Hello all. As I was cleaning up the ground wires under the air box trying to fix a abs light pulsations at low speed, I found this. It makes me wonder if this is why my gas mileage is not the best. Even without this plastic blocking the hole, I wonder how much air flow I'm actually getting???
Does anyone have a similar blockage that will not allow the cylinder intake pipe on the airbox to go into the bumper area?

Airbox intake entrance to the bumper

 

I don't think my airbox on my 99 has a plate partially blocking it like yours! Then again it has been awhile since I've looked.

What you marked with an X looks like it could be part of the framework for the headlamp assembly. Do you know if it is?

 

It might be. I did not mark it with "X"
it was either a previous owner, mechanic or ???
If that's where the cold air is drawn in from, then it must not be getting enough air and there should be a possible rich condition. Which would explain my crappy average gas mileage. About 400km to a full tank. The plastic piece seems to be solid and Jammed in there good. I may cut out the hole so the airbox cylinder intake pipe fits in there instead of just pushing up against it. Strange🤔🤔🤔
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You might want to investigate exactly what it is, and why it's in that spot before just cutting it. I believe that it's part of the headlight assembly, as Christine suggested, and cutting the frame will probably make your headlights unstable and difficult to adjust.

It's possible the headlight is improperly installed, putting the frame across part of that hole in the radiator support where the air intake draws from.

 

Just now I was thinking that you might just drill some holes through whatever it is that is in front of the large hole for the air intake instead of removing it completely. This would allow it to retain its structural integrity while allowing more air through. I'd still want to double check that it is not something important first.

 

Good points. I was hoping someone who owned a similar Blazer would look at how far their airbox protrudes into that hole. It looks like the plastic piece has shifted and / or the piece was installed incorrectly.

 

The little snorkel fitting goes through the hole and that is all. Once I had the airbox installed incorrectly (wrong position) and it bent the plastic snorkel over to restrict air flow. Removed the box completely and reinstalled to correct it. I wonder if yours is the same.

 

Thanks for reply lesmyer
I'm sure the airbox is installed correctly. But if you look at the picture, there is a plastic piece on the other side of the hole that blocks the funnel shape inlet from going Into the fender but also from receiving unblocked air. That's what im questioning. Was that a factory error in production that was not fixed, a previous owners mistake or just the way they come and not important? It seems to me the position of the airbox inlet would not get a proper amount of air coming in to the throttle body through the airbox at the best of times. Let alone with more than half of the hole blocked? I will keep digging.

 

I took out the airbox and loosened the headlight. The bracket that attaches to the headlight and is blocking the hole where the airbox inlet goes is installed correctly and is as far as it will go. I wonder if this is a replacement part from another year that was installed by a previous owner. About 2/3 of the hole is blocked. I decided to leave it and may look into getting a new old piece from the scrap yard when I see one. Again I'm not sure how critical or how much less air if any is being restricted from this piece.