The Escape under hood mesh screened areas (vents) suck up leaves and debris like a vacuum cleaner ! Areas on both sides under the hood can get totally covered / blocked with leaves and other debris.
More so than other cars I have seen (in the period of time it tales to accumulate).
Thank you! I really should have thought about that. At the dealer's once, the hood was popped open, the service manager was in my car with me, and I noticed someone doing something under the hood. The manager said he was just pulling out leaves. We live on a woodsy lot and while the Escape is in the garage at night, it can sit in the driveway other times. Tons of leaves and debris. I'll check tomorrow.
Yep - "raking out the leaves" is part of my weekly underhood ritual on the Escape. Once in a while, I pull out the shop vac to get what falls through the grilles.
Never saw this on any other car or truck I've owned.
The Escape under hood mesh screened areas (vents) suck up leaves and debris like a vacuum cleaner ! Areas on both sides under the hood can get totally covered / blocked with leaves and other debris.
Yes, I clean out those areas from time to time. My Escape is almost always in a garage, but even occasional exposure to the elements can attract debris.
I check oil and glance under the hood monthly. I know, not enough. My husband never checks, likes low mileage used cars, keeps them for about ten years and has never had a problem, so not a lot of motivation to change.
I park under a big tree at home and also park under a large tree at work. This past fall was bad for leaves on my car. Twice I had a leaf and a maple seed get sucked into my blower motor. When the leaf got in there it made such a loud noise. When the maple seed got in there was a giant vibration like the thing was going to vibrate into pieces. It was difficult but I ended up getting them both out myself. I will try and post some pictures later
Hello all,
when cleaning the screens, do you unclip them to get under the screen? if so how do you do it and if just cleaning what is the best way, I have tried a shop vac, but some of the leaves are stuck in the screen, I have not tried to get under the screen.
For now, I just take off the surface leaves and vacuum through the grills to get what I easily can.
Once fall is completely over, I think the leaf problem will abate until next fall.
Today: leaves, leaf bits, acorn bits. Most removed by hand or vac, but our shop vac won't pull out the last few bits. That said, it's an ancient vac and probably needs a filter cleaning. I'm going to try later with the hose attachment on our upright.
A shop vac usually has more airflow and suction than an upright (uprights depend on the revolving brush to deep clean), so I don't think that the upright will get much more out.
That being said, you've probably got all your going to get without disassembling the grilles.
On the bright side, we are at the end of leaf season for this year (at least here in PA).
So I checked underneath the bonnet the other day after reading this thread. And even though my car is garaged most of the time (at night as well as during the day at work), sure nuf I had a few goobers and chuds hanging around those screens. A few leaves and very small, little twigs????
This thread is excellent advice and I will check this often. Thanks so much for the tip!
Phhhhh I live in the city and do the random hunting trip upstate or a vacation in PA. Tons of leaves and other "stuff" stuck in those vents. Even a cigarette butt one time
A good method to remove small debris from the four under-the-hood vent screens is a patch from a roll of adhesive lint remover. It will grab stubborn items that a vacuum might not move, and it's less trouble than setting up a vacuum cleaner. When the adhesive patch fails, a pair of tweezers will get much of the rest.
I was pretty impressed by the amount of leaves/twigs stuck in that vents, especially because there really aren't any trees near where i park. The Escape's climate controls are pretty powerful, that's for sure.
Leaves would be a welcomed treat. We get the 1" needles from 80-100' Douglas Fir trees. Those suckers are really hard to remove. I might try your trick, centex, but I hve a laser engraver/cutter so might fabricate frames from thin Polycarbonate to put over them