Active Grille Air Shutter - If Equipped

Courtesy of JAGUAR LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA, LLC

The upper active grille air shutter is installed behind the radiator grille and attached to the front end carrier. The lower active grille air shutter is located in the front bumper, behind the front armature. The upper and lower active grille air shutter incorporate moveable vanes that control the air flow into the upstream main duct.

In the upper active grille air shutter the vanes are installed in a housing in 2 groups of 3. The lower active grille air shutter incorporates 4 vanes in 2 groups of 2. The vanes are operated by a common electric motor that is secured to the left side of the lower active grille air shutter housing.

In each group, the outboard hinge pin of one of the vanes (the master vane) is attached to the output shaft of the actuator motor directly, or through a vane link. A lever on the inboard end of each master vane is engaged in a motor link. When the motor turns the master vane, the motor link transfers the movement to the levers of the other vanes. Thereby all of the vanes turn in unison with the master vanes in the upper and lower active grille air shutter vanes.

The design of the vanes equalizes the wind loading on each side of the hinge pin, which reduces the resistance to turning when the vehicle is traveling at speed. The vanes can be set to one of 14 positions between fully closed and fully open, and have a range of movement of 80 degrees. During normal operation, for the vanes to move from fully closed to fully open takes approximately 30 seconds. To move the vanes from fully open to fully closed takes approximately 90 seconds.

Operation of the motor is controlled by the Powertrain Control Module (PCM), which communicates with the motor on a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) bus connection. Power for the motor is provided by a power supply from the PCM relay in the Engine Junction Box (EJB).