Cold Draught Passenger Foot Well Fix

[gbhrps]

My wife has complained for years about the cold draught on her feet in the front passenger foot well. During the first year of ownership I couldn't find the air leak and just jammed all kinds of pieces of one inch thick foam

rubber up around the fan and air ducts behind the glove box. It helped but didn't solve the problem completely, and we've lived with it till just recently. I pulled all the foam out this week determined to find the cause. No luck, so I pulled the glove box assembly from the dash to get some room. With a friend driving and myself in the passenger seat I was able to locate a stream of cold outside air coming in. Once back home and laying on the floor I was able to feel a section where the HAV boxes are joined together and sealed with a foam rubber seal .... that the outside air had been just blowing through. The seam between the two boxes runs from the top up under the dash straight down, curves around the bottom and runs straight back to the firewall. This seam is exactly in line with where the passenger side of the console ends at the firewall. In my case, you could see the seam where the boxes came together, but not the foam, but you could feel it when you stuck your fingers around the side of the seem from the centre console side. Once found it was an easy fix .... duct tape from top to bottom ... and no more draught. The nice thing is that the tape isn't visible unless you get right down onto the floor and look up. I don't know if anyone else has had a similar problem or not, but here's the simple fix if you do.

[cookie]

Thanks, that's bound to help somebody!

[guy123]

I'm curious, what year and model was this?

[ericem]

My wife has complained for years about the cold draught on her feet in the front passenger foot well. During the first year of ownership I couldn't find the air leak and just jammed all kinds of pieces of one inch thick foam

rubber up around the fan and air ducts behind the glove box. It helped but didn't solve the problem completely, and we've lived with it till just recently. I pulled all the foam out this week determined to find the cause. No luck, so I pulled the glove box assembly from the dash to get some room. With a friend driving and myself in the passenger seat I was able to locate a stream of cold outside air coming in. Once back home and laying on the floor I was able to feel a section where the HAV boxes are joined together and sealed with a foam rubber seal .... that the outside air had been just blowing through. The seam between the two boxes runs from the top up under the dash straight down, curves around the bottom and runs straight back to the firewall. This seam is exactly in line with where the passenger side of the console ends at the firewall. In my case, you could see the seam where the boxes came together, but not the foam, but you could feel it when you stuck your fingers around the side of the seem from the centre console side. Once found it was an easy fix .... duct tape from top to bottom ... and no more draught. The nice thing is that the tape isn't visible unless you get right down onto the floor and look up. I don't know if anyone else has had a similar problem or not, but here's the simple fix if you do.

 

Oh and hey all the way from Ontario! Great to see another canadian on this forum.

[mtsmiths]

I don't knowwhat year the poster is dealing with, but our 2000 Legacy has always had a cold PAX foot well. I've printed this off and inted to follow every step to see if it fixes our cold feet!

 

If so, thanks; if not, thanks for the posting anyhow.

[gbhrps]

Sorry about the lacking details! Its an 02 OBW LTD. The glove box definitely has to come out to get the tape up the front of the two boxes at the seam, but you will be able to feel where the foam, and the cold air, are located as the seam goes along the two boxes towards the firewall. As for the glove box, there are 4 pins that must come out before you can get to all of the screws that hold the glovebox surround support. Take as many of those screws out as you can get, in order to get room to go after the pins. As well, before starting, right at the firewall there is a push in plug in the side of the passenger side of the console. Screw its centre out with a phillips screwdriver until you can pull it with your finger, and then pull its expander plug out. You can now pull the passenger side of the console out towards the passenger seat from the front, as far as two plastic clips will allow. They are attached as part of the console side. When the console side is partially pulled out you'll have enough room to get at the screws down the left side of the glove box. Two small pins at the very bottom of the glovebox (when open) on either side, act as the hinge points, and two square pluglike pins act as the lock, again on either side, that allow the glovebox door to open only so far. All the pins are pushed into place from inside the glovebox, so they are removed from the outside in. Be very careful trying to pull them in from inside the glovebox, for they appear very fragile. I was afraid I'd break one, so I worked and worked at pushing them in from the outside using needlenosed pliers. When you go to drop the glove box surround you'll find the wiring connector for the glovebox interior light on the right side. Simply disconnect it, as the wiring for the interior bulb and the switch for same will all stay with the glovebox surround. Good Luck!