Air filter and engine

We have had the Discovery back for two weekends now. It has a reconditioned engine to replace the previous one damaged by water being sucked in and causing hydrolock.

The engine and engine bay came back from MKL Motors cleaner than I have ever seen it before.

The fitter thoroughly cleaned the air filter housing and replaced the air filter. He also commented on the amount of grub that was inside. Having seen the mess myself I am sure that it was a poorly fitting filter that allowed the water to be sucked in so easily.

Now that I have a used air filter housing to make it easier to fully seal the air intake system I can see that the old housing was damaged.

Damaged to be discarded

One corner was bent and the lugs that keep it aligned were snapped off!

Undamaged to be fitted

I've spent some of the weekend making sure the new one is fully sealed.

Old bicycle inner tube

It didn't all go to plan. One of the screws that hold a sensor to the side of the air box was stuck solid and I damaged the casing removing it.

I eventually ended up fitting a bolt as a replacement.

Today was spent filling holes and joints with sealant and covering the flexible pipe with several layers of gaffer tape.

The housing is easy to remove from the car. Once the top half is removed, the bottom half can just be pulled up.  It is only held in by three large rubber grommets. The hydraulic fluid reservoir gets in the way a bit but that unclips and can be pushed aside easily.

I cleaned away all the old silicone sealant before adding a whole lot more of my own.

I've also spun the intake of the snorkel round to face the rear. There was a  lot of grub and leaves that had been sucked in.

The way it was

The way it is now

I hope facing the other way will reduce the debris accumulating in the air box and pipework.