Dear Forum,
Might be of help to someone if I post here that I could not get my Cowl Vent Screen to come away from my Windscreen, but I found that after removing the Wiper Arms and Cowl fixings etc, I could gently bend the Cowl upwards and over the right hand (LHD Car, viewed from front) Bonnet Stay and by holding up the left hand side of the Cowl, this left me just enough room to remove the Cabin Filter Box etc and access the ECU Connector, without completely removing the Cowl.

 

Hi EsRay,

I too had this problem when I needed to remove the cowling to remove the housing for the brake servo and on the other side for the cabin filter housing. I needed to do this for my spark plug change to access the rear cylinders. I removed the wipers etc but the cowl would not come away from the bottom of the windscreen.

I couldn't actually get mine away from the windscreen. Mine seems to be completely stuck or sealed to the windscreen so I too had to just bend it out of the way as much as I could. It made removing the housings really difficult as the space was very limited and tight.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Glad to know it wasn't just me!
Of course, my fun starts when I try to get the Cabin Filter Housing back in!
As far as I have been able to discover, you are supposed to bend the Cowl up and pull away from the screen at 90 degrees to the screen. Apparently, there is a 'tongue' on the edge of the Cowl (under the visible 'flap' that seals it to the windscreen) which fits inside a 'groove' contained within a strip of plastic which stretches right across and is fastened under the windscreen.
Given how brittle all the plastic on my car appears to be, I'd rather leave the Cowl in situ and struggle with the limited room!

 

Yes me too. I didn't want to risk breaking it off so I had to bend it out of the way as much as I could.

I also had the same trouble getting the housings back in which was not very much fun. It turned my spark plug change into a 8 hour job !

 

I forgot to mention (in case anyone wants to try it) that when you have the Cowl bent up at 90 degrees to the windscreen, apparently you should pull firmly, starting at one end and working your way to the other? Good luck!

 

There must be a difference between LHD and RHD cars that makes it more difficult?

When I encountered this same issue I simply bent up the Cowl by as much as possible which was probably over 90 degrees and managed to get the cabin filter
housing out with some bending of the housing.

I had to take it out in order to get at the EGR pipe nuts and over time have performed the operation several times.

When changing spark plugs I did not have to touch any of those items. On my brake reservoir housing there is a panel facing the #8 spark plug that can be removed for
easier access.

I no longer have the cabin filter housing as that is where my pump for the water/meth injection sits now.

 

Hello Jackra_1. No, I don't think there is any difference. I too managed to get the cabin filter housing out by bending it a little (not tried putting it back in yet). I also (LHD XJ8L N/A) have removed the panel on my brake reservoir housing to remove number 8 coil and plug (haven't put the panel back because I expect to be back there someday)!?

 

When my intake manifold had to come off, i HAD to get mine off!!!

Mine seemed almost frozen to the windshield, as far as being movable, or removable, without cracking it, or breaking it in some way.

Looked at what i have used on vinyl, rubber, plastic, even says, its good for leather, on the bottle.(Black Magic,Professional, Protectant)

Sprayed it down on top, as well as on the windshield, to seep under, till it could slide side to side, and came as loose, as much as possible.

Followed instructions in shop manual, as well as this site, starting on passenger side, working it across, with desired results.

Would think any brand would do the same, but this stuff is clear as water. That is why it was chosen, in the first place. Imagine they still make it, do not know, hope so, its good stuff.

 

Hey, Wingrider, thanks for that! We now have someone who has succeeded in getting this Cowl Screen off! We now know that it can be done!!

 

My 2003 X350 does not have an access panel in either of the housings. I read in the workshop manual that they should be there but on mine they are not for some reason. Maybe on the early models like mine they were not present. I had to remove the whole housing around the brake servo as it's one whole piece and had to remove the housing around the cabin filter as that also does not have any access panel. On my RHD car cylinder 5, 7, 6 and 8 are really difficult to get the coil packs out without moving the housings out of the way to make more room.

 

Tang on cowl

Cardboard in slot at bottom of windshield. Engine bay at bottom for reference.


I'm digging into the valley and this was first hurdle. I too these pics. It pops up 90° to the windshield. You can see the tang on the cowl. I sprayed some wd40 first and worked it out to find how it's on there. If I knew this I could have used a putty knife from under the cowl to release the tang while pulling away from windshield. Hope this helps someone.

 

I am trying to remember from when I took the cowl off mine, hmm I seem to remember struggling a bit because it didn't come off as I thought it would. I thought it would be a case of undo all the clips and it would pull off towards the engine, nope! I seem to remember that the 2 halfs slide off . I wonder if I have a photo of it?

 

I just pulled up at the side and the cowl cover just pulled out of the locating strip on the windscreen. I then put a plastic trim tool under it and slid it toward the center of the car. Repeat from the other side, no problem. When reassembling, just line up and push into socket, working towards the center.

The much harder task was removing the false bulkhead behind the engine. On LHD cars the heater pipes are much shorter and seem to be no problem. On RHD cars like mine the heater hoses (metal) cross over the back of the engine to the left hand side. I managed to break some plastic hose parts as I didn't realise I had to remove the heater hoses from the fittings on the firewall to give the false bulkhead enough room to remove it. This is one time when the remote cable spring hose clamp pliers are very useful.

Pete M