[mrtn]

I have blocked a hole between the engine bay and the wheel well which allowed dirt to pile up in the firewall corner at the front side member attachment point.

The dealer said the hole is supposed to be there by design. In reality they are just idiots.

 

[ilovemyhonda88]

Make sure thats not being used as a drain hole thou.

 

[mrtn]

No, it’s a square hold where the black tape is located and you can see the engine bay from the wheel well through that. The drain holes you can see in the picture. The dirt that came from the now blocked hole blocked the drain holes.

 

[mrtn]

See “before” pic. I had cleaned the corner behind the cable. It was full of dirt, to the top of the cable.

 

[Traylaw]

Not actually a design flaw, they are for spare cable pass thrus, plastic fasteners and the square one is for a plastic clip. If you look in the driver side wheel well you will find similar holes. Also if you look in front of the tires you will find addition spare openings. It's common practice to have additonal openings in the body for future possible changes. Along with accommodating variations in models such as left/right hand steering . No problem closing those holes up.
The 5th gen along with previous generations have similar spare openings.

 

[kloker]

I have blocked a hole between the engine bay and the wheel well which allowed dirt to pile up in the firewall corner at the front side member attachment point.

The dealer said the hole is supposed to be there by design. In reality they are just idiots.

Ha! You are not wrong. "The hole is supposed to be there by design" is dealerspeak for "I have no earthly idea what that is for." Helpful, eh?

 

[mrtn]

Not actually a design flaw, they are for spare cable pass thrus, plastic fasteners and the square one is for a plastic clip.

Well, I know that. Would have expected Honda to use dummy placeholders to prevent dirt from entering and piling up.

I just remembered this issue when reading about the rust through subrame mounts, if I had a black car I might have not noticed the dirt there, a paradise for rust to do its job under.

 

[kloker]

I like to keep my car pretty clean on the outside, too, when I wash it. One extremely annoying thing I've noticed on this one is that, with the tailgate open, dirt, leaves, grime, etc., tend to build up in the crevices on the inside edges of the hinge and weather-seal areas between the body and the door. Same thing in the area below the windshield and wipers on the front, with the hood open. These are a serious pain to get to and get clean. I've never really had this issue on any other car. It takes longer to clean this stuff than it does to wash the whole rest of the car. Has to be done by hand to keep from getting the interior wet.

Sure eats up a lot of q-tips! Just kidding.