For the second time in a few weeks, my wife's RX400h's HVAC fan started making a lot of noise, especially at higher speeds.

Lo and behold, when checking the air filter it was full of leaves and/or acorns! I'm talking handfuls of the stuff and of course many fell into the fan and had to be extracted by hand (at the cost of bleeding knuckles!)

At first I couldn't figure out how acorns and whole leaves could make it past the vents:


But look at the huge gaps near the hood hinges on either side, all the junk gets sucked in there:


Being on vacation at the cabin in the woods I had limited options, but found an old piece of metal screen:


And here's the screen being fitted, hopefully this will help keep the leaves out:


It is disappointing, though, that Lexus would have such a poor design. My Jeeps had secondary screens to keep all this stuff out, at 1/2 the price...

 

i would be surprised if your fan "sucked" that stuff in. chances are you have an animal friend. good idea with the metal mesh, more the better

 

^^ Agree. Usually transported by "something."

 

I guess when a bunch of angry critters show up they'll know for sure

I haven't had any problems with stuff getting stuck under there. I clean the top screen when I'm checking under the hood. Acorns are a little large to slip underneath without 'assistance.'

 

You guys are probably right about having a "stealth pet".

We once found a nest on top of our Jeep's battery. Talk about a fire hazard!

 

vacuum cleaner