Hopefully you're in Seattle Washington and not Washington DC since the temp is suppose to get below freezing in DC and the last time I looked distilled water still freezes at 32F or 0C for our neighbor to the north. If you do live in DC better get some anti-freeze in the system or you will be looking at more repairs.

If it wasn't so cold 25F (who know what temp C that is) I would take the front shield off my X and see if I can find that plastic piece.

Look like someone did a MacGyver fix on it with the silicone. Could be that someone didn't want to remove the fan housing to replace a part and just used a hole saw to cut a hole in the fan housing. I know of DIYers who butchered up their Lotuses because they didn't want to remove the engine to replace the timing belt.

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2006 Infiniti G35
2001 BMW 3.0I E53 X5 Build date 08/2000 SOLD
Lotus Europa 1970 Destroyed by fire
Lotus Europa 1970 S2 Renault Powered
Lotus Type 52 1970 Twincam Webers Powered
PORSCHE 911 Targa 1982 The Garage Queen
Audi Avant donated to Kars for Kids
BMW 525IT Sold
Audi 4000CS Quattro Sold
Jensen Healey Lotus Powered Sold
Opel 1900 Sold
Triumph Spitfire 1971 Sold
Triumph Spitfire 1968 Sold
Plymouth "Cuda" 340 Six pack SOLD