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Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - KevDGill
Morning all,

My second post in quick succession as it just suddenly occurred to me.

I changed my blower motor resistor pack in my 97 Astra TD van a while back, did the pollen filter at the same time because that needed to be removed anyway. To get at all that I had to remove the windscreen cowl panel. When I came to put it back on I couldn't get it to lie completely flat against the windscreen - felt like something was in the way but it wasn't, and after a few hours of messing with it I gave up, bent the weatherstrip as mush against the glass as I could (not easy as it's soft elasticy rubber) and left it, with no problems for ages.

I took the van for it's first commercial car wash ever last week, and the inside of the van steamed up really badly. I figured that must just be a symptom of the different temperatures and cranked the blowers up, which then started squirting droplets of water up onto the windscreen. I assume the water got in through the misfitting cowl panel/windscreen gap when the brushes forced it through.

Is there any established way of getting these things to lie flat, or failing that is there a product I can use to re-seal the panel to the windscreen? The raised bit is directly in front of the driver and the gap is only a millimeter or two. I'm happy enough to take it off and have another go, but the main problem last time was that the plastic bucket bit that sits beneath it between pollen filter compartment and engine is a tight fit and seems almost to be the wrong shape altogether. I got it in in the end, but with that in place I couldn't get the cowl panel flush, and with the cowl panel in place I couldn't get the 'bucket' in, and when I did finally get it in it forced the cowl back up.

Any help much appreciated as I'd like to be able to use carwashes in future without drenching my pollen filter.

Cheers

-- Kev
Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - billy25
if you can't manage to re-fit the cowl properly you may be able to "fill" the small gap with a squirt of clear silicone sealant.
Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - AN Other
Worth asking your local Autoglass boys or similar for hints and tips?
Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - Chas{P}
Kev

Below where the pollen filter goes there is a drain hose running down the centre of the bulkhead behind the engine.

Check to make sure that is clear. On my Astra, of the same year, I have known it get blocked up with leaves etc. As soon as it is clear all the area beneath the pollen filter will dry out.

HTH

Charles
Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - AR-CoolC
It's not a huge problem if the scuttle panel doesn't touch the glass all the way across, it just looks nicer if it does, try loosening the screws and the large nuts below the wiper arms, there is a piece of velcro at each end of the scuttle with the other half stuck to the glass, these very often come unstuck.
There is a second part to the scuttle which is under the bonnet, this is the pollen filter cover, now thewre is a knack to getting these into place correctly. First remove the bulkhead weatherseal, then lift out the filter cover, whilst you are under there (as said above) check that the drain holes at each side are clear and not blocked up with leaves and general crud. To replace the cover, you will see a recess along the back of the scuttle panel, the filter cover slides into that, then pushes down into the appeture and finaly the bulkhead weatherseal replaced.
Sounds complicated but when your looking at the car you will see what I mean.


(Glass-Tech)
Windscreen Cowl Panel - Astra 1997 - KevDGill
Thanks very much for that - just the sort of response I was after :¬D

I'll give it a go at weekend assuming there's no blizzards, sleet, ice and all the other expected weather.

-- Kev