Hullo. Having searched far and wide, and failed to find any info / discussions regarding this topic, I'm posting here asking for help from anyone who's 'been there', knows my pain, and wouldn't mind sharing what they learned from their (probably unpleasant;\) experience. The problem: a friend's Camry has suffered from having leaves collect in the plenum chambers (cabin-air fresh air inlet ducts) which are sandwiched between 2 of the 3 (!) firewalls... over time the (now-composted) leaf material has soaked up and retained water, sat there, and rusted through at least one of the firewalls (this was only discovered when water started running down the inside of the cabin and soaked the carpet). Her mechanic's opinion was "it's stuffed - no way around it". Err, yeah, *really* helpful... besides: sorry, i don't give up that easily, especially when a cash-strapped friend is looking at losing so much money on a car that's otherwise in such excellent condition. Known-good professional panel beater's opinion: "It's technically repairable, but financially it's stuffed purely because it's too expensive to repair. Just blast the chambers clear of debris with a pressure washer, dry them out thoroughly, then pump them full of aerosol polyurethane seal foam... she'll get another 2-3 years out of the car." Ok, that's getting better - and is trusted advice, as I know that repairer - he's *well* experienced, and really knows what he's talking about. My first concern was that if the chambers are blocked, water will pool under the metal grille behind the bonnet/hood, just in front of the lower edge of the windscreen... if it can't drain from there, it'll just cause rust elsewhere. But I doubt the panel beater would've advised blocking the chambers if that was gunna be an issue. I'll be taping the chamber inlets closed and testing to see if water will drain, just to make sure. If I'm right, and it *does* drain, that tape will do as a temporary patch until I can effect a decent repair (if possible). In which case: I'd like to try to get down into the (cleaned-out, dried) plenum chambers and use polyester resin and thin fibreglass "CSM" (chopped stranded mat) to patch over the rust. If I can do that, it'll stop water from leaking into the cabin, *and* still allow fresh air to be drawn into the cabin. However, getting into those plenum chambers and effecting that patching job is basically "keyhole surgery" - depending on how complex the chambers are, it may be impractically difficult. Hence my question: Has anyone else tried a patch/repair like this before? If so, just how difficult was it to access the depths of the plenum chambers? If anyone has an answer to that, I'd kinda like to hear it *before* i arrange a loan of an endoscope (sadly, yes, i *can* arrange that;) and jury rig the "keyhole surgery" tools necessary to trickle resin over the rusted areas and apply the CSM patch(es). Given the otherwise-immaculate condition of the car (especially for its age), and my friend's lack of finances at the moment, I'd really like to do whatever I can to salvage as much as possible out of this car's potential usable lifespan. To that end, any help, advice or info would be greatly appreciated. MTIA Dreamscape Note: this is being cross-posted on Toyota Owners Club (AU), ToyMods and Toyota Nation... sorry if that breaks rules or gets noses out of joint, but I need any help I can get, and given the weather here at the moment, the sooner I can get that help, the better.
