Leaky Cowls And Frozen Belts

We love writing about our travels; recreate images of beautiful destinations, life on the road, wildlife encounters, interesting characters that we met along the way, and perhaps a splash of a back road story.  These are our ideal posts. 

Instead, here we are writing about winter, dead batteries, serpentine belts, and broken toilets.  If this is how we earn our stripes in the campervanning world – enough already! 

Work obligations kept us in Ontario for most of this (terrible) winter, and said winter is taking a toll on us and on the van.  Emma is perched on the bay window longingly staring at the crippled van, and we are all suffering from a bad case of hitch itch.

Our last riveting post left you as the van was towed to the garage down the street to replace the broken serpentine belt, and we should expand on the reasons that this had happened and perhaps suggest a few ways to prevent this from happening in the future.

There are 2 belts in the Carado Banff, the first is the vehicle serpentine belt and the second belt goes on the second alternator, AKA the under hood generator.   There was ice in the engine compartment that froze the pulley or perhaps the belt itself and caused it to break once the engine started working.

The ProMaster vans have a design flaw in the form of a seam in the middle of the cowl (the trough between the windshield and the hood).

Cowl

The cowl has a 1″ hose and 2 smaller holes to drain water to underneath the vehicle.

drain hose

If the hole or hose are obstructed, the cowl doesn’t drain and water finds its way into the engine compartment through the seam in the middle of the cowl and possibly through other areas.

seam

The photo below shows the ice buildup obstructing the cowl’s drain pipe.

ice buildup

Once water drips on top of the engine and freezes moving parts, you may run into trouble, for example, your serpentine belt may shred.  Even if you are not experiencing freezing temperatures, water may affect your electronics.

There are several ways to prevent this type of damage. Check out our post 7 Ways to Stop Cowl Leaks.

  • The first step is to be aware that this is a probable situation in cold climate and prevent snow accumulation in the cowl by either covering it or clearing the snow.
  • The seam can be sealed better, however, if there is a lot of water, it will find another way to flow onto the engine, so you still need to keep an eye out for frozen components.
  • check the large drainage hole and the 2 smaller ones for debris that may obstruct them.
  • Take a peek under the hood to see if you can spot ice forming there and if there is, do not start the engine until you are sure that there are no frozen components.
  • You can have a magnetic block heater to keep your engine warm, or alternatively, place a small heater under the van prior to starting it to thaw out the moving parts.

BY THE NUMBERS:

  • Our serpentine belt was replaced at a cost of about CAD$180
  • Tow – free under the road side assistance program

We now move on to fixing the toilet and the sick battery.

Stay tuned.

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0 thoughts on “Leaky Cowls And Frozen Belts

  1. Jalal says:

    I posted about the windshield cowl issue couple of months ago, as mentioned this is a design flaw not just with the PM but going back to the original Fiat Ducato. The promasterforum .com has an extensive thread on various methods to try and minimize this damage. I used 3M Super 33+ electric tape to seal the seam and where the cowl meets the windshield. It held up well thru the rain and snow we had the last few months. The 2 tiny drainage holes on both ends of the cowl are a joke. They clog up easily. I placed a small piece of foam on top of the drainage hole to act as filter and prevent it from clogging. Also under the hood right beneath the cowl center seam is a weak spot. I followed the suggestions of others and attached a funnel connected to a hose to capture any spillover water and directed downwards.

  2. [m]ihály says:

    You know what this means? It’s a sign from the gods Tir and Hermes (gods of travel and transportation) both telling you to be on the road. Where you can write about great destinations and people you meet, and more of your back road stories…to which is always good reads.

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