Leaves in 240 front windscreen vent

familyman

Leaves have fallen into the two rows of vent slots between the rear edge of the bonnet and the lower edge of the front windscreen on my 240. Is there an easy way to access that space to vacuum them out? And can they fall further down into the car (where do they wind up)? I've tried just vacuuming from the top using a computer cleaning kit which has a black piece of plastic tube with a flattened tip - but it's not long enough to reach the bottom where the leaves are sitting. And even I could reach them I'd still have to pick them out with a pair of tweezers which I can from trying just now would take days because the leaves break and keep falling back in. Using just the vacuum alone, it can't get suction because there's too much "open space" if you get what I mean, so there's no suction to speak of.

past_the_moon

familyman it really helps a lot to disturb that area with compressed air while vacuuming. that method helped me clean a few out in my time since i got a compressor. poor Volvo design, we know, but we can't change that now. I hope you get it all out asap. i have learnt to regularly blast out the eng ine bay / hinges etc with compressed air. it is amazing how much crap you can disperse after a wash just by using compressed air - then you need to rinse it off again :/ But I would suggest doing the vent area dry rather than wet.

just as a good preacher disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed, using both methods of attack simultaneously gives excellent results.

ramrod

Yes, you can remove the plastic plugs under the carpet in the floor and get the leaves out from there. They settle in the floor cavity and rust it out.

Same with the openings under the bonnet right by the bonnet hinges.

Try to limit parking under trees. It’s not the driving that kills these classics, it’s the neglect which starts the rusting process

familyman

Thank you. With the hinge spaces - do you mean there's a space lower down in the body that gets into? Or does the rubbish just sit in the front corner just under that top plate at about hip height? (There's a handful of cables running through that space on mine, so I can't see in there yet.)

Yeah I didn't want to park there. I rent and the real estate (or owner) delayed cutting the tree hanging down blocking the driveway and garage for months. I cut enough small stuff off to get the car into the yard - which meant I was now under the tree. I was going to put something over the vents then it started pouring rain. I also couldn't figure out how to keep it there without using bricks, and was worried a strong wind might lift any towel or sheet rolling the bricks onto the paint. By the time the rain stopped there was already tree garbage down in the vents - couldn't believe it grrr!

past_the_moon

familyman i know that situation well, FM. when tarping up a car it really pays to strap it only to the wheels, and make sure the tarp or ropes do not touch the ground, as that provides a pathway for insects to climb up easily. i have tarped up many cars and paid the price for it. ants nesting under a tarp a curse. and they get there very fast via and dangling rope or straps.

its a battle. keep up the good work. we gotta preserve these life-saving, non-wifi, non-airbag, non-dobbing Volvos if humanity is going to survive at all 😉

ramrod

Pretty much get rid of any leaves and dirt that you can see.

Make the area spotless

Yes the leaves will end up in the area where the water drains out from. When leaves block this drain area, water cannot escape, so rust will easily start. As mentioned remove the front carpet and remove the round plastic plugs so you can vacuum or compressed air blow out everything and clear all the drains out, so that water can be seen coming out of the front door and fender area.

familyman

ramrod Thanks. I had another look. in the engine bay. There was some leaves just inside the holes behind the strut tower - but I cannot see any opening heading down to the drain slots. I'm having trouble with my eyes the last couple of days though. Reading this text is difficult, I can't get a focus., it's all "glowy" around the letters. It's happened before, usually in the mornings, and a shower usually fixes it (like it washes stuff out of my eyes or something) but a shower hasn't fixed it this time. I'll have another look tomorrow, try pushing the cables aside or unplugging them.

familyman

Say has anyone fitted some flyscreen mesh under these air intake vents to stop large junk falling in? If yes, how did you make it stay put?

It's been over 10 years since I pulled a 240 dash apart, but I'm thinking if the opening is large enough to get my hands in there, maybe I could fit a piece of mesh using some kind of goop like the putty/silicone Volvo used behind the clear plastic sheet that's behind the door cards?

past_the_moon

familyman NEVER use silicone on a car! T-Rex from Soudal is excellent for gluing stuff like that - especially in air vents. the black stuff i used has no toxic odours that i could smell, it dries in mutes, or at least will hold that in aminute or so, and is easily removed later if you change your mind. it sticks anything to anything.

silicone is truly evil - just ask any panel beater or yachtie. it spreads like cancer and makes painting impossible. yeah i know u can get silicone remover but it is toxic too and a whole lot of mess and unnecessary difficult work.

ramrod

You won’t see the channels because they aren’t visible.

You can put mesh fly screen material there, but it looks crummy in my opinion

I would just extract all leaves and dirt from the visible areas and suck out all the leaves inside the floors like I said and keep the car as dry and leaf free as possible

John_Fraser

The drain channel under the front grill is U shaped and goes down each side to a large drain hole in the bottom edge of the fender. It also feeds air to the foot level air vents inside the car.

The rocker panels that run under the bottom edge of the doors are accessed through the plugs inside the car under the edges of the carpet. They also have small slotted drain holes along the bottom edge of the body. Those rocker panels are primary rust locations for the 240 so kept all the drain holes clear.

You can wash the leaves out of the front grill with a water hose. Just make sure the foot air vents inside the car are closed.

dmc

Look for 'snow covers', I recall seeing some advertised in Canada or somewhere that cover the grilles you are talking about.

+1 for cleaning out the drainage channels too, there is an amazing amount of rubbish that ends up in there!