Foam coming out the air vents?

[yellowboxster01]

There's foam coming out of my air vents? It's decintegrated flaky foam. Where is this coming from? I just had my 60K mile maintenance done. Did they miss some sort of in cabin filter?

[yelojkt]

The duct work for your heater tubes under the dash have foam in them where they connect. Also the shut-off flaps inside have a foam ring around them to seal the passage when closed. Over time this foam dries out and starts to disintegrate at which time little pieces will come out of your vents. This happens quicker on cars that are not garaged as they get to sit in the sun and bake.

[schoir]

Originally Posted by yellowboxster01

There's foam coming out of my air vents? It's decintegrated flaky foam. Where is this coming from? I just had my 60K mile maintenance done. Did they miss some sort of in cabin filter?

Yellow:

The foam that helps to seal the various flaps begins to disintegrate at some point in a Boxster's life. There is a straightforward fix, which involves getting access from outside the car, at the base of the windshield, behind the location of the battery. That will give you access to the heater core location and access to the flaps that must be repaired.

There was a very detailed DIY on carboncow.net, but that link doesn't work anymore. Go on RennTech.org and send a PM to "rsfeller" ("Shawn") and ask him for the DIY that he created. He is always very helpful.

Regards, Maurice.

[Highlow]

Same issue here, but it isnt too bad.

[RandallNeighbour]

I've got it bad in my car. Someone should get that write up and post it in this thread.

[jcb986]

Me too...I call it Black Snow.

[Scbrindley]

I had this problem and did the DIY that was refereed to above. Pretty straightforward. Mine has been fixed for almost a year and a half now and I still have this crap coming out of my vents. I took as much as possible out from the heater box, but I guess some pieces were already in the vents.

I sealed the flap with some metallic tape and then put weather stripping around the edges, followed by another layer of metallic tape. The hot/cold function works very well....I just have to deal with the remnants of that black foam junk for now.

I hope somebody can provide that DIY, it was very well written.

SB

[Reggie&Sue]

I started getting the dried out foam this summer, and just vacuumed out what could from the vents.

If you don't replace this foam does it eventually affect the heater performance ? Being in hot and humid Houston I hardly ever use the heater, but we need heat maybe 10 days each winter.

[Highlow]

Originally Posted by Reggie&Sue

I started getting the dried out foam this summer, and just vacuumed out what could from the vents.

If you don't replace this foam does it eventually affect the heater performance ? Being in hot and humid Houston I hardly ever use the heater, but we need heat maybe 10 days each winter.

From what I have experienced, it doesn't hurt the heating abilities but what it does affect is the ability to choose which vents you want the air to come from. So if you choose the main vents on the dash facing the passenger/driver, you will be getting some air out of the vents right next to the windshield which suck sometimes because then if fogs up.

[shlim8]

Originally Posted by Highlow

From what I have experienced, it doesn't hurt the heating abilities but what it does affect is the ability to choose which vents you want the air to come from. So if you choose the main vents on the dash facing the passenger/driver, you will be getting some air out of the vents right next to the windshield which suck sometimes because then if fogs up.

Yup, I've got the same problem.... foam coming out of the vents and air coming out of the top vents blowing at the windscreen, even though those vents were not selected.

I tried activating the footwell vents (together with the main vents) which seem to reduce the air coming out of the top vents to a minimum. This way, the windscreen doesn't fog up BUT now I've got cold feet !

I presume fixing the foam at the heater behind the battery won't fix this problem ?? I presume there should another flap somewhere that controls the airflow to the top ?? Hopefully don't have to rip out the dashboard to get at it... hmm.

Having said that, my new E90 BMW blows cold air on the windscreen whenever the a/c is on, and I was told that can't be disabled ! doh...

[nbeihl]

Originally Posted by shlim8

Yup, I've got the same problem.... foam coming out of the vents and air coming out of the top vents blowing at the windscreen, even though those vents were not selected.

I tried activating the footwell vents (together with the main vents) which seem to reduce the air coming out of the top vents to a minimum. This way, the windscreen doesn't fog up BUT now I've got cold feet !

I presume fixing the foam at the heater behind the battery won't fix this problem ?? I presume there should another flap somewhere that controls the airflow to the top ?? Hopefully don't have to rip out the dashboard to get at it... hmm.

Having said that, my new E90 BMW blows cold air on the windscreen whenever the a/c is on, and I was told that can't be disabled ! doh...

Was there ever a fix to this? I fixed the blend door that mixes the cold and warm air, but I have not seen anything about the door that directs the air to the upper, lower and middle vents.

[Luckyed]

Originally Posted by jcb986

Me too...I call it Black Snow.

My foam is gray in color.
I assume it has to stop eventually when all the loose pieces eject themselves.

Personally, I don't care if it affects the heater in the car because we live in FL.

[Meir]

Originally Posted by nbeihl

Was there ever a fix to this? I fixed the blend door that mixes the cold and warm air, but I have not seen anything about the door that directs the air to the upper, lower and middle vents.

you have two options.


the short:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/212147792/986-Heater-Flap-Repair-Boxster-foam

and the long:
A/C evaporator replacement-A/C foam flakes

[Jim Rockford]

One option...

Foam party!