Drowned my Cherokee!

[heavyequipment]

Coming home on the 4th of July to our desert home about 40 mi NW of Tucson, our usual route was blocked by an arroyo running 3' deep and 30' wide. We waited awhile to see if the water was going down or rising. After an hour or so we determined it was rising; about then my grandson showed up in his (my old) 89 Cherokee. I decided with 2 Jeeps we could safely try the "back way." We went around the pavement roads to a route I used to use going to work. I hadn't used it for several years. We came to a flowing arroyo and started in. I had travelled this use many times before, but a deep channel had formed and I drove into it without taking my usual precautions. The engine quit with the water half way up to the door handles. We hooked a tow strap up and my grandson pulled me backwards and went (walking) for help. I removed my spark plugs and pumped the water out by cranking the engine, put the plugs back in and got it running. When my grandson came back with a neighbor and his 4WD Ford pickup I had already put a tarp over the front of the Jeep. We ran a tow rope across the water and he pulled me through the deep place. Then I gave the tarp to my grandson and explained how to install it to keep water from entering the intake, thinking he would get our neighbor to pull him through, too. Well, he installed the tarp and drove right through! (As I should have done in the first place).

The point? The air intake is right behind the left headlight, so if the water flows high enough to get into the air filter box, you're dead in the water, so to speak. If you cover the grille and headlights with a tarp or whatever, you can ford some deep water for a short distance. Of course, it'll almost always be better to wait...

At home, we both checked all the oil boxes for water. I had to change engine oil, but everything else was OK on both Jeeps.

Words to the wise - don't trust what you think you "know" - prepare for the worst!

Chuck

 

[Rob Mayercik]

You didn't try to crank it before pulling the plugs, did you?

I saw someone do something similar to what you describe, but he tried to crank it before he was pulled out and I think it did something bad inside, because his engine grenaded 10 days later.

Good luck.

 

[kastein]

Sucks doesn't it...

I'm still running on my ticking time bomb from WF '12.

 

[CheapXJ]

block the front of your airbox off, seal it, add a 3" flange to the back of it (pointing right at the brake booster on the bottom half) then another 3" flange on the front side of the cowl, connect the two with a 3" hose and you just eliminated this problem, and can drive around all day long in water halfway up the hood (basically, as long as it doesn't hit the cowl vent right in front of the windshield, you'll never drown it)