What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Wired up some whip lights and took a few pics with most of the lights on.

 

I had a Polaris Rzr side by side and they had a terrible reputation for eating dust and killing engines. Most owners (and dealers) put a hose from the intake to a second air filter in the forward compartment to keep dust out. I put a stack on mine rising between the seats, and it seemed to work fine. I put a lot of miles on it and sold it running well. So cleaner air may be worth the expense and effort.

And besides, they really do look great.

 

Changed oil, air filter, cabin air filter, and, for first time ever, did tire rotation bringing the spare into the mix

 

@ 0:53

Yes.



https://youtu.be/GMb1D83tqic

 

My truck has 240k miles with about 40k of that with the snorkel.

Only thing I noticed after snorkeling is an increase in MPG and a marked decrease in air filter change frequency.

It just stays clean man no matter what I do.

I've also driven in torrential downpours, the kind where you can have fresh rain-x and your windshield wipers on full blast and it's still doesn't help in the slightest and the filter stayed bone dry even with the inlet facing forward.

Also see the video I posted above, would have been a hydrolocker for sure, if not there then later in the trip where I got stuck about that deep, water was definitely over the factory intake location.

 

Any increase in MPG makes it seem more attractive. What do you figure the change was?

 

By raising the intake up and into the cleaner air stream, putting it next to the windshield which creates positive pressure, as well as having the inlet facing forward, all combined with my more direct custom intake piping, I get a little bit of a ram air effect. That's what increases the volumetric efficiency of the engine by decreasing the amount of vacuum draw needed to fill the cylinders and increasing air fuel mixture.

Using a "scan gauge" I've actually seen as much as 3 PSI of positive manifold pressure at 60mph with the throttle plate closed.

My increase in MPG was roughly .5mpg.

Noticeable and repeatable, but certainly not groundbreaking.

 

Still, it accumulates over time. That's a significant fuel cost savings if it repeats with other trucks.

What does a snorkle cost?

 

Uh... Too much.

I got mine (ARB Safari Snorkel) as part of a group buy through here about two years or ao ago and it was just a little under $500 but then you got to buy a 2 1/4 hole saw and mandrel which puts it over.

 

In the words of KidWithaTaco...
Lame

I think you're in the incorrect section of TW, you want to be in the section below the stickies.

 

Oh, now it makes perfect sense, never mind...

 

That would be ideal, there's been a few times it wouldn't shift in/out of 4lo without some rocking.

But really they already made all the parts, the connections are all there and they already skipped the corrosion protection and good clear coat.

 

Took a stroll on Cleghorn Ridge trail (Southern California) with the family and the pup.

And the little man wanted to pose in front of the truck like a badass.

 

I won't be doing anything like this, those days are over for me lol

My only concern with that cowel snorkel is if water from the windshield could get sucked in during rain

 

I'm sure some can, obviously you'd want to check your air filter to verify, that said however, I'm sure some water still makes it in the factory air box given the air intake is in the front right wheel well. (I know for a fact a lot of water can make it into your intake box if you remove your splash guards, which is one of the reasons why I now have a snorkel) Beyond that it takes a pretty reasonable amount of water to actually hydrolock an engine, at wide open throttle you can probably get away with putting your average garden hose in the intake (not that I am in the slightest suggesting you try) and it would be able to atomize it turn it into steam (which would actually help clean the top end of your pistons and valves) and be expelled safely without causing a hydro lock condition. Short of actually submerging your intake bore diameter entirely you'll be fine.

So in short, if you can breathe your engine can breathe.

 

I keep thinking of the URD CAI and realizing that theirs is pretty much outside of the truck and subkect to plenty of water so this one actually bwing covered is probably better. I think I'll keep this Cowell snorkel in my back pocket and do some more research. It's very interesting though. Seems like it's a positive mod all around. Cleaner/colder air and more protected. Honestly if I hadn't cleaned my MAF and TB this weekend I would have never pulled that intake tube out the engine bay and seen how dirty it was. That thing gets absolutely disgusting from pulling under the wheel well. You would think Toyota would have a better spot for it. (Like under the cowel)

 

Which again makes me question why they didn't do so.

Only answers I can come up with is the blend door intake for the A/C is also there and either they didn't want the two competing for air, they didn't want the noise of the intake reaching into the cabin so directly, they didn't want gas or combustion fumes from the open cylinder valves to leak into the cabin via the cowl and HVAC intake when the engine was off, or they were concerned about some other potential issue, such as not enough volume to draw from (remember your 4.0 liter displacement engine draws 4 liters of air 4 times a second at idle and the cowl isn't precisely a large area and while not sealed there's certainly some resistance added.)

Those reasonings (and the fact that I think snorkels look cool as hell) is what lead me to getting an actual snorkel instead of doing cowl induction.

The ARB snorkel inlet is designed in such a way that it helps collect and drain water out of the inlet before the air reaches the filter, a cowl intake does not have that.

 

my guess would be that its competing for air with the A/C. You also bring a good point about the fumes leaking back into the cabin. I wonder how much, if any, leak back into the cabin.

 

That I can't tell you, but I'm sure the cowl induction guys could answer that, and my real world guess is probably not enough to notice especially if you have a good cabin air filter, but playing devil's avocado, Toyota did take the time money and development to include an additional charcoal post filter in the stock air box to absorb and disperse said fumes. If you still have yours installed and intend to try out the cowl induction I strongly suggest you leave it installed, but it is a fairly common mod to rip it out of the airbox as it does become restrictive and it's effectiveness is reduced with age.

 

This mod should pull cleaner air than where the intake was previously. It's pulling air from where the HVAC is which I'm assuming is cleaner than the wheel well. I can't confirm it for sure as I've not compared air filters but it makes sense in my head.