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Date:         13 Dec 1995 12:37:36 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Harvey Chao" <Harvey_Chao@smtp.svl.trw.com>
Subject:      Re: Deep Water Driving

Electronic Mail Correspondence Date: 12/13/95 Time: 12:36 PM Subject: RE>Deep Water Driving Ref:

>As I drove through this lake the fog lamps went dark because they were under water.

>The van drove right through with no problem. Obviously, as least part of the >motor was under water, though obviously not the distributor, or I would have >stalled. Anyway, ever since driving through this thing the van no longer >idles so perfectly as it has before and sometimes stalls when bone cold on a >cold day after starting it. I even have to hit the pedal some times to get >it to start.

=================== Derek -

A couple of thoughts come to mind after reading the above (I don't know how long ago this happened but I would give serious and immediate attention to the following):

1) You risk sucking water into the engine when going through water that deep - if you do and get a cylinder full of incompressible water with a running engine you can really break stuff in you engine big time - both internal and related to the air flow box, throttle valve assembly, idle stabilizer valve, etc. (looks like this didn't happen to you on this occasion but ---).

2) Many differentials, transmissions, and or transaxels have vents on top -if water gets into the unit via the vent or by seeping in some other way - - - you may want to drain and refill your gearboxes

3) I don't know how submergible and watertight CV boots are to keep water out of your CV joints when immersed this way - - - you may want to consider inspecting and re-greasing your CV joints.

4) Lots of stuff attached to the bottom, sides and top of your engine may have a rubber boot to keep incidental water out, but not adequate to keep things dry from immersion. I would suggest a through examination, disassembly, clean, dry and reassemble of all items, connections, etc. that were immersed. This also includes steering racks and shift linkages and of course, your fog lamp assemblies( wiring, housing, connectors, lenses, reflectors).

Don't' mean to "rain on your parade" but if any of these occurred, and you don't catch them soon (excepting #1, and you'd have known about that immediately!)you could be in for some expensive repair work and or potential break downs ( and naturally, in accordance with the appropriate corollary to Murphy's Law, at the most inconvenient time and place). Maybe you are just "living right"!! :-)


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