water crossing difficulties.. and electronic thermo fan qs

[drifta]

hey people,

I seem to be having a recurring problem, when I do water crossings, afterwards my engine bay is TRASHED, and the engine seems to be acting up a bit..

for example the other day after going through some water I put the car in neutral to test it and it was ilding okay until I stomped on the gas pedal.. then engine then stalled and I had to crank it over a fair few times to get it to go again.. it was still pretty weak and would stall if i put my foot down quickly after that for about 5 minutes.. after about 5 mintues it seemed to be okay again..


I checked under the hood - man it was TRASHED under there! mud everywhere! but then i looked in the air-filter area and there was no water in the box where the air filter is.. so thats a good thing!!

I'm considering doing the electronic thermo fan thing, because i do a bit of water crossings from time to time and it seems to paint my engine bay with mud every time!

but then I was thinking if i bought an electronic thermo fan and did a water crossing, wouldnt the water get in the electronics of the fan and cause it to fail?..

how do the electronic ones mount up, how much do they cost etc?

Cheers

Paul

[RockyF75]

if your car is petrol, idle could be acting up just from water in the dizzy. this gave me a fright oneday when i went through sum mud in my old 2wd ute, same as u described, when u gas it, it dies, mine wasn't even idleing ok. But after a while, the electronics dries out and she's right.
Dont have that problem nemore, my rocky's diesel ... there's probly sum way you can wrap up the dizzy and minimize the amout of mud and water getting in there. Also, tie a small tarp on the front of your car, accross the bullbar if u have one, this will also minimize the amount of mud/water in your entire engine bay.

[murcod]

The electric thermos don't have any electronics in them- they are just an electric motor driving a fan blade. Water shouldn't worry them at all. I've crossed a couple of creeks with mine and never had a problem.

Mind you, I try and keep my creek crossings to a sensible water level. You're asking for trouble if you try driving through water that's too deep.

[RobF300]

I just had a water problem myself...
Had me a bit worried...

When revving engine, would fart and cough till 2500rpm, after that was smooth or when slow revving...

Pulled out sparky leads and noticed water in #2 (just degreased engine and hosed the hell outta it) took it out and dries threw a bitta chux whipe down there on my extension bar and prob was fixed...

A thermo fan with a switch for crossing water would be a good idea tho

[slhap]

Also, tie a small tarp on the front of your car, accross the bullbar if u have one, this will also minimize the amount of mud/water in your entire engine bay.

what the F is a tarp?

[murcod]

Tarp - sheet of waterproof plastic

[RobF300]

Maybe you could rig up a circuit, water sensing device, that automatically switches your thermofan off once submerged to a certain depth... A little bit of thinking and work but sure it could be done... Might look at this on mine once i get the thermo fan in...

[Chris F20 maniac]

ive had water crossing troubles lately as well!

i managed to kill my altenator. i want to put in a new one but the next time i do a deep bog hole the same thing is gona happen.

is there any way i can water proof my altenator? cause it doesnt really like water very much.

or is there a place out there that could marinise them or something?

[Dangerous Dave]

Also, tie a small tarp on the front of your car, accross the bullbar if u have one, this will also minimize the amount of mud/water in your entire engine bay.

what the F is a tarp?

These are Tarps. Please tell me you have Tarps in Sweden! Just messing with ya!

[Tzi]

ok.... first question is... how deep was the water??
second question... how did you start your car with the exhaust under water??

when I first got my car, I thought I would have some fun and drive through a rather large puddle on the side of the road.. at speed
2 weeks later, my engine had "almost" started using #3 cyl again
... water got down into the spark plug hole...


anyway... after sorting out that problem, I just now know, not to go so fast through water, and try not to get it on top of the engine where it can go into the spark plugs...

here's a pic for your enjoyment...
Remember... always CHECK that the green light is ON.. before entering the water. (I'd just done a u-turn, and had it in 2wd)

[Chris F20 maniac]

ok i know the bit about using tarps, but i really cant be stuffed getting out of the car to tie a tarp over the front of my car.

i did actually stall that car part the way through the bog hole and quickly managed to get it started again (with the exauust under water).

i think this stopping of the car in the water is what allowed to enter into the altenator.

[SimplyPV]

you can start ur engine with the exhaust under water provided that your exhuast is not in a downward angle towards the engine. reason for this is so that gasses doesnt leave the pipe, thus it keeps water forced out of the pipe and it also prevents water from running down to the engine. this also allows the engine to suck in a little bit of the exhaust that is sitting there in the pipe on that intial startup.

as for the thermo fan, just use an on/off switch. works very well for me and havent had any problems in that area. hit some water, turn off the fan and splash around abit, once i get out of the water, i jus turn the fan on and away i go.

only real problem you will have mech. wise would be the atlernator due to the internal fan, which tends to suck in water and mud rather easily. only way to correct this is to replace it with an external fan, which would fare a better job and provide better results. only way to reduce this problem to the maxium effect is to mount the alternator higher up on the engine so you can go in a little deeper. (really, only thing that should limit your wather depth is your intake point (and dizzy on gasoline engines). another problem you will face in relation to water crossings is the dizzy on gasoline engines only. there are ways to seal it up and help prevent water from getting inside but the only true way to fix this problem is to enclose it in some kind of water proof encasing. there are some made for toyodas, chevy, ford, and jeep. so do some hunting around and maybe one can be homemade for the feroza?

with water crossings, be sure to check all your seals on a regular basis, as well as to research tips on waterproofing things more.

[shezzbeav]

What is a 'dizzy' is it a distrutor?? whatever u spell it.. if any of u got a pic of a 'dizzy' mite help me get the bigger pic

Thanks

[SimplyPV]

yes, dizzy is short/slang for the distrubitor....

[flynn]

similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago i dropped my car into a creek and half way through recovery it stoped i managed to start it again but soon after it died again, on the third go it started and we cranked the idle right up and it spat out a lot of smoke for 10mins or so.
on the way home the glow plug light turned on for ages. and ever since my car wont start unless i use start ur bastard spray, and then it would puff out alot more smoke and struggle to start.

i spoke to my mecho and he said it was the electrics not the glow plugs.
i would get it fixed but no money. anyone else have any ideas???

cheers flynn