2001 Defrost door with open holes in it?

[XJLegg]

Hey Guys. First post so bare with me. After searching this site and countless others, I can't seem to find anybody with my problem. I have a 2001 XJ Sport. The A/C and heater work great. All of the vents work good except I am getting some medium leakage out of the right side of the defrost vent when the controls are set to vent or floor. I have confirmed very good vacuum pressure and also confirmed that all vent doors/flaps do work correctly. I have noticed alot of small pieces of foam coming out of the vents. Also I can push back on the defrost tube wall to see the defrost door opening and closing properly. BUT there are 2 holes on the defrost side and the demist side of the door. 2 perfectly cut holes that are leaking the air up through the defrost vents. The hole on the demist side is larger that the defrost side. Ive looked for pictures that showed what the door suppose to look like with no luck. I am wondering if the door had a layer of foam on the bottom side of it covering these holes at one time and now has fallen off? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Wondering if I can plug them holes with something without having to take the dash out. Picture below....

Clink link for picture:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8j53mqChFkObkhsdTd4VFg4WlJCQkZQckxTNzYzcU1uei1N/view?usp=sharing

[Pookapotamus]

The holes look factory, what could be run through there though??? Mine is too old to give any real advice, someone who is familiar with the later models hopefully can help.

[4.3LXJ]

Jason, I am not quite sure what I am looking at here. Is this pic with the dash removed. Maybe a broader perspective would help

[XJLegg]

This is behind the radio. I have the radio removed and the back wall(which is the wall of the defrost tube that carries the air to the defrost vents) pushed back to reveal the defrost door. The door is what you see with the holes in it. The leakage is coming through these holes and out the defrost vents. I will take some more pics of it when I get home today. It is factory holes but I'm wondering if there was a layer of foam on the inside of the door covering these holes. Doesn't make sense to me. And also what could be done to plug these holes to keep the air from traveling out the defrost vents? Thanks guys for the replies.

[4.3LXJ]

I think the answer is that the intention was to get a small amount of defrost even in other modes, such as heat and vent. I have used the recirc function in very cold weather and had fogging problems on the glass. On yours, also in the defrost function, the AC comes on to dry the air and make it defrost better

[XJLegg]

Thanks for the reply. I agree that the left hole would be a small amount of air but the right hole is the real issue. It fogs up the windshield on cold or hot and just at the location where the large hole is blowing. Definitely not the way it should operate. I wish someone had a pic of a new defrost door to compare or at least one that is working properly. I've searched everywhere with no luck.

[4.3LXJ]

That one is going to be a tough photo to find.

[XJLegg]

Yes I'm afraid you're right. I may just cut a piece of plastic and superglue it over the hole. Ha!