curious how close i came to pushing the limits of the cruiser's water fording capabilities last night. courtesy of irene, quite a few roads is southeastern virginia were flooded. tough at night to determine exactly how high the water is, but when you really need to get from point A to point B . . . anyway, i passed more than a few abandoned cars and trucks that did makes it through some of the roads. max depth i was in was probably around 3 feet.
water fording
- Thread starter ggroot30
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2008
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 50
I think the max is around 700mm
Not in my LX570, but some experience from my Defender days. I have driven in water hood deep with a roof height snorkle.
There are a number of different maximums depending on how much damage you are willing to put up with. The manufactures recommended wading height is often set by the diff/transfercase/transmission breathers with a recommendation to re-grease the wheel bearing after playing in any water deeper than the hubs.
Getting water above breathers and axle bearing for a short time really just means your diff fluid, transmission fluid, transfercase oil, and bearing grease is "watered down" and less effective. If you get around to servicing those items soon, no big deal. If you were to constantly exceed that depth without service, well, having a bearing go out at highway speeds isn't fun....
Above the exhaust. While driving in deep water, exhaust pressure keeps water out of the exhaust pipes. So this is really only a problem if you stop or stall and try to restart while in the water still. My experience is that the mufflers do OK, but the catalytic converters don't like water. Not sure what the chemistry is, but getting catalytic converters wet causes them to start shooting clumps of their material out the exhast. This clogs them and the mufflers periodically, the resulting back pressure causes the engine to run very rough until the chuncks of material blow out the tail pipe. Not fun.
Next up is electronics. Modern ignition electronics are better in water than old stuff like a traditional distributor. Running dirty water through things like the alternator can really increase wear and once the brushing go you are running for a short time on battery alone. It is cool seeing sparks shoot out the hood as the alternator ingests water and brushing material gets shot out. But, you pay for it later when the battery runs out, no sparks....
Finally, the air intake, water doesn't compress like air and gas. Get any significant amount of water down your air intake and you will stall and potentially break something in the engine. Though I have seen people who have hydrolocked their engine, then pulled the plugs, cranked the engine to push the the water out, put the plugs back in and finally then proceded on down the trail. Looks like a 200 series air intake is pretty high up, so you have to be pretty deep to ingest water.
Anyway, if you have had your LC in water above the axle bearing or the axle, diff, transmission or transfer case breathers for longer than a few seconds, changing out the fluids and regreasing bearings isn't a bad idea. Electronics and exhaust are hit or miss in deep fording, but you would know if you had an issue with those or water in the air intake. The failures for water in the exhaust, electronics or intake aren't subtle.
There are a number of different maximums depending on how much damage you are willing to put up with. The manufactures recommended wading height is often set by the diff/transfercase/transmission breathers with a recommendation to re-grease the wheel bearing after playing in any water deeper than the hubs.
Getting water above breathers and axle bearing for a short time really just means your diff fluid, transmission fluid, transfercase oil, and bearing grease is "watered down" and less effective. If you get around to servicing those items soon, no big deal. If you were to constantly exceed that depth without service, well, having a bearing go out at highway speeds isn't fun....
Above the exhaust. While driving in deep water, exhaust pressure keeps water out of the exhaust pipes. So this is really only a problem if you stop or stall and try to restart while in the water still. My experience is that the mufflers do OK, but the catalytic converters don't like water. Not sure what the chemistry is, but getting catalytic converters wet causes them to start shooting clumps of their material out the exhast. This clogs them and the mufflers periodically, the resulting back pressure causes the engine to run very rough until the chuncks of material blow out the tail pipe. Not fun.
Next up is electronics. Modern ignition electronics are better in water than old stuff like a traditional distributor. Running dirty water through things like the alternator can really increase wear and once the brushing go you are running for a short time on battery alone. It is cool seeing sparks shoot out the hood as the alternator ingests water and brushing material gets shot out. But, you pay for it later when the battery runs out, no sparks....
Finally, the air intake, water doesn't compress like air and gas. Get any significant amount of water down your air intake and you will stall and potentially break something in the engine. Though I have seen people who have hydrolocked their engine, then pulled the plugs, cranked the engine to push the the water out, put the plugs back in and finally then proceded on down the trail. Looks like a 200 series air intake is pretty high up, so you have to be pretty deep to ingest water.
Anyway, if you have had your LC in water above the axle bearing or the axle, diff, transmission or transfer case breathers for longer than a few seconds, changing out the fluids and regreasing bearings isn't a bad idea. Electronics and exhaust are hit or miss in deep fording, but you would know if you had an issue with those or water in the air intake. The failures for water in the exhaust, electronics or intake aren't subtle.
Be careful on water ingress with the 5.7L. We have replaced a lot of air pumps and valves due to ingress. Sometimes Toyota covers sometimes you are SOL. And we are talking expensive: well
north of $1200 in parts alone.
north of $1200 in parts alone.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2008
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 50
I wouldn't go more in more than 24 inches. The 200 is not designed fore more than that.
I believe the LC200 is rated for for 27.6 inches.
With 4x4 manufacturers this wading depth number is generally a conservative figure though, so I personally would not be too concerned that you went through c.36 inches one time. I'm not recommending it, but I've never had any issues doing this with my Pajero (or Land Rover) over the years which has the same official wading depth.
Deeper than that, or doing this more often, and I'd look into fluid changes, RAI, etc. You may wish to do the former anyway if it'll put your mind at ease.
Last edited:
My rear diff breather has a hose now leading up to the fuel filler. This was installed after blowing up an ARB RD64 locker...long story (but not due to water)
What other breathers should we be worried about?
My rear diff breather has a hose now leading up to the fuel filler. This was installed after blowing up an ARB RD64 locker...long story (but not due to water)
What other breathers should we be worried about?
Transmission breather and two axle breathers are the ones i've extended in the past.
TR
How involved of a job is it to install these extended breathers?
1. Find the breather hole
2. Using some tubing run a new longer line up to a higher than normal spot. In the front go up to the hood level, in the back you can route it up into the gas filler area. People get fancy and run tubes into t pieces to make a single tube at he top. I just run two tubes
3. Cap it with a breather valve like stock or put a cheap lawn mower filter on the end of it.
Done.
2. Using some tubing run a new longer line up to a higher than normal spot. In the front go up to the hood level, in the back you can route it up into the gas filler area. People get fancy and run tubes into t pieces to make a single tube at he top. I just run two tubes
3. Cap it with a breather valve like stock or put a cheap lawn mower filter on the end of it.
Done.
T-case breather too. I'd keep the breathers separate to prevent the potential for cross contamination. Been there done that.
Forgot the tcase. I never combine, agree with risk of cross contamination.
On my 80 I ran the front diff to the brake booster, rear diff to the fuel cap area like mentioned and two separate lines for the tranny/transfer also up to the brake booster. I suspect it should be just as easy on a 200