Truck Sucked Water

Austin · 11-29-2005, 12:36 AM

I was out playing in the mud this past weekend. Got good'n'stuck a couple times.

Of course, when you get stuck going forward, you try reverse. Not a good idea in water, at least with big tires. The fender liners do a pretty good job of keeping water out of the fender wells when spinning the wheels forward, but the front part of the fender liners are open... so when you spin a 37" tire with big lugs in reverse, it fills the fender with water.

Then the air filter sucks it all up.

My truck started running crappy - wouldn't rev past about 2350. Felt more like a safe mode (or limp mode) than a clogged air filter, but I checked the filter anyway. Drenched. Dripping. The airbox was filled with muddy water. The MAF was wet, and there was water as far up into the intake tube as I could see.

Now, engines can take some water. Quite a few turbo people run water injection, as it helps to cool the charge. Big slugs of water, though, are a different story. It's easy to snap a con rod if you fill a cylinder with water, because water doesn't compress. I was lucky - didn't hydrolock the motor, and I don't think I caused any real damage. But it would have been easy to.

I really didn't even think about it - that's why you leave the stock airbox in the truck. Lesson learned.

Next mod: Snorkel. And better fender liners.

I ended up pulling the air filter out and driving about 30 miles sans filter to an autoparts store for a new filter. I won't be leaving home again without a spare air filter.

Will somebody take pics of the fender liners (front wheels) from an XE? jhromy tells me they seal completely on the front side. I'm interested in how far they go down, and also how they attach underneath.

Squid reminded me about a post on here probably a year ago, about some guy (Buddy?) who claimed his motor got hydrolocked after a small stream crossing. He was labeled a troll and run off... Can anybody find that thread?

me stuck

me trying to unstick myself

love1u0 pulling me out - notice the white steam/smoke from the exhaust

bestatchess · 11-29-2005, 12:44 AM

Engine destroyed by mud!?

bestatchess · 11-29-2005, 12:47 AM

What intake are you running?

Austin · 11-29-2005, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bestatchess

Engine destroyed by mud!?

Thanks, that was the thread.

I'm using the stock airbox, stock filter. My airbox was filled with water - up to the filter. The filter was dripping wet when I took it out. Unlike that guy, though, the stuff I was in was more water than mud... and I had a filter in there in the first place.

Even with the truck starved for air (with the soggy filter installed), I crept out of all the mud and parked the truck. Only then did I take the filter out. Also, the inside of my airbox and intake tube are still mostly black - not caked with muck like that guy's.

bestatchess · 11-29-2005, 12:56 AM

I think that guy probably pulled the filter after it got wet, but before he got out of the mud hole.

Yomama · 11-29-2005, 07:27 AM

I can't believe you were stuck in that pic.....not with the tires you got.

Here we all ripped on that guy that sucked in mud. I remember him......Now I feel bad

TOK · 11-29-2005, 07:36 AM

Here are some pics I just took of my XE fenderwell They aren't slotted or anything in the front or the area below the airbox. Hope this helps. The second picture is the area directly below the intake tube. The last pick is straight on facing the shock.

It's the least I could do for starting that other thread from hell.

bestatchess · 11-29-2005, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOK

Here are some pics I just took of my XE fenderwell They aren't slotted or anything in the front or the area below the airbox. Hope this helps. The second picture is the area directly below the intake tube. The last pick is straight on facing the shock.

It's the least I could do for starting that other thread from hell.

OK, good, now go find a deep mudhole, drive in, throw it in reverse, report back w/ air box & filter photos.

bestatchess · 11-29-2005, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yomama

I can't believe you were stuck in that pic.....not with the tires you got.

Here we all ripped on that guy that sucked in mud. I remember him......Now I feel bad

Big Foot was properly ripped. He removed his air filter while still in the mudhole, prior to sucking mud into the engine, and then lied about it.

Spranger · 11-29-2005, 08:47 AM

why are the XEs fenderwells different from the SE/LE?

Austin · 11-29-2005, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOK

Here are some pics I just took of my XE fenderwell They aren't slotted or anything in the front or the area below the airbox.

Thanks, that does help. If you get a chance, can you take another couple showing the bottom of the front part of the liner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yomama

I can't believe you were stuck in that pic.....not with the tires you got.

Yeah, it was very snotty out there. Even in 4wd with the diff locked on level ground, you could just sit and spin in that slick crap.

**Titan1080** · 11-29-2005, 01:04 PM

Here's some of my liner:

It appears that the liner is all one piece:

Here's where I thought a seam was but there's no gap here for water to flow through.

Here's where water can fly up, I'm not sure but it appears to flow into the fender rather than the engine compartment. This is near where the body? mounts to the frame.

Another possible spot for water to flow into.

Bottom of front part of liner. Hope these help, sorry to hear about that, but it looks as though you had fun before getting stuck.

Sammy Sandbag · 11-29-2005, 01:48 PM

Here's some picts of Quickwhip's truck. You can see the difference in the liners, the first is an SE and second a XE:

Austin · 11-29-2005, 02:10 PM

Thanks Titan1080 and Sammy. The XE liners definitely offer more coverage. Wonder why they put the crap liners on the SE and LE?

Titan1080 - I got stuck several times, as did everyone else, as we do every time we go play in the mud. That's all part of the fun.

On a bright note, I talked to Automotive Customizers this morning (that cool Nissan only place down in Florida), and they're releasing their Titan snorkel in a couple weeks. So, my problems are solved. Here's a pic of their prototype snorkel:

**chunko** · 11-29-2005, 02:17 PM

So it's official Austin, your titan "sucks"

Probably best that you just send your wheels, tires, lift, traction bars etc to me now.