[Drivingmad]

I have just removed the air dam on my 2013 model because it stands a good chance of being ripped off. It is held on by 13 philips screws and two integral plastic tongues. To my surprise I found that there is an orifice leading into the engine compartment which was hidden by the air dam and protrudes below the lower engine cover. I cannot inspect it without removing this cover which I am not going to do yet, but I have a terrible suspicion that the main engine air intake is behind this orifice. Please tell me I am wrong and that no designer would be stupid enough to put a 4x4 air intake a few inches above puddle level. No wading for me!

 

[♠ChumBucket♠]

Sounds more likely to be a breather or overflow for something than an intake.

 

[Inchindown]

The air intake is in front of the windscreen where the wipers are.

Can you please post a picture of the front of your car after the air dam has been removed. I've been considering removing it myself, and would be interested to see how the car looks without it.

There's one thing that bothers be about removing it. That air dam is the lowest point on the car and will be the first thing to hit something or will end up like a snow plough. If it is removed, I wonder what the lowest point on the car will be. I'd probably rather the air dam hit something, and gave you a warning,than have some critical part of the car hit something.


Edited by: Inchindown

 

[Drivingmad]

Chum Bucket : I hope you are right!Inchindown : I mean the air intake for the engine, not the heater/ventilation air intake.If it is low down and you drive through standing water there is a good chance you will wreck the engine because water is not compressible and this is a common thing with cars which have low engine air intakes. To take off the air dam, all you need to do is unscrew 13 Philips screws with semi captive washers. It helps to drive the car onto plastic caravan ramps rasing the front.The dam has two plastic tongues which fit into the lower engine plastic undertray. Pull the dam back and it comes out easily. I took it off for the reason you outlined; that's when I found "The Orifice"! I will try and post a pic of The Orifice so an expert can tell us what it actually is for.

 

[♠ChumBucket♠]

There's no way that it will be the air intake for the engine. That will be up top somewhere with a big box that contains an "AIR FILTER"!!!

 

[JR123]

Does it not say in the info book for the car that you can go through 18inches of water????

 

[Grumps]

The air cleaner is behind the drivers side headlight and the intake pipe goes down under the headlight. Where it comes out I'm not sure without dismantling everything but to be honest the position isn't hat bad compared to many new cars. In the past I had a Nissan that had the intake next to the near side fog light which was about 6 inches off of the ground. At the time we stayed in the country on a B road that flooded all the time and it was very deep at times. I use to curse that car every time I had to travel that road.

 

[Drivingmad]

On my old Land Rover Discovery the air intakeis at the top ofthe engine compartment. In a Dacia Duster I drove in January it was in the same position. A 4x4 should be able to traverse fords without risk.

 

[Grumps]

The Antara is not a 4x4 though in the same way a landrover etc is. It's an SUV. It's not designed to go off road or through deep puddles.

It's basically an estate car which sits a bit higher off the road and has the option of part time 4x4.

The 4x4 system is never going to do any real muddy hill climbing or get you out of any real slippy situations as a Landrover would.

In theory its not any better than estate car.

 

[Drivingmad]

In theory should it not have better ground clearance!

 

[Grumps]

It does. But it depends what your comparing it with.

 

[Off Road Doc]

The Antara is not a 4x4 though in the same way a landrover etc is. It's an SUV. It's not designed to go off road or through deep puddles.

It's basically an estate car which sits a bit higher off the road and has the option of part time 4x4.

The 4x4 system is never going to do any real muddy hill climbing or get you out of any real slippy situations as a Landrover would.

In theory its not any better than estate car.

Sorry but I have to disagree with you Grumps. The Antara can go off road and can go through deeper puddles better than you average estate car but with its limitations. I frequently go off road in mine when up in the hills whether it is for mountain biking or walking. Also the Antara has been parked in muddy fields, where other cars have failed to get out, the Antara took it with ease. It obviously cannot do anything extreme like a Discovery can but if I needed to do that I would have a Defender !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfKnPEPx0N4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqyMnIlToBk

 

[Grumps]

The Antara is not a 4x4 though in the same way a landrover etc is. It's an SUV. It's not designed to go off road or through deep puddles.

It's basically an estate car which sits a bit higher off the road and has the option of part time 4x4.

The 4x4 system is never going to do any real muddy hill climbing or get you out of any real slippy situations as a Landrover would.

In theory its not any better than estate car.

 
Sorry but I have to disagree with you Grumps. The Antara can go off road and can go through deeper puddles better than you average estate car but with its limitations. I frequently go off road in mine when up in the hills whether it is for mountain biking or walking. Also the Antara has been parked in muddy fields, where other cars have failed to get out,  the Antara took it with ease. It obviously cannot do anything extreme like a Discovery can but if I needed to do that I would have a Defender !!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfKnPEPx0N4
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqyMnIlToBk

Yip I agree the 4x4 works great and does a good job in snow and mud but so would any AWD estate car or saloon car for that matter but its never going to be a freelancer, defender and anyone buying one and thinks that is is going to be disappointed. An Audi Quattro with its diff lock will handle deeper mud and snow than your average SUV.

its still a great car and does what it's meant to do very well. But it shouldn't be mistaken for a proper offroad 4x4.

 

[Spantara]

When I lived in Namibia, I had a go-anywhere Defender. In my opinion, the Defender is a fantastic vehicle but it is not built for normal road usage so, after returning to Europe, I discovered that I did not need to climb dirt-tracks up mountains, forge crocodile infested rivers or drive axel-deep in slippery mud so the Defender went and the Antara came in.
Anyone even thinking of comparing the Antara with a Defender / Range Rover / Land Cruiser etc. is just deluding himself. The Antara is a great vehicle and more capable than most cars at taking on a spot of rough driving but it is not an off-roader.

One very important point though, no matter how capable a vehicle is in taking on other than normal road driving, the tyres are the most important point. With the wrong tyres, a Defender will slide downhill on wet grass. Put the right tyres on it and it will be as agile and stable as a mountain goat. The same principal applies to any vehicle.

 

[Drivingmad]

Obviously.

 

[Big Jason]

Ok boys and girls, I've found where the engine intake is after taking out my headlights to change sidelights to some mega bright led's I'll post a new thread about that.
Intake is in the drivers side front wing at the top, almost inline with the front shock
Hope that answers some questions

 

[Drivingmad]

Hello BJ, Thanks for that. A clever piece of design after all, for if you had to drive for your life through a flood the headlight would allow some measure of protection from splashing etc.

 

[Pondpaul]

Ok boys and girls, I've found where the engine intake is after taking out my headlights to change sidelights to some mega bright led's I'll post a new thread about that.
Intake is in the drivers side front wing at the top, almost inline with the front shock
Hope that answers some questions

Hi Jason
Could you post that new thread about your side lights please, love to know what bulbs you used as the ones that come as standard are pitiful, also could you explain how to remove the headlight, it looks like the same as the Renault Megan.

 

[sg_frost]

Removing headlamp is easy and described in your owners manual. Remove 11 plastic screws in the grill and then 3 bolts on headlamp and it pulls forward. I have brighter bulbs in mine after only hving it 48 hours.

 

[dekka]

I too thought the air dam looked far too low so I took it off and used a jig saw to and cut it down. The right angle on the plastic form makes a perfect guide and when cut its only about 10mm now, this means it can be refitted which holds all the bits back together underneath I think it looks much better, I put a little stopper in the toe hook to protect the threads