FJ Air intake box not sealed

[Zak_]

Hi everyone,

After a long fast-paced offroading session today with lots of cresting, I noticed one clip on the air box was not clipped back on. This was not clipped back after the regular service that was done yesterday. The air box had a lot of sand inside (under the filter but also some Above) and I can also see some sand in the pipe leading to the engine (this is after a 1 hour drive back home). I am worried about damage caused to the engine because of excessive sand getting in.

I will be taking it to back to the service centre tomorrow either way, but just wanted to see community thoughts. Anyone have any advice/thoughts on how serious this is? 

Edited May 3 by Zak_

[Frederic]

Thats not good @Zak_, usually if only one clip is not sealed the filter should still stay in place, but if you indeed noticed sand in the intake pipe after the filter, you might be in trouble. Collect enough photos and documentation and head over to your service centre to lodge a complaint as it might have caused irreversible damage to the engine. Is it a stock air filter box ? 

[Zak_]

@Frederic thanks for response. Photos would have been right to do, but did not cross my mind. 

I brought it back to Toyota for them to inspect, and they checked the throttle body, there are no sand deposits in there. 

They are confident that if sand entered the engine there would be some accumulation in there so they say do not worry. I did see sand in the intake pipe after the 1 hour drive home, but it is really impossible to know exactly how much went through.

Also, I did not see them open it up myself so I’m trusting that they won’t clean it up first to cover for themselves 😅

@Frederic yes stock box 

[JeromeFJ]

Hi @Zak_, not very good indeed, but if it is only one drive, and only one clip open, it is unlikely that a large quantity of sand went into the intake pipe. The filter box is still reasonably tight. It is indeed a good practice to check the filter and clean the sand box every 2-3 drives. Doing so, if you (or the person washing the car) use compressed air be sure to block the intake pipe opening with a cloth of something. Sand might be blown into the pipe during the cleaning. Maybe the sand you noticed was there from the previous cleaning...

If it was checked at the garage, I'm pretty sure it will be ok. FJs are strong cars !