I washed the car today and when I opened the bonnet, I noticed that the engine was soaked - the battery was full of water and, worringly still, the fuse box lid was full of water.

I guess the car has survived thus far, but isn't this all too risky? Should I block the bonnet vent holes?

 

the vent holes are purely for decoration so have you taken out the plates that cover the holes if so you will have to refit them

 

akshay67, we also have vent covers removed and a small "mod" which seems to work; the vent over the air intake side has a piece of shaped ally plate 1/4 of the vent (underside) to stop water going into the pipercross filter.
The batt side is open,no adverse effects at all.
The batt should be ok getting wet,the fuse box SHOULD be sealed enough for it not to matter. Check it by putting a piece of tissue in the fuse box and next time you wash the car...check the tissue,wet/dry. Good luck.

 

I have not changed the vents at all - there is a rubber layer under the vent with a hole in it. Water runs down this hole and on to the engine.

You think I should block these holes? A bit of rubber and super glue should do the trick...

 

I ran with the these plates removed for ages as have many of my friends.

One fed directly onto the airfilter (K&N) and even in torrential rain I had no adverse effects. My fear was hydraulicing the engine.

but rain drops do not form a pool of water in the airfilter they dont even penetrate merely collecting on the surface. I guess the surface tension is sufficient to hold it from falling through the mesh. If anything it would produce a kind of water injection effect, and is then obviously heated by the turbo to a high level especially when on boost. I cant imagine a bulk of water ever getting through.

As for the battery? never hjad a problem with shorting or anything.

 

I run with scoops instead of vents and have never had a problem with water ingestion (and thats with a Blitz Induction kit)

 

Wondered how long it'd be before you posted stuart

I'm with stuart on this one, I have a set of his scoops on the blackbeast.



I have also removed the blanking plates from both the vents and have had no problems, and trust me, I've got a lot of fuses and relays under the passenger scoop.