phillyd2
Senior Member
slow is smart for puddles like in your picture but would do more harm than good in deeper water if you don't go fast enough to create a bow wave.
Fording water
- Thread starter Friedom
- Start date
slow is smart for puddles like in your picture but would do more harm than good in deeper water if you don't go fast enough to create a bow wave.
Good point, but then he also shouldn't be complaining about a bent license plate that can be bent back on his rugged vehicle, after all, its not a Camry.
This.
After damaging my own vehicles playing in water, and working on flooded/ water damaged vehicles in my consumer car repair days, I avoid water that's deeper than hub deep, if possible.
I recall a new (owner had it for a couple days) 4wd that came in which had been driven into a "puddle". The puddle was about 4' deep, and the new 4wd became stuck, and basically flooded the vehicle to the top of the dash.
The vehicle was almost totaled, but the repair bill came in at about 35k, on a 37k value, so it was repaired.
If it's not possible to avoid water, I'd make some modifications to make more sensitive components a little more water resistant.
Blasting through water/mud puddles at higher speeds might seem fun, but it's almost guaranteed that water/mud mix will get past various oil/grease seals. Then the part starts to quickly wear out. If that water/mud blast hits electrical connectors, water will often make it's way into the connector, where the contacts/wires start to corrode. Eventually you'll have continuity problems in those wires/connections.
It doesn't matter if it's a Toyota, Jeep, Ford, Chevy, or whatever.
Poor choices, can have poor outcomes.
Good luck.
Wow, guys, I don't even know where to start. I was going to try to quote, but I'd have to have two pages of posts on here, and I really haven't actually figured out how to quote more than one post in the same response. :smh:
With that said. Yes, it's true, we probably shouldn't hit water too hard. The puddle I'm talking about in this case was abut 20' long (less than car and a half) and not more than a foot deep. Thing is, it wasn't even an option to bomb through it since there was a solid foot of ground to climb once you were out of the water. Not something to be rushed, and not nearly as exciting as the pictures you guys posted.
It is true that it's not a big deal to bend the plate back. Since I've seen it on two TE 4runners, though, I thought it worth sharing that I'm finding evidence of some serious hydraulic pressure shooting out the nose. As rugged and capable as these are, they've also got cheap plastic parts too.
The Premium Edition was a '14 model with the new look, so I'm not so sure it's true that they updated it.
I will respect my speed in water more in general now, given all the things you guys have said. And I guess I should check the breather mod info out. Been wondering what that was about - I guess the hose isn't high enough and can suck fluid in?
Also took it to the car wash and got deep into cleaning today. Hosed down the engine bay so it would stop smelling like swamp when I check the oil.. I actually asked my service rep at Toyota about having the engine bay cleaned and he told me I could do the same thing they do. Open the hood and spray it down. When I saw the "engine cleaner" setting at the car wash, I knew the stars had aligned. All started and ran fine after all that, :car:
Sorry, I didn't have the gopro mounted. But now that I know where the jet nozzle is, I probably won't be mounting in the lower location anymore..
Seriously, thanks for all the replies. I'm hoping to get the wisdom from the guys who are "old" BEFORE I get so myself. Maybe I should trade it in for a camry.. :lalala:
With that said. Yes, it's true, we probably shouldn't hit water too hard. The puddle I'm talking about in this case was abut 20' long (less than car and a half) and not more than a foot deep. Thing is, it wasn't even an option to bomb through it since there was a solid foot of ground to climb once you were out of the water. Not something to be rushed, and not nearly as exciting as the pictures you guys posted.
It is true that it's not a big deal to bend the plate back. Since I've seen it on two TE 4runners, though, I thought it worth sharing that I'm finding evidence of some serious hydraulic pressure shooting out the nose. As rugged and capable as these are, they've also got cheap plastic parts too.
The Premium Edition was a '14 model with the new look, so I'm not so sure it's true that they updated it.
I will respect my speed in water more in general now, given all the things you guys have said. And I guess I should check the breather mod info out. Been wondering what that was about - I guess the hose isn't high enough and can suck fluid in?
Also took it to the car wash and got deep into cleaning today. Hosed down the engine bay so it would stop smelling like swamp when I check the oil.. I actually asked my service rep at Toyota about having the engine bay cleaned and he told me I could do the same thing they do. Open the hood and spray it down. When I saw the "engine cleaner" setting at the car wash, I knew the stars had aligned. All started and ran fine after all that, :car:
Sorry, I didn't have the gopro mounted. But now that I know where the jet nozzle is, I probably won't be mounting in the lower location anymore..
Seriously, thanks for all the replies. I'm hoping to get the wisdom from the guys who are "old" BEFORE I get so myself. Maybe I should trade it in for a camry.. :lalala:
How did 2-3' of water come up over the hood? I feel like my giant hood is at least 7' tall the way it blocks the view of in front! I can't leave anything in the garage because the missus can't see anything on the ground when she's pulling in. And her 4r isn't lifted! :shrug:
adam2562
New member
when you ford 2-3ft of water at speed water is gonna come up over the hood since you'll be creating a splash/wave :nod:
I actually went out and looked at my hood to figure out how close 3' of water would come.
You sir, are braver than I. Nice '11 TE lifted KDSS setup, btw. Think the diff drop was necessary?
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Just an FYI, a service writer is usually nothing more than a salesman. They may not know much of anything about cars. Spraying an engine compartment with high pressure water, is bad advice.
Back in my car repair days (former ASE Master Tech) I had a few cars come in with weird electrical gremlins. Never been off-road, never flooded, and their engine compartments were spotless.
In the course of troubleshooting, I found several corroded electrical connectors in the engine compartment. When I questioned the Owners, they said they periodically used the car wash wands to clean their engines.
The high pressure spray gets past the electrical connector seals, and then the corrosion starts. It's only a matter of time until electrical problems show up.
If you absolutely must wash an engine compartment, start with a cold engine, use only very low pressure like from a garden hose with no nozzle, and soap and a brush, then rinse with low pressure. Then start the engine and go for a long drive on the Highway to dry it out.
Orc
New member
Cars are more of a consumer product and yeah it's probably not smart to drive a $35,000 + car into some unknown deep water for fun.
When you push the limits they sometimes push back!
Canazes9
New member
The breather mod isn't (primarily) about the low breather on the electronic actuator for the locker. All Toyota 4Runners whether equipped with a locker or not have a one way valve instead of a breather on top of the rear diff. The one way valve allows hot gases to escape as the diff gets hot in normal day to day operation and prevents water from getting sucked into the diff even if submerged.
Problem is, a lot of people have water in their rear diff fluid after dunking their rear diff and sometimes even when the rear diff wasn't submerged and only had water come a little way on the pumpkin. The reality is the one way valve almost never fails - it works as intended. The problem occurs when a hot rear diff is dropped into cool water causing a sudden temp change. The one way valve holds and a strong vacuum is created as the hot gases cool and pressure drops in the pumpkin. Water is sucked into the rear diff through the seals. The pumpkin/one way valve or even the seals don't have to be completely submerged to allow this to happen.
It doesn't happen every time. Often just a little water gets in, but eventually the fluid is degraded and the lack of proper lubrication starts allowing things to get torn up. If you keep playing in water you WILL eventually get it in the rear diff and if you don't get the fluid changed relatively quickly you will start tearing stuff up.
This is the only place Toyota currently uses this one way valve - the front diff, transfer case and transmission all use 2-way breathers run high on the fire wall. While you are running a higher breather for the rear diff it only makes sense to tie in the breather for the locker actuator to keep it out of the water.
You don't have to take my word for it - it takes just a few minutes. Wait till the 4Runner has cooled down from any recent driving and unscrew the one way valve from the top of the pumpkin. You won't have any trouble hearing the diff sucking air once you get the breather loose....
There are numerous threads on this forum about the subject, a search should turn up a lot of reading.
Regards,
David
So there's just a perpetual vacuum in the rear diff? Genius design. Thanks for the informative and thorough briefing. I'll do some searching on how to do it right. And I suppose I should check my fluid now. Is it like the old chevy was, open the fill hole, stick your pinkie in and hope it doesn't come out milky? :shocked:
Saker
Senior Member
Here is some reading material and other pertinent info:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/150158-rear-diff-breather-mod-complete.html#post1721720
