I found this behind the glovebox, 2016RHD, possibly the pollen filter. But I’m sure it’s not meant to flop about randomly. Is it meant to be clicked shut or connected to a servo?

It (the moving part) is the air recirculation flap. The car should move it, but it's also surprisingly easy to move manually.
The pollen filter is the black part by your thumb in the first picture.

Thanks. Mine must be broken as when I hit the recirc button, the flap doesn’t move. Although I can hear a change in the air sound when I push the button?

That should NOT flap about randomly! It may be possible to open it slightly from the closed position but do not attempt to force it open. The amount of movement of the flap when "closed" seems to vary between vehicles.
The fact that you can hear a change in sound on pressing the recirculate button suggests that the flap is still operating, that said you should hear the servo operating and see the flap move. If you have access to a suitable diagnostic too (IIDTool for example) then you could try recalibrating the HVAC motor positions, this may reduce the amount of "flappiness".

The flap connects to a servo motor on the left hand side - this has a square shaft. If the flap has been previously forced open then the connection with the servo can be broken, repair by means of fast setting (strong) glue and a piece of bracing material is possible but needs almost keyhole surgery techniques - I found this on my previous fattie that some ham-fisted person had broken the flap changing the pollen filter. The repair worked but involved many swearwords. With hindsight I should have taken some pics of the repair.
The only alternative to repair is to replace the whole blower housing which entails dismantling pretty much the whole dash.

Thanks. This is definitely broken then as there’s no resistance at all, it just simply pivots with no friction. I’ve read the workshop manual and it says the aircon needs to be on manual, fan low, recirc on, and as you say NOT TO move the flap manually. A previous muppet obviously didn’t know what they were doing and broken it 🤬. I only got to know it was broken because I had to change a fuse for the charge socket by the cupholders and knew it couldn’t be right when I saw it.

To clarify better something I mentioned yesterday, when I watched it whilst pushing the recirc button, although the flap didn’t move, I could hear a change in the sound of the air …. strangely?

Yesterday I also poked a endoscope in there but I can’t see any linkages or unconnected motorised movement when I operate the button. Do you recall which side has the motor and how it was connected, gears, linkage etc? Thanks

The actuator is on the left hand side on the outside of the housing, it's shaft comes through to the left and below the top of the tray that the cabin filter sits in.
As far as I remember, it's a square shaft which normally mates with a hole in the flap.

I made a small 'L' shaped piece of aluminium, glued the long leg of this to the inside of the flap with the (very) short leg around and under the end of the shaft.
To do the repair you will need the HVAC to be set to recirculate and make sure the flap does not try to close until the glue has set.

The arrow in the image points towards the area where the flap will be broken.



The green blob shows the approximate area on the flap I glued the aluminium reinforcing piece to.

Many thanks, I really appreciate the effort that you’ve put into this. I’m gonna have a look as soon as I can, probably not tomorrow as I’m out most of the day so hopefully Thursday, but I’ll report back when I’ve been in there!

My 2014 recirc flap was broken in the exact same spot. JLR told me they were happy to replace it but the process entailed full dash removal and full removal of the AC system...

My OCD side thanked them and led me right out of the dealership, where I then went home, stripped what I could without removal of the dash or AC and machined a new part pretty much as what Fifth Horseman mentioned, was a bear of a job to repair in site, but still holding out years later...

Wonder why they break in that spot..??

Fifth Horseman wrote:

The only alternative to repair is to replace the whole blower housing which entails dismantling pretty much the whole dash.

So the flap is broken on the left-hand side where the servo drives it from. But that spindle that powers the flap doesn’t seem to have (what I assume is required) a 90° arc and looks to be very limited in its arc? if it’s ‘only’ a repair to the flap damage onto the spindle as you guys have done, it’s aggro but achievable given your resp. experiences. But if there is further damage on the other side of the housing where various slotted levers are - with impossible access, I think I am knackered! Hope not but what do you think?

Click image to enlarge

The flap is driven directly from the actuator, no external levers or gears.
Recalibrating the HVAC flaps may give you full movement, I can't remember how much of an arc the flap moves through. Remember there is some free play in the actuator. Its unlikely the actuator is damaged, it seems the flap breaks first.

This link gives a line drawing of the blower and recirculating actuator (part 19E617 on the diagram):
https://landrover.scuderiacarparts.com/par...4419/81470

I’ll do a repair with a small piece of alloy plate and screw/glue it, and take it from there. I guess I’ll need to make a decision about fixing it in the full open or fully closed and have the recirc activated accordingly? There is a slot in the shaft so if I’m hoping with the alloy plate to be able to cut a dog to fit into that.

I couldn’t see what was going on so I cut out a small piece of filter housing out and now I know what the task is 😳. The bottom section is missing and the top is split so not alot to work with.
Questions… is that shaft complete or broken? Is there a fuse that can be pulled once it’s set to recirc? Did you pull the shaft through as far as possible, if so any risks of anything fouling? TIA

Click image to enlarge

The shaft is fine, pull the fuse for the HVAC (not sure which one it is for your model - its in the handbook) when the motor is almost at the full recirc position.
If using a fast set epoxy, drill a few small holes in the repair piece and the flap to give a stronger repair.

So … I made a repair using two part epoxy, roughed up the surface, drilled a few grip holes and left it overnight. Tested it next morning …. And after a couple of cycles it cracked at the shaft 😩
I think it was because it was so rigid but with that mechanism you need a bit of tolerance and movement.
FYI fuses 46 & 56 need to be pulled.

Click image to enlarge