Snorkels and rain water entrance…

Does rain water really accumulate enough to create problems? The worst that could happen is that it accumulates in the air filter box at the bottom then evaporate over time…no?
And water would have to fill a lot of the tubing before getting to the air box.


Maybe put a one way valve at the air box or somewhere along the air flow path for water to escape but not let it in? Or a ball valve that can be manually open when it’s raining. And closed when water fording or offroading?

 

I had a snorkel on my Xterra for YEARS and never had water in the air box.

Now you get replies from people that read something somewhere online that says im full of crap. Or people that think a snorkel is dumb telling you to not get it because you'd be a poser.

I even had someone tell me that random assholes will throw cigarettes into the snorkel opening. That also never happened.

 

just install it, nothings gonna happen

 

Yeah…didn’t think so. Looking at the uptop snorkel bec I vas access to the body if I want to clean it out

 

Im not putting it on bec I want to water ford. I’m putting it on bec I took off my fender liner and the intake is right by the tire which could suck up more dust and dirt

 

Why would you take off the fender liner?

 

That's what your air filter is for. The snorkel is just to look cool in 99% of installations. You could replace your air filter every 5k miles for the next 240k miles before you equal the cost of the Uptop snorkel.

 

cutting the fenders, smashing the pinch welds and making space for my 35s. So I’m just leaving them off.

 

Let's see one filter a month for 3 years is $540, I paid /$480 for my snorkel 4 years ago and have only needed to change the filter twice since installation whereas it was getting clogged and saturated with water so I was changing it once a month before hand.

I have driven in a hurricane and when I stopped I checked the filter with my snorkel, bone dry.

 

Yea I always like when people like to tell you what you need and don’t when it’s your own money. Do you have to be hard core rock crawler to not be a poser? Both my Toyota’s catch hell neither are babied lots of mud and dust here but not a rock within a couple hundred miles.

 

It’s good to know the cost difference and how f something is really worth the effort. But, some may have the money to spend and want it for different reasons. Do me it’s mainly for avoiding debris from the lack of fender liner. And for the other reasons one get a snorkel

 

I'm just pointing out options, I don't care how people spend their money.

 

Sorry I didn’t mean for my post to sound like it was directed towards you. It was more of a general statement. Reminds me of my mother in law asking me why I bought another motorcycle did I need it. No but I wanted it lol

 

A casual rain isn’t really enough to cause any concern. If you look in your airbox you will probably find a few small holes at the lowest point to allow any possible water to drain right out.

You have more chances of hydro locking an engine with removed fender liners and hitting a puddle at speed than a snorkel+rain, which should actually add protection given you have in fact removed the liners.

Personally I prefer snorkels that allow the use of precleaners rather than the “salute” style.

 

Need is subjective to each of us individually. Also, I'll start by saying I'm not a fan of snorkels. That said was on a trail ride where a 2020 4runner with less than 10,000 miles hydro locked on a small puddle. As in, you could wash your hands in the air box, engine was toast It needed a new engine all done through the dealer. It's a terrible feeling being there and seeing it. After that incident it really got me thinking. As my truck continues to evolve and grow the removal of the fender liners was a must as larger tires need some massaging of the inner fender wall. Once you remove the fender liners you will see the intake on the passenger side. It's a wide open hole. So for some people the snorkel is needed really too only seal that intake hole. You could probably come up with alternatives like running piping into the cowl, but thats a ton of work. Since I really don't like the look of most snorkels I ended up with a snorkel made in Australia by In House Fab for the Hilux. I like it and it serves its purpose foe me.

As for the water in the snorkel. I had one issue once when we were coming back from a Utah trip driving through Georgia it was a freaking monsoon down pour, we were at about 75 to 80 mph for over 2 two hours straight. Once we hit the gas station I checked my filter and it was soaked. As in I needed a new filter. This could really be more of an issue for me as my snorkel design is way different.

 

I have the same hilux snorkel on my 2013. the two things that worked for me to insure any water coming into the intake was to make sure that the 2 or 3 small holes in the intake box are sealed with silicone (from the outside to make sure that no silicone will come loose and go into the engine), which a lot of people tend to forget about, and replace the top snorkel intake with a Donaldson CYCLONE top spin snorkel head. I live in the northeast and snow tends to form on the front of the snorkel head and even if you turn the snorkel head around, it doesn't (IMO) create enough airflow because the airflow is fighting the engine vacuum for air. BTW, great videos on Youtube. Your editing is very thorough.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate it. How are you getting the Donaldson to fit? Which one are you using? I can't find anything that works for my snorkel set up.
Pic for reference. Mine opening points the to the back of the truck not up.

 

Yours is a little different from mine since mine is on a 2nd gen and doesn't go all the way up like yours does. On yours, what is stopping anything from going down into the hole? This is my idea for yours:
You can trim the top of it about 6 inches, connect a 45 Degree bend like this with a silicon coupler:
https://www.plasticpipeshop.co.uk/3-Plain-45-Degree-PVC-Elbow_p_657.html

Then attach the donaldson this prefilter to another coupler:

$154 Donaldson H002437 Pre-Cleaner, Topspin

https://www.amazon.com/Donaldson-H002437-Pre-Cleaner-Topspin/dp/B015YR9YBY

Or, without trimming, you can add the 45 Degree elbow and attach it directly to your roof rack. You would need to disconnect your scene light on the passenger side front of your rack though.

 

Thank you for that.

 

I’m a new guy on the forum
Curious if anyone has taken their Factory TRD through the car wash? I haven’t ever tried it but it sure would be easier…