Piginajeep

drive slow in water and you dont have to worry.

If its over the headlights, dont drive through it....

Cdash

You guys have to remember that in water and mud you won't ever keep your airbox dry. The boxes are designed to handle some amount of water. The water can get in the box, but then it drops to the bottom where there are drain holes to let it out. The filter is at the top of the box for a reason. It would have to suck water up to get in then engine, and that is done on purpose. My old XJ had so much mud in the airbox that it looked like holy he77 in there, but look above the filter and it was pristine clean.

Now I am not saying that it is impossible to hydroloc your engine with the stock filter box, but it isn't necessarily a "sky is falling" thing either.

Like others are saying, if you are going to blast deep water, get a snorkle. If you are driving cautiously - don't worry.

westchester

Guys, pls chime in if you know differently, I've been thinking/considering/talking to snorkel manufacturers for way too long, appreciate clarification from someone who knows firsthand :

#1 Rain or snow will be sucked into an AEV ram air or River Raider Snorkel but they attach to the airbox using ridged flexible ducting, so all or most water sucked into the snorkel intake will pool in the connecting duct pipe and then be burned off by the engine's high running temperature before getting to the airbox CORRECT ?

#2 The airbox has a shallow dip at the bottom so if water does get in, it will pool and sit below the engine intake CORRECT ?

#3 Plenty of stories of hydrolocked non-snorkel engines and the limitations of NOT having a snorkel. QUESTION : Has anyone seen or heard of a rig hydrolocked WITH a snorkel and what conditions made that happen? I get it that no rig is completely impregnable to deep river wading, but if it was from a heavy rainstorm or puddle splashing then #1 and #2 didn't work so why bother with the expense of a snorkel ?

racer83l

I have the AEV. Water from heavy downpours doesn't make it in the ram air intake. Or atleast that I have ever noticed. The design of the ram allows water to drain out and air goes down the center on the snorkel tube. This seems to work well and as designed. There is no ductwork involved with the AEV snorkel, I connects directly to the stock air box and looks factory under the hood. I cannot speak for the RIver Raider other than it is also a good design and is widely used without problems.

Locklain

I thought that "this video" may answer your question, plus it is funny as hell.

mainejeeper

Back to the original thought, I agree. There is a design flaw with the stock air box. Sure it's high, but it seems to pick up water from the "splash" effect way to easily. If you hit a puddle at speed, you will almost certainly have water in the air box. I wish the after market would come up with a relocation or something under the hood that would help the rest of us that don't have the cash for a new hood or don't want to cut the Jeep to install a snorkel.
Until then, I avoid water at any speed..

joey2times

the chances of that happening are slim to none....

When I locked it wasnt just bam in that puddle one shot... I had been doing that over and over and over alll day long... this was on the way out of the trails and it was the largest of all the pits...

when I popped my air box... my filter was about 11 lbs... I squeezed it like an acordian and it droped about 3 pint glasses full of water...

I was being an idiot and it really bit me on the ass... lesson learned... for the most part you really gotta be trying to f' up I am convinced because I was on a rager all day long and it only happened at the VERY VERY end after about 4 hours of abuse.... when people say they hydrolocked by just one little puddle just once it makes me questions if they are telling the whole truth.

GoodysGotaCuda

Tiny drop? I've purposely poured more than that into my own engines to clean them internally. Sea foam, atf, water (steam clean). It takes more than one tiny drop.

rbrutzman

Tiny Drop?

not per wikipedia:

Liquids do not compress so if a volume of liquid greater than the volume of the combustion chamber at its minimum (top of the piston's stroke) enters the combustion chamber then the piston cannot complete its travel.

twistedthrottle

That was good - always been a fan of the FJ40.

this ones a Jeep tho.....'snorkled'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EgFT...eature=related