Anyone know what these inner wheel arch vents are for?

[daveenty]

I was doing the obligatory (for me) clean up of the under trays and wheel arches when I came across these things. I'm not prepared to chase them all the way through to find out as this would involve removal of the inner arch liner which itself would involve a load of other stuff having to be stripped, some of it held in place with fasteners which look remarkably breakable.

The one on the offside seems quite loose and will move about in it's housing whereas the nearside one is a lot tighter and seems to be happier where it is so I'm just leaving it there at the moment. I'm not over bothered about them not being symmetrical as they're obviously hidden from view, I'm more curious as to their function really.

Car's a C217 if it makes any difference, pictures below: -

Offside:



And moved into place:




Nearside:

 

[Blobcat]

Scuttle drains?

 

[daveenty]

Scuttle drains?

Ahh, a strong possibility I suppose though it's hopefully never going to get wet enough for me to find out.

I just wish that they'd fitted them a bit more substantially really as opposed from just wedging them in place as it feels like they've done. Having said that, probably nobody else has ever noticed them...

 

[mioba]

Scuttle drains?

my initial "logical" guess had me on the same assumption.

 

[daibevan]

I'd guess the same.
Why don't you feed a drain cleaning spring or some strimmer cable down your drains & see where they come out. It it's not them at least you will have clean drains.
The first time I cleaned mine it was a pig of a job, as it hadn't been done in 10 years. now it's dead easy as long as I do it whenever I remember, but at least every year.

 

[peterws1957]

Ahh, a strong possibility I suppose though it's hopefully never going to get wet enough for me to find out.

I just wish that they'd fitted them a bit more substantially really as opposed from just wedging them in place as it feels like they've done. Having said that, probably nobody else has ever noticed them...

Same as on mine Dave they'll be the outlet from the drains adjacent to the bonnet hinges. One of mine drains through the liner the other drains behind the liner presumably because it's not lined up (on my list of things to do).

 

[daveenty]

Thanks all for the replies and it seems that we generally agree on what they are and what they're for.

As I mentioned above, I'm happy as long as I know what they are really, I'm certainly not going to go to the trouble of stripping the liners out just to adjust them a few mm to satisfy my own obsessiveness so they'll be staying as pictured above for the foreseeable future. As for cleaning them out, I'll assume that they are going to be OK as the car's only been out in the rain twice, lives in a garage and has yet to cover 5,000 miles.

 

[alexanderfoti]

As above, they are the drains from the corners of the windscreen scuttle.

 

[daibevan]

As for cleaning them out, I'll assume that they are going to be OK as the car's only been out in the rain twice, lives in a garage and has yet to cover 5,000 miles.

Cleaning them out when clean is dead easy. If they become blocked they are a pig of a job.
Even just flushing them with water once a year and checking your scuttle for leafs is an easy thing to do to save lots of swearing.

 

[Blobcat]

Cleaning them out when clean is dead easy. If they become blocked they are a pig of a job.
Even just flushing them with water once a year and checking your scuttle for leafs is an easy thing to do to save lots of swearing.

I don’t think any leaf would dare drop onto Dave‘s S63…

 

[daveenty]

Even just flushing them with water once a year and checking your scuttle for leafs is an easy thing to do to save lots of swearing.

Checking for what? Foreign bodies? Car is reasonable clean most of the time so will hopefully be OK.

I don’t think any leaf would dare drop onto Dave‘s S63…

You know me so well.

 

[daibevan]

Don't see any leaves there.

 

[V6Matty]

I think I can spot the faintest sign of dust in there, Dave must be slacking with being a pensioner now