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"!! :-)