Water sealing a petrol 4WD

[grazza]

I am hoping this thread will help me and others with making a petrol 4WD more water friendly. Dont flame me to buy a diesel!

As yet I have not had any problems with the few creek crossings I have done but I am planning to do more adventurous trips in future.

What I have heard so far:
Seal up the alternator with RTV, drop it in a bucket of water, blow in the breather, plug any leaks (diesels have alternators too right? is this a non-issue?)
RTV the plug ends to the head
Seal up the dizzie cover
Move the ECU/coil packs higher up?
Is RTV the right stuff?

Perhaps the more experienced/competition guys can help?

(This may help owners of the newer, high tech, mega-wired diesels too...)

[Daisy]

run an onboard air system and pressurise the distributor as well as bellhousing .

TOM

[grazza]

thanks

Why the bellhousing?

[Daisy]

do a 'search for hottiemonster and starter motor'

mud/water in bellhousings = say goodbye to starter motor and the clutch if its not sealed properly and water/mud goes in.

Presurising it enalbes you to keep tabs on it and make sure that nothing gets in.

[grazza]

my starter motor is pretty high up in the V8 but I will have a good look at the bellhousing.
While I have not done a lot of water crossings I do like to play in the mud a lot - I am sure quite a few other people who have fun in the 4wd parks had not thought of this...

[ToNkA]

do a 'search for hottiemonster and starter motor'

And just for fun, do a search on 'hottiemonster and lifting a mav'.

[Big Red Toy]

Well i'm the 'expert' in this field.
Dizzys: Silicon & Rubber gloves combined with a heap of cable ties
Pressurising would also work. A simple way is to buy a set of air horns and use the compressor of it and plumb a small fitting into the top of it.
rubber gloves are good as they can withstand a bit of heat and a easy to stretch over dizzy. Silicon's a bitch to get off thou

Alternator: Move it high! or buy one of those so called water proof ones

Coil packs: can be places in water proof boxes and glans for cables & lead.

Leads: Buy the top gun 10mm leads as they have a huge rubber boot on em. i think they are the yellow ones

Hope this helps, as i know i have gone through hell trying to keep water out of the electrics

[Big Red Toy]

also with mud etc getting into started motors, check to make sure that the rubber boot over the clutch arm is in good condition or is there as i didn't have one and i have gone through 2 starters.
2 x Starter $440
1 x rubber boot from nissan $16.50
i only relised when i looked at a mates car and saw that i was meant to have a rubber boot in place

[grazza]

thanks for that
this forum's pretty good eh! (Note the Rodeo owner...)

would you seal up the spark plug boots to the head?

cant see me being able to move the alternator

would you recommend spraying the engine with something prior to a trip, like fisholene, lanolin or something?

what about the situation where you come across water that was unexpected - is there anything which can be done before you venture in, like plastic bags around stuff, a tarp over the front, I mean things that you could do on-the-spot because you werent expecting/had not planned to do a crossing...

[Rainbow Warrior]

Get a large sheet of cardboard and fold yourself up a splash plate underneath between the radiatior and engine, then take it to a sheetmetal place and get it made.

Put ignition module and coil in a Tupperware box.

Good quality leads, replaced annually.

High energy coil system if you don't have one.

Change alternator to common Bosch type and buy a spare.

Heatshrink over the boots to the plugs.

[bad_religion_au]

[quote="Big Red Toy"]Well i'm the 'expert' in this field.
Dizzys: Silicon & Rubber gloves combined with a heap of cable ties
Pressurising would also work. A simple way is to buy a set of air horns and use the compressor of it and plumb a small fitting into the top of it.
rubber gloves are good as they can withstand a bit of heat and a easy to stretch over dizzy. Silicon's a bitch to get off thou


how do you get the leads to the dizzy? chop holes in it?

and rubber gloves like you wash the dishes in, or latex ones, that they use for rectal probes etc...

[ozy1]

i had a petrol MQ, i used, a rubber glove over the dizzy cap, cut tiny holes in it, puched leads thriough, cable tied, the head shrinked them on, also ran garden hose the entire length of the leads, heat shrinked at either end, can tate a pic of the leads 2morrow, still havem sittin n the shed,