RabidRdKill wrote:
We got several inches of rain today - not terribly common for southern Michigan but there's quite a few areas around here where the dirt roads are flooded over. So I was out having a good time entertaining the kids splashing through the deep spots on the back roads with my 98 TJ. I came upon a poor Chevy Equinox in about 2 feet of water (up to the seats when I looked inside.) I eased on past in my TJ but it got me thinking: How much water can you cross in a CRD?
I still have the stock airbox so clearly the intake is too low but did DCX install tubes on all the axle and trans vents to bring them up to a decent level? What other things does one need to look at in this vehicle for water? It is a Jeep after all!
-JV
I have crossed about 6-12 inches deep (6 on drivers side, up to 12 on passengers) around 100 yards across before (at around 15mph aspault road underneath). Pulled over and checked the airfilter and it was dry. There were a couple of drops of water in the bottom of the airbox. Sortly before that I had it in muddy soup up to the wheel hubs. The front axle has an extender tube up to the drivers side strut mount. Not sure about the rear or the transfercase/tranny but I assume they have tubes going somewhere... but probably not as high as we would like.
I just changed the fluids in everything after the two events. (The tranny goes to the shop for a recall evey 10,000 miles where they drain and refill it-- so I did not bother changing its fluids--
). When changing the diffs-- I saw no milky looking fluid, just dark amber smelly gear oil, so I don't think any water got in.
I preordered a snorkel and I am going to put it on in fall. While it is mainly for more airflow and less dirt (AZ has lots of dirt), I will also feel more comfortable for water crossings. I will start figuring out how to get the breather tubes extended to it, but it will be to hot to work in the garage till fall.
Diesels have a higher compression ratio and a turbo charger-- neither of which like water, plus they suck air much harder as they are always wide open-- so it is good to be paranoid. I hear with the gassers if you get water in the intake and the engine dies you can take out the spark plugs and turn the engine over till you flush out the water. Supposably, on a gasser at idle the engine is likely to die before sucking all the water into the combustion chamber. I had been wondering what you do when you have a diesel to get the water out of the engine, as you don't have spark plugs-- maybe injectors? I have come to the conclusion that the cold hard truth is that if water gets that far it will not stall your engine like on a gasser-- it will just take the motor out. So the water will drain naturally through the new hole it made in your engine block.
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