I'm trying to diagnose a water leaking issue. I have my wiper cowl pulled and can see that there is some leaf debris that could be blocking water from the leaving the cowl area. I see a white piece of plastic on the passenger side. I'm curious if that is the intake for the A/C? I think that is where the water is coming in.

My second question is, today I took the XJ to the car wash and stuck the wand in the cowl area to wash out the debris, but it didn't work. How the heck do I get the leaves out? I'm thinking about cutting a whole in the cowl on the passenger side so I can reach them with my hand but that seems drastic for such a simple problem. Can i some how reach them from the wheel well?