Almost blew up motor today - need advise for mud/water

[MudDawg]

I also have the "cowl vent" mod in my Heep....I'm good to go as long as the cowl is above water.....With 5" lift and 33's it takes some pretty deep holes to get in real trouble...the distributor is sealed with a vent tube to the intake and everything is siliconed up.....all breather hoses extended, etc...

My MOST FAVORITE thing to do is to go thru the tracks where a FS truck has just gotten stuck....the down side is i have had to remove all of the interior due to mud ruining everything....it's not uncommon at all to have mud/water inside the Heep high enough to go over the seat cushions.

 

[gone postal]

I also have the "cowl vent" mod in my Heep....I'm good to go as long as the cowl is above water.....With 5" lift and 33's it takes some pretty deep holes to get in real trouble...the distributor is sealed with a vent tube to the intake and everything is siliconed up.....all breather hoses extended, etc...

My MOST FAVORITE thing to do is to go thru the tracks where a FS truck has just gotten stuck....the down side is i have had to remove all of the interior due to mud ruining everything....it's not uncommon at all to have mud/water inside the Heep high enough to go over the seat cushions.

That's AWESOME!!! That's exactly what I'd like to be able to do. My friends have been stuck so many times in their FS trucks w/ 35-37" tires. It'd be awesome to drive right through after pulling them out of course!! :spin1:

What exactly did you silicone up? Also, how did you seal up the distributer and where did you connect the hose on it? Any pics of these mods? I'm planning on extending the axle breather hoses, but any other suggestions? I couldn't imagine being seat deep. I had a couple of inches on the floor, but would crap myself if I got seat deep and was still able to move the vehicle.

 

[Speed_racer]

snorkel.

pack all electrical connections w/di-electric grease.

And if the starter ever acts up after getting wet, light taps w/ a hammer will usually make her work again!

 

[bigolexj]

If you want to go in the mud and water, you need a 15" lift and 44" tractor tires. Clearance is king in the mud. This dude that works here at the fire dept has an XJ with said modifications on Hi 9's and it rides better on the highway than my squaw's Subaru WRX. haha

Ocala has rocks (limestone and sand).

 

[MudDawg]

I don't have a dig camera.....but this is easy....get a piece of 1/4" metal tubing, a lenght of vac hose, a drill, a 1/4" bit, and a tube of silicone...

On the distributor cap....down low near the bottom....drill a hole....be very slow and careful so you don't crack the cap....insert metal tubing...be careful that it does not extend too far inside the cap....silicone it in place....let dry...take vac line....hook to the new vent tube in the cap...run it to the air filter....drill small hole and insert vac line.....silicone it up....now remove dist cap and seal the bottom up, reinstall cap and add more silicone around the mating surfaces.....silicone up plug wire boots on both ends....

If that dont work good enuff, you need to convert to a crank trigger ignition with stand alone coils...

Another word of caution....if the water is real deep....a XJ will float and lose contact with the bottom...at least my light weight rig will...and you need good agressive tires (12.5/33 TSL or equiv) and enough power to keep em spinning....

Disclaimer: This should only be attempted by persons willing to accept total drivetrain failure and the total ruin of the rig in the event of submergence. If you succeed, you have the right to wear the red and white kamakazi head band.

 

[redrider]

bigolesxj, where at in ocala. ive ran alot of trails up there, but never seen limestone. ive heard of a rock quarry but never seen it.

 

[xcm]

Disclaimer: This should only be attempted by persons willing to accept total drivetrain failure and the total ruin of the rig in the event of submergence. If you succeed, you have the right to wear the red and white kamakazi head band.

 

[Kittrell]

Guess you bought your XJ to haul the kids to soccer and run to the grocery store huh? Do us a favor and sell your Cherokee to someone that'll use it and buy a Compass...

It's called rockcrawling, ROCKcrawling. I don't need to drive through a swamp to have fun in my Jeep. If that tickled my fancy, I'd be in a POS fullsize.

 

[Archdukeferdinand]

Was your rear end in the water much?

Doesn't sound quite like what happened to you, but I had a mild hydrolock happen about 4 years ago.

The rear end was immersed enough that water came in through the fill/breather necks of my gas tank, and that same contaminated fuel caused mine to do just what you said - dieseling like crazy, etc... When it stalled and I saw steam come out the tailpipe... I was worried. If you drove home fine, it can't be your fuel.

That was 40k miles ago, right after it happened, I dropped the tank, blew the lines out with a compressor, changed all fluids, etc... Thought sure the engine was in real trouble when I found sand fouling one of the plugs, but it turned out to be all good and I've not had any problems with it since.

And yeah, sorry to say that my advice is that deep water is for boats. I'm all about creek/river crossings when they're part of the trail, but I like rocks and ruts now myself.


That said, snorkles are still badass - when you need one, you need one.

 

[gone postal]

It's called rockcrawling, ROCKcrawling. I don't need to drive through a swamp to have fun in my Jeep. If that tickled my fancy, I'd be in a POS fullsize.

Exactly why I said...

Mud is what I have in FL. There are no rocks or even remotely cool trails here. Just random dirt roads through the woods w/ mud. Oh, and the beach. Stay posted for my "how to saltwater proof my XJ" thread... :spin1:

Only rocks around me are the jetty at the inlet. I may have a lot more problems if I try to drive over those.

Archdukeferdinand -
Yeah, my rear was in the water - driver's side far more than the passenger b/c like I said, I slid in...wasn't intentional. Driver's taillight was under water. I have to add a checkvalve to my fuel line, so when I'm doing that I'll go ahead and change the fuel filter again just to be safe. I think that my issue was caused by either water through the air filter or up the tailpipe when it stalled in the hole. Regardless, I'm making a snorkel, sealing my distributer, plugs, injectors and will put dielectric on the easiest to access connections under the hood. I'm also extending the vents on the axles. Where do people put the one for the rear? Drill a hole and put it in the cargo area? Run a tube all the way up front under the hood? Also, are there breathers on the tranny/transfer case?

 

[karstic]

I appreciate the suggestions. I was thinking of doing the homemade snorkel route, but will look into the Airflow. I saw someone on here did one into the firewall - seemed high enough - took air in through the vents in the cowl. When I did my last tune-up - about 1000 miles ago, I did put a good amount of dielectric grease on the rotor/cap and plugs. What else would cause the diesel sound and following shut-downs?

Wet sensors, ie TPS and CPS.

 

[jeepnuts311]

ill sell you my snorkel half price

-Tim

 

[gone postal]

ill sell you my snorkel half price

-Tim

Homemade or ARB/equivilant? If it's the latter, I know it'd be a good deal, but I still couldn't justify spending $150 on a snorkel for a $600 vehicle.....that I herculined the whole exterior of....not really worried about looks. :laugh3:

 

[fubar XJ]

Deep water/mud is just a major malfunction waiting to happen. I avoid it at all costs, even in my CJ on 38"s. Not only due to the risk of swamping the dist and hydrolock, but because the soup gets into every u-joint under your rig, axles and drivelines, and greatly decreases their life. Man, if all I had to wheel in was deep soup holes I'd opt for an older fullsize. XJ's by nature just aren't well equipped for deep soup.

 

[MudDawg]

LOL....I never implied that it was wise to go mudding.....but it sure is fun...and I will guarantee that a XJ with 33 TSL's and lockers can back through any mud a full size gets stuck in with similar size tires....if you know how to drive....and usually literally drive circles around the stuck beast...

Couple of weeks ago at the local mudhole....i counted 11 FS trucks that got stuck in a hole....after a few brewski's I took off my boots and climbed in the Heep and drove throught it with no problems....the mud line on the door comes within 10 inches of the handle....

Yup I ruin a lot of u-joints and change a lot of lube...but my starter has a lifetime autozone warranty

As far as the rock quarry (ies) at Ocala...I drove all the way there once to find they were blocked off and guarded....if anybody knows YellaHeep, maybe he has a different top secret quarry. The one I went to is very near the speedway.

 

[Go Go]

As far as waterproofing goes, I remember reading a great article about waterproofing an XJ in I think Peterson's off road. Can't find it, think my wife threw it out. It was back when the 97's just came out so probably 1997. Anyway they took 2 xj's and waterproofed them for delivering food and medicine in South america. Snorkels, silicone, extended breathers, etc. And also ripped out the carpet and put bilge pumps under the front seats. I think they even had an exhaust snorkel. Basically they could drive up to their necks if needed. So if you can find that article it was a pretty good write up of how to waterproof your cherokee.

 

[BlackJax]

Florida has some diverse terrain, Postal. You've gotta get around more!


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