Rust, varmit and AC clogging prevention project

It amazes me that they designed the cowl vent this way and didn't put any sort of cover on it.
My X-Runner had a damn pine forest in the lower fenders and the truck was 2 years old when I got it. Also had all kinds of problems with rats getting in to the HVAC system and making a mess.

Contrast that with my 30+ year old toyota 4x4. It has almost 300,000 miles on it, parked outside for long periods of time and had the crap wheeled out of it. I decided to inspect/ clean the same areas on that truck after all the problems with my Tacoma. I found dust, 2 pine needles and a spiderweb with zero evidence of rodents having been in there.

I have to pull the cowl of my 2011 and repeat the same process. I notice when I wash the truck the cowl stays full of water, I suspect there is all kinds of salad in there.

 

It's easier to get someone's attention when you tag them in your post, like @ucdblendog.

I released a couple of the lower inner wheel well liner clips, pried the liner out a bit and put a wedge in place while I worked the tools. Then hosed it from top to bottom, then compressed air (which got more leaves)

With my mods, I no longer get any leaves.

 

Awesome thanks!

 

I tried to unscrew the "plastic screws in the lower 2 corners........aren't screws, & do pop out. But I couldn't get the center wiper off, after getting bolt off. So I just bent the cowling up & used the smaller 1 1/2" sized Shop Vac hose(I reversed it, with duck tape) so it was flexible. The cab air in take vent is on the passenger side, with the wiper in the middle, it flexes enough.

 

Problems with that.........

1) If the cowl is brittle, which many are, it will break. Then you have a problem to find a good used one, repair yours, or $ for a new one.

2) not removing the cowl doesn't allow the tip of hot gluing the screen on the back of the cowl to stop debris entry.

3) not removing the cowl would make installing the mesh over the air intake fairly difficult.

The wiper will come off. If a bit of muscle and persuation with a rubber hammer (taps around the side) won't do it, try something you find here

 

I have bad nerve damage to right hand(just can't hang onto tools well), & that center wiper is just too close to the glass for my liking. I do have a feel for "things" & their "stress point", as far as bending. I popped the whole front edge clips off, propped the front edge up at the wiper, worked from there. One reason I adapted to the 1 1/2" Vac hose. &, yes putting screening on was a PAIN for me. I didn't hot glue the back edge, but it runs up against the back wall, 1". I LOVED the video about putting the nut back on to protect the threads, for hitting! Learn something everyday!!

 

i just easily pried the little rubbery strips in the door jam back a bit and put the shopVac to work, it took time and was nasty mess with all the stuff in there soaking wet

 

This is how I clean mine when I wash it.

 

What about your cabin air intake? My cowl cover is pretty brittle from years in the SoCal sun. Wonder if the updated part from a 3rd gen would bolt in??

I noticed this gaping hole once when replacing my windshield. Struck me as funny how Toyota put the lip with bolt holes there as if they intended to make a cover until the fuggen bean counters came in like “scrap that, let them figure it out by themselves”

 

And for what it’s worth, here’s a TSB that details procedure for cowl cover removal

http://www.crrtraining.com/CRR2/assets/pdfs/techinfo_10.pdf

 

@Clearwater Bill Covered the cowl with the rain gutter screening. Thanks OP. May tackle the wheel well tomorrow.

 

What's the Cliff's Notes instructions to remove the cowl cover? Pull the wipers, then....?

Edit; OK, never mind...I just found the answer in posts 19 and 30 above. Thanks, guys.

 

Wow thats quite the collection of junk. Ran across this thread doing research on the evap core drain.

Being the NE I definitely need to check this area in the interest of rust prevention. Just to be clear, all that junk came out of the area behind the inner wheel well liner, above the mud flap / cab mount area?

 

Correct.

 

I took all that and more out mine once. It is way overdue for another cleaning so may be even worse still. I don't remember how I did it and the how tos above aren't jogging my memory.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-bottom-and-body-in-front-of-the-door.325552/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dog-leg.215022/

 

What a rabbit hole this turned into. Damn you TW

Pulled the passenger side wheel well liner enough to see that it was all clear. Just a few pine needles nothing else which was surprising. Then I made the mistake of looking up and saw a bunch of crap hanging out from the cowl area. Off comes the wheel, cowl, windshield wipers etc. Did the best I could with a vacuum and pick, but I can see there is still a bunch of crap trapped in that dead space between the cowl 'trough' or whatever its called and the inner fender. Im kind of afraid the only way to properly clean that area in there is to pull the fender. Not sure thats a project I want to tackle. Might be able to get it good enough if the entire wheel well liner came out, but idk.

Good news is theres no rust yet. Im pretty damn OCD about keeping any leaves etc clear, looks like that has paid off to some extent.

 

Drain snake, compressed air, water hose. Once the main clog breaks it will clear easily

 

let your truck run with the heater on full blast, windows up, in the sun. for an hour. then open the doors and let it air out.

this will get the moisture out and kill bugs.