIBRONCO

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IDIBRONCO
That’s a good idea. was that a proactive solution or a reactive solution
It's actually something that I'd been wanting to try for several years, but didn't get off my backside and do it until last fall. I had the heater resistor go bad in my Bronco because of that back in 2011 or so. I'm going to have to do this to my 81 F150 in another month or so when I'm pulling the engine out of it. So I guess you could say that it's both. Reactive because of the Bronco. proactive because I don't want it to happen to my trucks. I also got tired of the leaves blowing out of the vents all over the cab in the fall. Maybe that makes it reactive too? I used aluminum because I thought it would last longer than the nylon stuff.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Good plan. I think that everyone should do this to their trucks. The aluminum doesn't cut easily with a utility knife like the nylon does (brain fart on my part). Since I didn't have my tin snips handy when I did this, I used a 4 1/2" grinder with a cut off wheel. It was probably faster than the tin snips anyway.
 

matthew mcelhaney

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I used aluminum because I thought it would last longer than the nylon stuff.

Seems like aluminum would be the best choice to me also. The evaporater coil fins are completely clogged from what I could tell. I might as well open it all the way up and give it a good cleaning. The AC system worked when I got it but had a leak so I will probably replace the whole system while I have it open.
 
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snicklas

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I think this is why on the Bricks and newer, they went to the small holes in the cowl instead of the slots like the Bulls and older.

My 03 has has smaller openings, so does my 11.

The Infiniti has the cowl vents almost vertical at the back of the hood, and it's protected by the hood.

The smaller openings on all of them seem to help keep stuff out of the cowl, it also doesn't seem to plug up/hold snow as bad either.
 

dgr

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You can use the rest of the roll for your grill. Helpful if you have to drive by rice paddies in the evening. HF plastic and metal scissors cut it fine.

Both my Honda and infinity collect all the leaves instead of letting them blow away. I think the slots with the @IDIBRONCO mod are a good solution.
 

IDIBRONCO

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The evaporater coil fins are completely clogged from what I could tell. I might as well open it all the way up and give it a good cleaning.
Mine was too. It looked like it was covered with dryer lint. Now, with the improved air flow, the heater works better too. My A/C didn't work so I decided to put a new evaporator in rather that take a chance on trying to clean it.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Helpful if you have to drive by rice paddies in the evening.
There's not too many of those in northwest Kansas. I've never seen one in real life. I suppose it would help cut down on the bugs in the summertime.
 

riphip

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I did mine years ago but I cut and siliconed the screening to underneath the cowl cover so I could remove easier in the future cleanings. Dust still builds up over time but no heavy debris.
 

Garbage_Mechan

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Been there done that! Left truck running with the defroster on while I fed the horses. Came back to a cab full of smoke. Frantically pulled out the resistor and put out the smoldering leaves and acorn hulls.
Every one of the 80-97 pickups I’ve pulled the evaporator out of was unbelievably gross. Not just leaves but mold, enough hair for a whole dog!
 

david85

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That happened to me while pulling 5% at 70 MPH. Needless to say, I pulled over not sure what to think. I put a similar screen solution as shown above, only glued to the underside of the cowling. Looking at the above example though, I think I like the removable solution more than my permanent one.
 
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