snorkel question

[yooper]

Does anybody have the problem of water ingestion in heavy rains with the snorkel? When I hit puddles and small streams, a tremendous amount of water comes onto the windshield. Wouldnt it go right into the snorkel unless its turned around backwards?

Shotts, If the water was coming up to your windows didnt it come in your doors and through the firewall? Those pictures in your link must not be the deep spots then right?

Thanks,
BC

The Safari Snorkels are made to drain any water that gets splashed in there, before it gets sucked in.

 

[ryanjl]

Does anybody have the problem of water ingestion in heavy rains with the snorkel? When I hit puddles and small streams, a tremendous amount of water comes onto the windshield. Wouldnt it go right into the snorkel unless its turned around backwards?

You think more water goes up above the windshield than, say..... the inner fender where the stock air intake is?

ANY water in the air filter can be disasterous. What's more, if your air filter gets soaked, it becomes highly air restrictive.

Sure, in the picture Shott's posted toward the beginning of the thread a snorkel is not needed.... IN THAT SPOT. But what if just a little further along in the stream there's a foot drop off? Most snorkels aren't needed all the time, they are there for the 'just in case' factor.

As far as the electronics go, a correctly driven bow wave will normally leave the water level inside the engine bay quite a bit lower than the level outside the vehicle, keeping much of the sparky bits dry.

 

[Snook]

Here is a good shots of bow wave which reduce the depth of water on the bith sides that Shocker mentioned, always keep moving at steady pace, don't stop or stall for any reason.

Cheers,

 

[bcripe]

Ryan, I definitely think more water goes over the windshield than in the inner fender. When it rains hard here the streets basically get flooded and when driving around the water coming onto the windshield is so heavy you cant see out unless you slow down. There is no way that amount of water is hitting the motor or going into the airbox. Thats good snorkels are designed to drain. How do they do that? I would imagine there are probably a couple of drain holes somewhere. You could probably drill a couple of drain holes in the bottom of the airbox and have exactly the same water protection. Either way I would think electronics problems would disable your motor before water ingestion.

When I had my Tacoma in the water, it was in one of those rivers in Anzo Borrego. It was alot deeper and softer than I realized. I stopped in the middle and backed out.

When I lived in Wyo, I had a buddy who had an old army truck that had a snorkel. We used to laugh at about how cool it would be to drive around in water shoulder deep in the cab. Unfortunately we never did try it. I dont think I would want to be shoulder deep in water inside my TLC!

 

[yooper]

... good snorkels are designed to drain. How do they do that?

The way they are designed, when the water and air is flowing, the water gets thrown up against the wall of the snorkel and gets pushed out some channels right away.

 

[ryanjl]

Ryan, I definitely think more water goes over the windshield than in the inner fender. When it rains hard here the streets basically get flooded and when driving around the water coming onto the windshield is so heavy you cant see out unless you slow down.

So you don't think that your spinning tires driving through flooded roads is throwing up as much or more water into your fender as whats over the windshield?

Huh....

Like I said earlier, bow wave lowers engine bay water levels lessening chances for wet electronics. And no one said that you can't help waterproof these electronics. But a snorkel would be needed too, right?

But it's obvious that you are of your opinion and you are keeping it, so I'm done with it now.

 

[cruiserdan]

Isn't the air drawn from the passenger side fender in a stock airbox?

It is indeed, but the inner fender is not "divorced" or walled off completely from the engine bay. The heat spills over.

 

[bcripe]

Hey Ryan, I will go take a look in my wheel wells but is there a direct hole going into my induction? Where exactly does the air enter and isnt there baffles in the inlet? I thought the air entered from behind the passenger headlight which is above the wheel wells? I am not trying to be a smart ***. I really am curious. Is the 80 different than the 100? In the heavy rains the top of the motor barely gets wet. Although maybe its all evaporating off. I do think there is alot of water that gets into the wheel well but not the inner fender. It seems sealed off pretty well. But Ill look cause now I am curious.

You are right, if all electronics were sealed a snorkel would be helpful/needed.

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

Hey guys.....let's take a twist on this subject, and Doron, hopefully you will pipe (get it?) in?

Regarding dirt and regarding rain entering the snorkel:

Why not turn the top funnel rearward facing? Rain wouldn't enter and driving in a convoy through dust would seem to be reduced?? So, do we all turn our snorkels backwards?

 

[cruiserdan]

I would turn the head backwards in heavy snow or rain. When it comes to dust I don't think it would make much of a difference.

 

[ryanjl]

There's been some debate whether keeping the snorkel facing forward (when it's not raining, snowing, etc.) can create a 'ram-air' effect by cool air being pushed into the snorkel and through the intake when the vehicle is moving at speed. Not really applicable for most wheeling circumstances, though, if it has any merit at all.

 

[wesintl]

I know this is a 100 series section but I did swamp my SOA on 35's fj40 and it cost the better part of $500 replacing the ignitor and fluids which was caused by shorting the spark plugs with water in the cyl. Obviously 60,80's and 100's are slightly different but for me on my rigs it's now piece of mind. In my case I'll pay $250-300 for a snorkel vs $500+ for repairs and a stranded rig. Who know what it would cost on a 100. As for rain, snow and dust.. I never had a problem.

http://www.safari4x4.com.au/docs/snorkel/snorkel_qa.htm

 

[s79bj40]

i say there would be no air-ram effect at speed with the safari designed snorkel because of the rain drain holes in the head, and the backed up air in the snorkel would produce a mushroom shaped high pressure zone in front of the snorkel.

We have one because the amount of dust that gets sucked in is reduced. Compared with the old non-snorkeled 1Hz 105 we had, and for the number of times that you get caught and you have to drive 5-6 flooded creek crossings before the water rises so high that you are trapped for a week or more. And seeing how expensive the 1hd-fte is to replace and the high likelihood of an unfortunate occurence should water somehow find its way in, i'd say its been well worth the piece of mind.

sam

 

[r3run33]

the snorkel has to help i still have not installed mine yet and i was really sweating last month when i pulled a friends camaro out when his street got flooded here with all the rain we had by the way has anyone any ideas on how to seal up the doors better i did not get any water in but i was sure worried at the time the water was about the middle of the door and nothing got in very lucky i guess

 

[dclee]

by the way has anyone any ideas on how to seal up the doors better i did not get any water in but i was sure worried at the time the water was about the middle of the door and nothing got in very lucky i guess

Actually, the 80 Series at least seals very well (trust me). But that can actually become a problem because eventually, you'll FLOAT, which means no traction. Not good. I'd actually prefer it if it leaked a little!

 

[turbocruiser]

Hi folks, I bumped into this post while searching for something totally different but when I read this several questions came to mind.

1. If on the 80 and 100 series the air is pulled from the passenger side front fenderwell, is there a safe way to make this setup less restrictive for more airflow but hopefully also for more protection than something like those exposed K&N conical filters offer? It just occured to me when reading this, (if I'm understanding right) that to go through all the trouble to have forced induction and high flow exhaust but still suck all the air through something designed for sound reduction is silly. What can I do, short of those open filters and short of snorkels?

2. Out of curiosity, what's the answer to the question about whether or not the 1FZFE and the 100 engine with snorkels can really run when somewhat submerged in water? I'd be amazed that the electronics can handle this, but then again, I've been amazed many times by these vehicles. So, is it possible that the engine can run halfway under water?

3. What about the belt driven fan? When the engine bay is even halfway submerged, I would think that the fan would totally deflect and hit the rad or the pulleys or something???

4. Our engineering department at work has this special spray that they say is used to spray and seal circuit boards and windings and whatsnot so that they are totally immune to water. Its like some sort of electrical clear coat that is special for this purpose. So, if one were to spray the ECU and other circuits with this stuff, could the vehicle tolerate water as deep as the dash or hood?

5. What about the spare tire under the truck? I would think this would make the rear want to be much more bouyant than the front? Probably this should be in the cab?



Thanks, I'd love to learn more about these things.

 

[dclee]

Hi folks, I bumped into this post while searching for something totally different but when I read this several questions came to mind.

Hey Turbocruiser -

1.) Not much really. You can remove the air resonator, it is restrictive and its only purpose is to quiet the induction a bit, but other than that there's not much out there that's very practical. Yeah, you could go to some ricer methods of cold air intakes and such, but the bang for the buck will be WAY out of kilter.

2.) You do have to worry about some of the electronics. Proper precautions listed elswhere in these archives should cover this.

3.) Fan blades hitting water can be a problem. If you are going to do a lot of serious deep water crossings, I'd look into an electric fan that can be manually shut off. Of course, beign the cheap guy that I am, I just duct tape a tarp in front of my radiator!

4.) Di-electric grease. Wonderful stuff. This is one of the water protection methods alluded to in 2.) above.

5.) You could stick it on the roof? Although, with the weight of these trucks, plus what some of us carry in the rear, it's probably not too much of a problem!

HTH,

 

[drexx]

Hey guys.....let's take a twist on this subject, and Doron, hopefully you will pipe (get it?) in?

Regarding dirt and regarding rain entering the snorkel:

Why not turn the top funnel rearward facing? Rain wouldn't enter and driving in a convoy through dust would seem to be reduced?? So, do we all turn our snorkels backwards?

A lot of snorkels face forward 'coz that's how Safari4x4 markets them... and it looks better that way too. However, here in the Philippines, it is common to see them facing the back so as not to catch leaves and sticks getting into it. We really don't have much issues with rain getting in. For very dusty wheelin (or "trailing" as the locals say), a sock on top of the snorkel is a good temp solution.

 

[robbie]

Some of the differences between the 80 and the 100 series are that the 100 has no distributor or ingintor, only coil packs, a lot harder to short out if all is dielectic greased. Most of the electronics for running the engine is inside the cabin(both trucks), not under the hood. The 80 series has a distributor with either 2 or 3 holes that need to be sealed, the ingintor the coil as long as they are sealed properly you could for some time with them under water. As for the fan blade, you could drill a small hole in one blade and use a small cord to tie it off before you travel across the river, the fan clutch should not engage unless it gets real hot, if under hood temps are hot them may want to cool it down some before crossing. A cord will hold the fan easily, then on the other side un tie it. I have noticed a increase in performance in my truck when I snorkled them, not much but usually an increase up a know hill that I traveled, but nothing proven on a dyno. later robbie

 

[mabrodis]

3. What about the belt driven fan? When the engine bay is even halfway submerged, I would think that the fan would totally deflect and hit the rad or the pulleys or something???

4. Our engineering department at work has this special spray that they say is used to spray and seal circuit boards and windings and whatsnot so that they are totally immune to water. Its like some sort of electrical clear coat that is special for this purpose. So, if one were to spray the ECU and other circuits with this stuff, could the vehicle tolerate water as deep as the dash or hood?

5. What about the spare tire under the truck? I would think this would make the rear want to be much more bouyant than the front? Probably this should be in the cab?

3. This can definetly be a problem. The only good thing is that with a fan clutch like we have, once everything is cooled down (it will be instantly when you get some water spray), then the fan clutch will let the fan slip, which would be a good thing with water.

4. I believe you are referring to a conformal coating. It is just a clearcoat so nothing on a circuit board is bare metal, you can't short yourself out on anything unless you start scraping it off, it's a pain to rework boards with this on, as it all melts off when you start heating things up. This is non-conductive, very different from dielectric grease which IS conductive. Most of the circuit boards we design get conformal coating, usually to resist the elements better (solder can rust, etc). I don't really think the circuit boards would be the problem even if non conformally coated. The resistance of water is not that low, and the voltages involved in the computer are not that high, so I don't think that would be a problem at all. More of a problem I think would be a hot IC meeting cold water, they can/will crack very easily from thermal shock. I think more of a problem is in the wire connections, if those get water in them, then they can loose conductivity. I haven't had my 80 in any significant water, but had a '72 40 in water to the middle of it's doors, dist has some silicone sealer on it but that was all, water was right to the bottom of the air cleaner, dist completely under water, never missed a beat. Bow wave over the hood, water was coming in both doors...good times!! Plug wires had not been sealed at all, dist did not have hole sealed in it, yet never had any problem.

5. I think the added flotation effect from the spare would be so little it wouldn't matter. Also I think the rear of an 80 or 100 probably weighs more than the front, especially with people/luggage/tools, etc.