CLEAN OUT YOUR COWL!!!!!!!!!!!!

[big jake]

A month or so back, last time I drove my 86 F250 it was a very chilly evening and so I turned on the heater. I was in downtown Sacramento, it was about midnight, and as I drove, a faint odor of a wood-burning fireplace began to appear and I passed it off as folks keeping warm on a chilly night.

I got to within a block of my destination and heavy smoke started boiling out of my heater, defroster and dash vents, instantly filling the cab with smoke so thick I could not see out the windshield.

I immediately turned off the heater and eventually the smoke cleared up.

It seems as though through the years of parking under the trees in my neighborhood, the leaves and other debris fell through the slotted grille on the cowl in front of the windshield and packed the vent intakes and heater box full.

I was surprised to find there was no screen behind the grille opening to prevent this from happenning.

I'm gonna have to get out there and clean this out once I am able, been down with a severe back injury since Christmas, just started walking again yesterday.

Anyway, check those cowls out to prevent a fire under the dash.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

You're not the first victim of this occurance.

What most have done is to remove the cowl and press screen-wire into silicone sealer/adhesive on the bottom side, under the open slots.

What sucks about this is that the cowl cannot be removed without first taking off the hood.

The hood was off my truck for weeks, while swapping engines; did I think about screening the cowl while it was off ??

I removed the blower and fished out half a five-gallon bucket full of leaves and junk; then, I removed those kick-panel access plates in the cab, and finished filling the bucket.

 

[sassyrel]

or--when i got my 85--guy had smoked--thought nothing of it--till winter--heading to waterloo--30 miles--about 1 mile from destination--smoke started to pour out vents--shut truck off--jumped out--wife along!!!--and it stopped!!!!!! bozo before had dropped many things down inside the defrost vents--seems pack of matches got close to heater core--and lit off--and melted part of heater box---and went out!!!!!! also pencil fell in and broke the hinge pins on heater deflect flap--still aint fixed it!!!!!

 

[82F100SWB]

The cowl cover will come off with the hood on, you just have to fight with it a bit.... Done it a few times to change wiper motors...

 

[85hauler]

A couple winters back the driver side carpet began getting wet and freezing when the truck would be parked at home. Thought maybe windshield was leaking or snow melting off my boots from getting in and out while hitchin trailers and what not. After the inside stared frosting up I figured I better find out what was going on. The drivers kick panel was completely full of leaves and ice. Had to stick a torch in there and chip it out in chunks as the ice melted. Haven't had that problem since.

 

[Mikes91]

A couple winters back the driver side carpet began getting wet and freezing when the truck would be parked at home. Thought maybe windshield was leaking or snow melting off my boots from getting in and out while hitchin trailers and what not. After the inside stared frosting up I figured I better find out what was going on. The drivers kick panel was completely full of leaves and ice. Had to stick a torch in there and chip it out in chunks as the ice melted. Haven't had that problem since.

Had the same problem with my sweet '91. Spent most of an afternoon cleaning junk out of both sides... inside and under the hood. The job was quite a chore.

 

[LUCKY_LARUE60]

My cowl has small holes instead of slots, very little if any junk can get in. Might want to check if the cowl off a 93 will fit early models.

Jim

 

[Agnem]

As was mentioned, the kick panel area and drain boots require attention. The drain boot is a rubber deal that has no real hole, but functions more like a self bailing drain plug on a small boat if you have ever seen on of those. It looks like this....

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The kick panel can be removed, and the access plate taken off so that you can get this area clean also. See how leaves accumulated in this picture.

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The drain boot holds it all back. I did an article on this problem once, but I can't recal where it is.

 

[bradrob82]

It happens in the 92 and newer trucks too! When i bought my truck the carpet was a little wet in the drivers side, well there were a couple little holes in the firewall that i thought that water was leaking in, well i siliconed them up and was fine for a while. Well thats because we did not have any rain, come to find out the next big rain we had my truck was soaked on the driverside floor, so i had to peel the carpet and stuff up and dry it out when the inner truck flood subsided. I got to thinking wonder if my cowl is clogged, i used to have a 87 F-150 and since we live in good ole West by God, there are numerous trees around and i had a almost birdnest looking collection in it after a couple years of driving it, so i pryed the cowl off of the 93 (w/o removing the hood) and low and behold where the body panels meet up under there and the silicone sealer stuff is, it had rusted underneath of there enough that i could drop a wrench down through, i also found alot of little stuff up under there.(pine tree pieces, sticks, misc junk etc.) so after i sealed it up she doesnt leak anymore! So i guess in all my ramblings, every ford owner should pry the cowl piece off and see whats going on under there, for you and your trucks sake.

 

[84TD]

Agreed!! I had a camp fire in my dash not that long ago, I thought she was toast but it went out.

 

[Mont91]

Packrats can travel from the engine to the cab via the heater duct(no air) in a '88. He figured out how to move the blend door and inside/outside air door. It went around the end of the cowl, newer outfits have a metal partition that prevents this. Boy the wife got upset when it would poke its head out by her feet while going down the road.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

Also, while cleaning out your cowl, check the seal, It becomes very crumbly, wont seal, and then it will let a lot of ambient engine heat in the cab. I replaced mine with some thick foam tape and it made a big difference on how the AC worked in the summer.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I would like to know just how anyone is getting the cowl off of 80-86 model trucks without bending and skinning the paint.

I have made three gallant attempts, each about three months apart, with the wife helping, and had to give up each time, regardless of hood position.