Waterproofing Discovery and Defender TDi 300

Keep up the good work, and pass it on to the crew.

Not entirely sure on ECUness of them both, but if it exists it could do with being moved with an extension kit.

Snorkel is a good place to start, but make sure its fitted properly or it kinda defeats the point.

Wading plugs, plus axle breathers could do with being extended up to snorkel top.

Reading that back, im not sure of the best way to extend the wading plugs to the top of the snorkel.. Might have trouble screwing them in :)

Hi Mark,

Comment passed onto the crew! Cheers.

Many thanks. I definately know that the defender is ECU-less not sure about the disco. Any suggestions on types of snorkels etc? Is there an easy way to check whether the snorkel is air / water tight?

Cheers David

This was asked by me a while back, and there was a variety of answers!

One of them was to disconnect it from air box and fill it with water to check its water tight, on the theory that if none can get out, none can get in!

I had a safari one on my old 90, which ended up on its roof in a ditch. The Safari one is made from plastic, and it survived very well indeed.

The one i have at the moment is made of steel (Mantec?), and i dont think it will survive as well!

The Safari one is simple to fit, and uses the current wing intake. Just use lots and lots and lots of silicone!

I've got a "safari" snorkel on mine, it's all one-piece so less chance of leaking joints. As for testing it, Steve Taylor recently suggested that you put a manometer (vacuum meter) onto the intake (sealed of course) then crank the engine by hand (might be hard with a diesel though!) to see if it can hold a vacuum.

Thanks for the suggestions. Are there any other bits that a very vunerable to being soggy that I need to worry about?

You could get some of the Wooden Seats that the army boys use, but thats taking it a bit to far!!

Drivers!!

On a 300TDi as far as I can remember, if it's not got an ECU (under the seat I think) then it's fine, as long as the breathers to the axles and gearboxes are clear and high up. The other electrics can stand being doused in water as 12v electrics don't really mind being immersed, however once wet, corrosion can start. Not much you can do about that other than trying to waterproof every plug!

I imagine that if I did that I might well end up face down in the river. Especially after hoofing it up the "smooth" M5 on Blues!

I'll check the ECU situation

What about the exhaust. Although I'm hoping they won't stall the engine and things, is there any merit in raising the exaust height? Can the vehicle be restarted if the worst comes to the worst?

Well, while its running there is enough pressure coming out of the exhaust for it not to get in.

If a 300tdi stalls due to water ingerss, then the exhaust filling up is the least of your worries!

If it stalls due to driver, then i would imagine that it would start to fill up, but not a lot as there is not really anywhere for the air in the exhaust to go that the water would displace. Could be wrong of course :)

If it was full of water, there should be enough throughput from the engine to push most of it out, and the rest would evaporate when it got hot.

There is the distinct possibility that what ive just said is complete bollocks mind....

Hard to fill it up as it's sealed at one end by a honking great big pump! Can't remember off-hand where the first upwards bend is but I doubt the water could get further than that. Not sure if it would restrict the engine enough to stop it starting, but I wouldn't have thought so.