For some months I've noticed a damp patch ( 
) wait for it, wait for it! ,,,underneath the car. On checking it, it's always just been water.
I thought I had checked and cleared the drains in the scuttle months ago whan I first acquired the car, but this evening I had a little look behind the engine and could see a braided pipe that looked wet.
On further investigation, from what I could see, the wet looked to be dripping down from above the pipe, so I groped around to try and find the source and felt something like wet mud hanging down! Wet mud it was - I pulled a load of it out and there was the sound of water pouring onto the ground under the car. I could feel a hole ( stop it!) with a rubbery edge to it as if something was broken, and indeed it felt like a lump of something was floating around inside the hole.
Long story short - I found two drains that were quite blocked. The left hand one felt like there was a great lump of something blocking the hole. I pulled it free and it turned out to be a strange shaped rubber boot.
I went back to the one on the right hand side of the scuttle and pulled a similar rubber boot out from there too.
Both boots were not torn as I had first thought but had a strange set of cuts in them. They were very clogged with dirt and quickly cleaned under a running tap. Clearly designed to catch and restrict debris, but quite honestly I couldnt see the point of them (hence the title of the thread)
I shall have to give the scuttle area a darned good clean out with the hose at some point, and once I've cleaned the area thoroughly I suppse refit these two boots - but what are they for?
Why not just allow the dirt, leaves, and debris to wash out through the holes unrestricted by the rubber boots?
) wait for it, wait for it! ,,,underneath the car. On checking it, it's always just been water.I thought I had checked and cleared the drains in the scuttle months ago whan I first acquired the car, but this evening I had a little look behind the engine and could see a braided pipe that looked wet.
On further investigation, from what I could see, the wet looked to be dripping down from above the pipe, so I groped around to try and find the source and felt something like wet mud hanging down! Wet mud it was - I pulled a load of it out and there was the sound of water pouring onto the ground under the car. I could feel a hole (
stop it!) with a rubbery edge to it as if something was broken, and indeed it felt like a lump of something was floating around inside the hole.Long story short - I found two drains that were quite blocked. The left hand one felt like there was a great lump of something blocking the hole. I pulled it free and it turned out to be a strange shaped rubber boot.
I went back to the one on the right hand side of the scuttle and pulled a similar rubber boot out from there too.
Both boots were not torn as I had first thought but had a strange set of cuts in them. They were very clogged with dirt and quickly cleaned under a running tap. Clearly designed to catch and restrict debris, but quite honestly I couldnt see the point of them (hence the title of the thread)
I shall have to give the scuttle area a darned good clean out with the hose at some point, and once I've cleaned the area thoroughly I suppse refit these two boots - but what are they for?
Why not just allow the dirt, leaves, and debris to wash out through the holes unrestricted by the rubber boots?
