After reading this article from jalopnik about a Rubicon hydrolocking in what looks about 1.5 feet of water, It got me thinking that we may one day encounter a situation due to the flash flooding in both our city's and rural areas where we're going to have to get a bit wet. A foot? 2 feet? 2.5 feet? Brief water splashing onto the hood? How low would you go?
in my impreza? Ide go up over the wheels, my intake is up pretty high. In the tribeca, about the same, the intake is up high by the rad support.
Keep in mind that most Subaru H4 motors since 2002 have the "intake snorkus." The opening for this is on the top of the radiator support in the front grille area. The plastic triangle dealy. That is where your engine will draw its air from. There is also a reservoir on the passenger side, (people often remove this) that will collect water that enters the intake. There is a small hole in the bottom of it, so water can get IN to it as well as out of it. But it's a pinhole to allow water to seep back out if it enters the intake. You could probably wade through tire deep water no problem as long as you weren't in there long enough for that tiny hole to fill the reservoir high enough for the intake to start sucking it in.
Id have no problem going above the wheels intake is just under hood lvl. How ever I used to have a cai and this is the reason I got rid of it. I lived out in bfe and the one road to the hwy was flooded for a good 250-300 yards without thinking I started going through water was about half way up the tires not to high but the cai musta been in the water and I hydro locked the engine. Luckly caused no damage just needed to drain fluids a few times to get all the water out
One thing I would be careful of is with even moderate depth fording you can sometimes get a large splash of water over the hood as you enter the water. Since this is where the intake begins it might be possible to suck some water in. I bet the snorkus would offer some protection in this case if you weren't revving the engine much (suddenly missing mine...)
Agree'd IIRC in the air filter box there is a dime sized opening in front of the filter to drain water out. Any reservations about the door seals?
One thing to keep in mind, especially regarding the "flash flood" scenario. If there is any kind of current to the water it'll only take a few inches of moving water to carry your car off. If the water is that deep, you may be better off staying where you're at.
Also in the fender well, there is a reservoir, that's the one I was referring to. It has a pinhole (tiny, like a weep hole). Eitherway, the stock intake configuration has alot of safeguards against getting water in the engine. Also, your door seals wont hold for very long. That is likely going to be a depth issue, the deeper that seal is under the water, the more pressure the water is going to exert on the seals. Those seals were really only meant to keep atmospheric air pressure out (and thusly, noise), not sure they are going to keep water out for very long.
I can't believe I missed this thread until now! Time to start digging up old subaru-wheeling pics I've taken over the years. DISCLAIMER: All pics/video taken at the public, state-run Off-road park in Gilbert, MN. Except the last video and pic of the '95 impreza, which was taken on private property with the knowledge and permission of the owner. First off, watching that video. That was DEFINITELY not hydrolock. you can clearly hear the engine crank over, healthy as can be, after it stalls. There's definitely no water in the cylinders, but the engine won't start. This is most likely an electrical issue. Hydrolock has one of 2 outcomes. Either the engine speed was low, and the engine seizes, no starter can overcome the water in the cylinders, but pull the spark plugs and crank it over, replace the oil, and it'll run again. Or, high engine speed, cylinder fills with water, piston STOPS....broken rod. Reminds me of what I did to the Chuxwagon in 2005 up at the Gilbert offroad park: [YOUTUBE]6I3T6XTHKZ0[/YOUTUBE] Engine stalled as soon as I hit the water. It came home on a tow strap. But I took the distributer and crank angle sensor (optical on an EA82 Subaru) apart, cleaned it all out, and the car started right up. Zero money spent on the repair. You can't tell in the video, as my filter was already dirty, but it was 100% dry, with only a snorkus delete It all depends how you attack it. Blasting at it full-speed, you risk it splashing up into places it shouldn't be. But, a splash doesn't usually have the density required to hydrolock an engine. Like this: (There's actually a Jeep YJ behind there somewhere) But properly fording water, so you have a bow-wave, and a low point in the engine bay....pretty deep. Here you can see pretty well what I mean, although you can also see that I'm going a bit too fast, and that low point is under me....not the engine. Austin proved a few years ago that a GF impreza wagon, with slightly oversized (stock Outback-sized at the time) tires will float: The car was loaded with clothes and camping gear, and not a drop of that iron-red Gilbert mud got in the car. That ATV in the background was completely swamped in that same hole just a minute before: Although, if he hadn't had the roof-height snorkel, he would have had an issue with his entry-speed: Video (I was the cameraman. Sorry....I sound like an idiot ): http://ratty2austin.smugmug.com/Video-Clips/Video-Clips/5115350_NULeC#810410999_7F9u9-A-LB Here's "a" pretty stock '95 impreza Lx dipping it's headlights under the surface of the water at a local mud hole: [YOUTUBE]te-wSnFSyzE[/YOUTUBE] water line from that: open the hood:
My previous car had a similar intake to the impreza (cold air, right above the grill, with a section for water to drop into). I drove slowly through a flooded area that had water flowing over the entire hood. Nothing bad happened. Longer than 10 seconds probably would have caused a problem.
