Leak through firewall (1 Viewer)

[hobbes]

I have a serious air leak around my feet when I drive down the highway. Hot air pours in around the steering column where it comes through the firewall. There is enough volume of air coming in that it's like a hair dryer on high and it's hot enough that metal column is too hot to touch. There is a small piece of cardboard that is pinned on one side and velcro's to the other side that wraps around the steering column as it enters the firewall towards the engine compartment. I undid the velcro and could see right into the engine compartment. Is something supposed to be sealing the hot air out, or is that cardboard piece supposed to be doing the job (it's not)? I put about 6 hours every weekend on the truck and this is making it very uncomfortable. I did a search both here and in the manual, and nothing jumped out at me.

Thanks....

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Yes there should be a rubber seal at the fire wall ......$10 part and about 1/2 hr of time


Copied from an old robbie post

Re:Steering shaft firewall seal question

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did one of these for a customer the other day and it was real easy. only took me about 40 mins with doing it twice(funny). Just remove the shield above the steering coloum down by the steering box and then go under the steering and remove the two bolts at the end of the steering wheel. remove the two bolts holding the gasket in place on the fire wall and it will slide out. Remove the coupler from the steering wheel end of the shaft and slide off old gasket, slide on new one (right way, this was what lead to the second time). next is reversal of removal. all is good should only take 30 minutes tops. later robbie

 

[hobbes]

Phil,

Thanks. I missed that on my search. I wonder where mine went and why it decided to go there. Either way I'll call Dan. I like easy fixes.

John

 

[powderpig]

It is still there. but torn. Over time these will brake. later robbie

 

[hobbes]

The new gasket was $12 for a non-smart shopper (due to speed). Robbie's directions weren't the clearest to me. I wound up splitting the ujoint under the dash and taking off the coupler. The only thing I'm not sure about is the torque setting for the two bolts holding the ujoint together. I couldn't find it in the manual. Anyone know "about" what it is? I used 22ftlb (or just slightly less than the coupler which was 25ftlb).

Oh, if you do this, take the time to mark the coupler/shaft to each other.

John