I had water pouring into my passenger front and rear footwells for months. I kept thinking it was the sunroof drains and would always see a little water and kept them clean but it kept happening again and again and again. At the same time, the blower motor fuse kept blowing til ultimately, it would immediately blow upon insertion.

After finally accessing the blower motor yesterday, it was FULL of water. Got new one, cleaned air cabin filter. Removed cowl to find leaves and stuff near the ducts but the MOST DISCONCERTING was that the fresh air intake was wide open and I could see right into the blower motor - whether the doors are open or closed, water will continue to pour in - it is obviously missing a hood or cap.

Does anyone know this part? I could simply have a friend fashion a tent type hood out of tin but it seems something used to be here.

2001 Volvo V70 Manual with 285k miles

Your real problem is the A/C drain is plugged. Any water that gets into the system goes down hill to the AC drain immediately. That drain is in the center of the dash about 4-5 inches behind the firewall, accessible from the passenger side left cover. If you are lucky, you will be able to find the drain under the car and clear it out from there.

There is a 'door' above the blower, but that only closes when recirculate is engaged.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Are the cowl drain tubes clear of debris so that they don’t back up with water?

Diagram:
https://www.volvopartswebstore.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_assembly=234963&ukey_make=865&ukey_model=12011&modelYear=2004&ukey_category=7854&ukey_driveLine=11324&ukey_trimLevel=24667

+1
On cleaning out the drain tubes. Water will continue to accumulate until any clogs in these are cleared. I used a very large flat head screwdriver working from the bottom and top to clear clogs in my 850’s drain tubes. I suggest doing this first then find the door part.
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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

The drains on the cowl were cleaned out daily and then yesterday when we removed the cowl, I cleaned out everything but it looks like unless the seal at the bottom of the windshield is airtight and the cowl is attached as well like this, any water running down windshield can simply pour down from where bottom seal of windshield/cowl meet and go right into the damper flaps.

Can either of you confirm that, when you remove the cowl, the damper flaps are clearly visible, and that when they open, you can see right into blower motor? So there is no housing over this 8" x 6" opening? And the flap doors are the only thing separating outside air from blower motor?

I’m reluctant to tear into the cowl panel and risk breaking brittle stuff. However, if you look at this parts breakdown, there doesn’t appear to be any type of cover or “hat” associated with the air inlet parts (locator numbers 1 and 2).

https://www.volvopartswebstore.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_assembly=239097&ukey_make=865&ukey_model=12011&modelYear=2004&ukey_category=7854&ukey_driveLine=11324&ukey_trimLevel=24667

Maybe someone has an already disassembled unit that they can look at for you.