Been wading...

[signia]

Hi everyone.

I fitted my snorkel the other week and tonight went out to explore a few fords. I wasn't looking for anything too deep because I was out in one car with a mate. Fortunately we have several to choose from near me.

I've greased up everything, WD40'd all the electrics and gave it a go. One of the fords was around 3-4 foot, so gave that a miss. Another was around 2ft which I've done plenty of times before without a snorkel.

Went through it fine - all textbook with bowwave, just to check it out. Second time, thought it was worth a bit of a play and gunned it. Great! Water everywhere, engine kept working! Result I thought.

End of the evening, everything was fine (except two of my roof lights didn't work??) And then I remembered about the axle and gearbox breathers!!! I hadn't extended them!

Checked the front axle (bit dark) but I can see that where the breather exits that oil has come out around there and stained the axle at some point - still a bit oily. Can't tell if it was recent, but it had leaked there before.

So the first question is have I done any damage? I guess I don't know whether the existing breathers are actually any good anyway.

Where are the other seals on the axle - where the driveshaft enters I guess and at the hubs? Should I change the axle oil?

Where are there other breathers that I need to extend - gearbox (auto) and transfer box? Anywhere else?

Sorry for the questions, but I'm a bit concerned about my seals now. Is there any way to check them? Or should I just put on new breathers and hope for the best?

Where can I get breather kits from? Are these complete replacement kits, or just extensions?

One other thing, after playing in the water, the temp gauge was past red and on the H! I didn't notice it for sometime afterwards. But when I got home and the engine was off for about 10 minutes, I restarted the car, and it was back to normal. Probably water in the sensor or something?

Appreciate any advice. I've had my Disco for 18 months now and I'm still learning new stuff - usually the hard way!

Cheers.

[FridgeFreezer]

You're unlikely to have hurt anything with a bit of splashing. Is it TDi or V8?

Axle breather kits are re-bagged stock garden irrigation or industrial pneumatic connectors and pipe. Places like Hyphose will sell you pukka stuff for less money - 1/8" BSP 90 degree stainless swivel connectors screw into the axles in place of the breather, then 6mm push-fit nylon hose (62p/m in a variety of colours) pushes in and can be run to somewhere nice and high. Use the search button, breathers have been covered many times before, as have wading plugs for TDi's and DIY snorkels.

The temperature thing could be water on the connector, or if you've splashed really hard I suppose it's possible you've damaged the viscous fan or radiator. If it runs normally next time out it was probably the connector, if it overheats then you've brokened something

[dougstar]

First things first

You need to drop the oil out of the axle...it should not be milky and light brown! If it is then yes it has taken in water

Dougie

Ps wading kits you do not need to spend big bucks on IMHO

4mm ID 6mm OD pneumatic line X 15m

2 x 90 elbows to suit axle thread's

1 X 't' piece to join gear & transfer box breather's (they a right tw%t to get to !)

15 zip ties

Thats my tuppence HTH.

[signia]

Thanks for your replies.

Was just taking a look after I posted and these kits are pretty expensive for just bits of pipe. I'll take your advice and get some tubing and connectors. Very useful thank you.

One question about the gearbox and transfer box - Dougie - you mention using a T piece to connect them, but if I'm replacing the bit where the breather goes into the axles, don't I have to do the same with the gearbox and transfer box? Or are they ready to go?

It's a V8, which I know doesn't bode well with water in the first place. I just want to reduce the risk and not let a few water crossings stop play. That's why I fitted the snorkel and greased up. I usually do my research before things like this, and I did know about the breathers when I fitted the snorkel - it just slipped my mind since I did it.

I'll check the oil at the weekend. And the fan. The engine didn't feel any hotter, and didn't sound bad. The coolant level was normal.

Anyway - thanks for your help. You've probably saved me quite a bit of cash!

eta-> found Mark's write up on breathers... posted it here in case anyone reads this thread first. Cheers guys. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopi...amp;hl=breather (also tempted by the yellow pipework

[dougstar]

Thanks for your replies.

One question about the gearbox and transfer box - Dougie - you mention using a T piece to connect them, but if I'm replacing the bit where the breather goes into the axles, don't I have to do the same with the gearbox and transfer box? Or are they ready to go?

Sorry,

What i meant was that i used about :

7m rear axle to top of snorkel

3m front axel to snorkel

4 from gear and transfer box to snorkel, what i did hear was chop into the existing breathers for these put a T piece in and ran just one up from here. As its really difficult to access the top of these without dropping a load of carp in when you try and get the old fittings out!

Dougie

[Orange]

eta-> found Mark's write up on breathers... posted it here in case anyone reads this thread first. Cheers guys. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopi...amp;hl=breather (also tempted by the yellow pipework

I had to push him really hard to put yellow on!! He was going with pink as his first choice!!

With regard to V8s and water, as long as you are sensible and keep all the connections clean and well greased, you'll be fine. Try using a good quality waterproof grease rather than WD40 (although WD40 is good as a top-up) as it tends to stay where it's put.

[Mark]

It's true - Orange wanted the pink all to himself!

I'm glad you found my post - saves me searching for it...

I also did the timing chest by drilling the cover over the fuel pump sprocket, and putting a fitting on there with a nut on the back. Not sure where to buy BSP nuts, so I made one. No pictures I am afraid, but I can take some if you like...

Cheers

Mark

[signia]

Thanks Dougie, I'll do that.

I've got that grease which is in the tub - general purpose stuff - where you push down on the plastic cover and it comes out the hole in the middle. Pretty messy stuff, but it's all over the dizzy and the coil and around the relays in the engine bay. Wasn't sure about putting some over the injector wiring? I just put WD40 over those and the various other connectors kicking around.

All advice much appreciated. Cheers.

eta-> Mark just saw your post... I'm still learning so not entirely sure where you mean. Whereabouts on the V8 is the fuel pump sprocket cover?

[iceshj]

Hi,

I got my breather kit from Wizardbilt (think thats how they spell it)on Ebay. It is quite a neat set up I have. I have 5 pipes going to F & R axles, gearbox, transfer box and timing belt cover. All these pipes come upto a 5 into 1 cylinder and so I only have the one pipe coming up between the snorkle and the windscreen pillar.

Hope this helps

Dave

[Mark]

eta-> Mark just saw your post... I'm still learning so not entirely sure where you mean. Whereabouts on the V8 is the fuel pump sprocket cover?

Err, no idea

mine is a 200 tdi, so is completely different. Essentially it is a cover on the timing chest that you can take off and drill/tap without risking swarf in the timing gear. Not sure if there is a similar cover on the v8

Cheers

Mark

[uazvet]

It's a V8, which I know doesn't bode well with water in the first place.

Can anyone tell me about the issues with v8's struggling in water, are there specific components that need 'waterproofing'? asking because my d1 v8 auto and previously a v6 auto shogun never had problems with top of the wheel depth water crossings - and since we have two ways to exit our summer house in russia, the easy way and the hard way!! is there something i should know about disco's that could mean facing a big bill in the near future:(

[dougstar]

Hi,

I got my breather kit from Wizardbilt (think thats how they spell it)on Ebay. It is quite a neat set up I have. I have 5 pipes going to F & R axles, gearbox, transfer box and timing belt cover. All these pipes come upto a 5 into 1 cylinder and so I only have the one pipe coming up between the snorkle and the windscreen pillar.

Hope this helps

Dave

I have seen these and they do look very neat indeed,

Now i know i have jointed the two boxes but the reason for keeping the others seperate and not taking them through a manifold is so if i do have a problem with any of the axels / gearboxes i know which one has the problem because the oil/fluid will rise out of the named breather.

And as for up the side of the snorkel i was sick and tired of refixing these once i had been down a tight lane or the UV light had attacked the zip tie pads that was holding them on and all of a sudden you have a load of flexi pipe flappin about your bonnet / wheel AGAIN

So i have re-routed them from under the bonnet into the 'dirty' side of the air box up the snorkel and out through the grill doubled back on themselves and neatly secured to the grill pointing down

Can post pics as it looks a treat in my eyes, but it will be sunday before i can get them up.

Dougie

[signia]

Can anyone tell me about the issues with v8's struggling in water, are there specific components that need 'waterproofing'?

Probably a lot of people with more experience than me, but I'll tell you my experience so far. I have a V8 auto.

I've been using my V8 through fords since I got it in Jan last year. I've only recently fitted a snorkel.

I've had a few close calls with water being a bit deeper (or an uneven surface which causes the car to drop).

I've got away with the water being level with the top of the bumper, just under the lights. The air intake is just behind the headlight. Whilst water obviously can't directly get in at lower levels, it can splash up - possibly if your fan is spinning too. I went for a trip to Wales and did a few deep ones. Survived, but found evidence of water splash around the inlet - hence my decision for the snorkel.

So essentially you can get away with it, but it's down to technique. If the surface is consistent and the water is not too deep, then a V8 shouldn't have any problems with going through it. Just make sure you get that bowwave to reduce the water line behind the front of the vehicle, don't stop, and you should avoid water getting too high in the engine bay. Stopping is probably the worse thing (unless your engine forces you to). As soon as you stop, the water level will equalise and all the seals and gaskets will be under pressure. If you did have the odd oil leak somewhere, or dodgy door seal, you'll find out that way.

As far as components go, I've literally put grease everywhere, sparkplugs, dizzy cap, ignition coil etc. I sprayed WD40 over all the electrics, but as someone suggested to me earlier, I'm probably better of greasing those too. There are a LOT of connectors under the bonnet - lots of sensors and I've got aux relays for lights too. And of course there are the injectors, fuse box etc.

A nice smothering of grease should help. But I know you can take things a lot further - like isolating the fuse box, coil and dizzy. It really depends on how deep you're going to go. Of course - there's the breather issue I've asked about. But fording regularly at normal depths, it shouldn't be an issue.

Dougie - been thinking about the breathers again! If you can't get to where they come from, where did you locate the box's breathers and join them up? What T piece did you use - same sizes as the BSP connectors (6mm OD)? I'd like to get them all through a manifold and out as one tube, not 3, if possible.

Night all!

[First_Fleet]

Don't overlook fitting a tarp or similar blanket to the front grille to ensure you do get a bow wave, & not getting it through the grille & to the air intake.

Of course, remember to take it off after your fording.

[FridgeFreezer]

Nige (hybrid from hell) has posted extensively on the subject of V8's and water, he's tried pretty much everything.

Fundamentally, if you have a sealed snorkel then the engine isn't in danger, so you don't need to panic about that. Your engine won't break, it's just prone to stopping in the middle of a puddle

The Rover V8 is notoriously fussy about running in water - the ignition system is weak and doesn't like being splashed. You can improve the situation greatly, but the only real cure is going distributorless with a system such as MegaSquirt'n'EDIS.

Many people have done many things over the years, some work better than others but there are some golden rules - Use only genuine ignition components and NGK plugs, the non-genuine ones are known to cause running problems when dry, never mind when they're damp.

Shielding the dizzy cap makes a difference, if your ignition amp is on the wing shielding that can help too. The wing-mount amp can be replaced with a GM unit which will fire a much bigger coil, bigger sparks are more resistant to a bit of damp. Magnecor HT leads are about the only worthwhile upgrade from genuine, but they're expensive. A lot of people relocate the coil inside, with a very long king lead.

The injection system on the engine really doesn't care about water, I've never done anything to waterproof mine. The standard ECU, however, is under the seat, so that's worth moving to somewhere high and dry.

Replacing the engine fan with electric so you can switch it off for wading will reduce the splashing in the engine bay.

This is waterproofed for a total of £20 - a B&Q snorkel and ice-cream tubs over the dizzy & amp and it will cope with bonnet-deep water for short periods, or splash about all day bumper-deep:

I think Rog (istruggle2gate11) holds the record running MS'n'EDIS of driving top-of-windscreen-deep in his RR. The EDIS setup just doesn't care.

[FridgeFreezer]

Oh and you don't need to worry about a breather on the timing cover as the RV8 uses a chain for timing so the front cover is a sealed part of the engine internals. The TDi's use an elastic band so the front cover is "dry" (or more often "oily") with a drain hole to let condensation (and oil leaks) out, this must be sealed up for wading, fitting a breather helps to equalise pressure and stop it sucking in water past seals.

If you're going really deep with a Rover V8, replacing the small mushroom-shaped breather at the back of the rocker cover with a raised breather is a reasonable idea but by no means essential for most, especially if you're still running a distributor - it'll stop way before that becomes a problem!