I have a 2020 Defender 110 X P400. When driving recently at approximately 100mph (160 kph) in relatively windy conditions the safari snorkel came off the vehicle. It seems to be secured with only 2 bolts inside the left front fender but you wouldn't expect that to happen. Anyone else experience this?

 

I had a similar incident, but was only going about 35mph. It's not well secured at all.

I took it back to my dealer, had them remove it entirely and fix it to look like it was never installed. Then I insisted they refund me the cost of the part and the labor I was charged for the install. My salesperson says they're taking care of it, but it's been 3 weeks. I'm taking it in on Tuesday as the passenger rear tire keeps losing pressure, so I'll take it up with them directly then.

 

Thanks for the reply. So you were able to get the "defender" grill to fill the hole in the left fender? I live in Zimbabwe so I have to order the grill on line and have it shipped. We only have a few new defenders here and owners have imported them directly not through Land Rover so we cannot officially claim failures like this under vehicle warranty

 

Yes, you'll need a new side vent cover as well as a new a-pillar cap. I believe the a-pillar cap will need to be sent out to be painted.

 

Thanks very much for your help.

 

There will be loads of spare grilles kicking around as people fit the snorkel, I took mine to the tip as I could not see a use for it.

 

Wow, that's crazy! Maybe that's why they were first on backorder and now it appears LR has discontinued the part number! Maybe they are upgrading it. That should never happen.

 

A local here in Birmingham had his fly off. He was able to pick it up off the highway and it was clear how it failed. The nut-serts weren't seated properly by the dealer and just pulled out of the plastic base in the fender. I installed mine myself via the instructions on the Powerful UK video and I haven't had any issues with mine even working loose. I have 2500 miles on mine so far.

For those of you who have one installed by the dealer, you can reach the bolts via the open doorway crevice nearest the top hinge and get a ratchet and deep well socket to check security of the bolts. If they keep turning and don't appear to tighten at all the issue was the nut-sert wasn't seated properly at install.

 

I believe there is a TSB on the snorkels stating parts were missing when supplied to dealers. The nuts should have been stop nuts with visco inserts so they can't back off as I recall.

 

What I'm speaking of inserts into the molded plastic. Once tightened properly they mushroom out to provide a mounting hole (metal) for a bolt to thread into. If they're not properly seated they'll eventually pull out of the plastic hole in the snorkel. That's the only part holding it on. Two at the base and one more screw anchored into a small bracket at the top of the A-pillar.

Think of them as like a collapsible cage nut.