If you remove the air fliter and look in the bottom of the box there should be a (white on my new one) bit of plastic at the bottom, if you can see straight through to outside the box its missing.

Could you use the 2012 option, as will just have to change that to >11

Jon Freelander 2, 2014 Dynamic SD4 Santorini Black

Yes, that's what I was looking at. I will use the 12 poll.

And whilst checking the valve (present and correct here) I also noticed for the first time the two flaps (one each side) which cover the drains from the channel beneath the windscreen. (Look behind the struts which support the bonnet.) Mine were blocked with leaves - so that's something else to check!

The hole may be small, but with water above the headlights at times and the engine reving so that the exhaust doesn't get flooded I'd rather the valve was in it than not.

You worry to much for too small things...
And FL2 wasn't designed to go in water above headlights....
500 mm, remember?...

Yes I know. We'd watched a disco go through before us and it didn't look to bad. Even though we drove in fairly tentatively we had water washing up the bonnet. It wasn't there for long and settled down though we did set a bow wave running to leave the air intake clear. Details of the ford can be found at http://www.wetroads.co.uk/devon.htm. Look for Newton Poppleford. We almost lost the dealer fitted front registration plate. Changed the mounting and removed the strip of blatant advertising that was added along the bottom and also fitted a tank guard after grounding the fuel tank a few times.
Just added some pictures to my gallery that were taken on the day. Sorry, no Freelanders, we were the only one!

Last edited by BossBob on 30th Sep 2012 4:56 pm. Edited 2 times in total

The way I see is is, LR added that drain valve for a reason, if a hole would of done they wouldn't of designed a valve, I can't be sure if the hole was sealed (by tape) or missing the valve but all I know is my filter was saturated so much so that it caused serious problems while driving, for the sake of a £50ish part ( £30 after you subtract the cost of the new air filter included)

I know I would be replacing mine if someone else had brought it to my attention...

Just to add, I think my black vue will of taped over it now, but I will have a quick check encase it hasn't as that will show the puddles that I went through before the problem started weren't anything you would think twice about driving through in any car.

Jon Freelander 2, 2014 Dynamic SD4 Santorini Black

No valve in mine, 58 LR2 TD4S. Air filter was clean & dry though  Landy has now gone.

Checked mine yesterday.
All I could see was a hole about the size of a ten pee piece with a cut out like a mercedes three pointed star but no filter
Is that it?

snappa wrote:

All I could see was a hole about the size of a ten pee piece with a cut out like a mercedes three pointed star but no filter
Is that it?

Yes, that's it. There should be a membrane in the hole which allows water out but not in. Like this:

Checked, no membrane fitted. Air filter and air box dry throughout. Will check with my dealer when next there.

Valve / flap fitted
Air filter as black as the ace of spades, air filter box damp inside - that last puddle was deeper than I thought!
both drain holes at the base of the screen were blocked.

Wonder if the ait filter is "helping" with the poor fuel economy? - or is it just my lead foot. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

For those of you without the valve fitted, don't bother buying a new airbox.

The missing valve is just a piece of 0.5mm thick rubber cut in a circle 28mm diameter with an 8mm hole in the middle.

I had the same experience with my 2009 FL2 - one very wet night I was almost washed off the road by lunatics flying through deep water on the road. The engine became a bit lumpy but recovered before I got home so I dismissed the event without further thought.
Until next morning after driving for about 5 miles all power was lost and I had to limp to a convenient layby. The AA man who attended eventually found the filter had collapsed and a fist sized wad of air filter paper was blocking the inlet pipe. After that was removed all seemed fine again.
However a couple of weeks later the vehicle was in for a check on a couple of warning signals and it was discovered that the corners of the turbo blades were missing. It would appear that some of the filter paper went through the turbo damaging the blades and ending up as fine chewed up filaments in the intercooler header.
Today - about a week after repairs were completed I read this post and checked the diaphragm valve in the air filter box - guess what - it's missing. I found that rubber pond liner makes exceptionally good diaphragm valves!
Thanks for the info.

Just been out and checked mine using an inspection mirror - it was missing !!

Been back out and fitted the rubber part of a ' siamp fill valve diaphragm washer ' - took 2 minutes, almost a perfect fit and cost < £3 !!  FL2 HSE Auto Galway Green
Evoque SD4 Auto Blue.
FL1 HSE TD4 Manual Black - Gone.
RR Classic V8 EFI - Gone