Folks with Snorkels... Quick question

2018 DCSB-OR

I have a Dobinson's snorkel on my truck.

Why cant I "choke" out my engine? I have had a few snorkels on vehicles in the past, mostly land rovers and previously when I cover up the inlet there was a noticeable reaction from the engine.

Yesterday while cleaning my truck I decided to cover up the inlet on my Tacoma and see what happened. Result: Nothing. No change in idle or stumble what so ever. My guess is air is getting in somewhere else. I live in Alaska and water crossings up here have become the norm. I want to make sure the intake is sealed up as best as it can be.

Thanks-

 

I don't think the "Head" of the snorkel makes and airtight seal where it interfaces with the tube that hugs the A pillar, that would be my first guess. Since it's at roughly the roof line I think you have bigger issues if you have water infiltration up there.

 

Hey. Show us some pictures if you get a chance. Always wanted to see Alaska

 

Yeah I'm going to look more into it tonight. The fact that it didn't stumble or gasp at all leads me to believe air is getting in somewhere. I just want the inlet to be the only point for air to get in.

 

Break out the caulk and the gun and have some fun

 

Its beautiful up here.

 

Maybe air is coming through the rain drain ports? Try taking off the head and covering.

 

I haven't tried this on my 04 but maybe I should...I've wondered since I installed it if it was completely sealed or not, it's hard to check the fittings up inside the fender. I did shine a really bright light through the airbox in the complete dark and looked to see if any light was leaking inside the wheel well but there wasn't any. The little drain outlets for rain water are small, I can't imagine those alone would allow enough air to get pulled in to keep the engine going but maybe it is enough at idle. Try covering again and rev the engine some and see if it sputters or stalls.

 

Just installed my Dobinson the other day. Noticed the same thing. RPM remained unaffected. There are small holes in the factory intake on the 4.0, I'm assuming to bleed any moisture that may find it's way in. I decided not to seal them and stay out of water more than headlight deep. Not sure about the 3.6 but I was surprised nothing happened.

 

WOW, that is some beautiful country. Absolutely breath taking photos. I'm not sure I would want to live there, but I would certainly love to visit Alaska. That's one place that has always been on my TO DO LIST.

 

1. There’s holes in the factory air intake box. They let water drain.

2. The snorkel head also has holes for rain to leave through.

If you wanna see the factory holes then open up
The intake box and look under the filter.

It’s gonna take a good bit of silicon to get the setup actually water tight.

 

Good to know. I'm going to take a look tonight. I don't want to stop water from leaving if needed, but I may look at fabbing up some sort of one way rubber boot valve to allow water to leave but prevent it from entering.

 

I would be interested in seeing what you come up with. I installed my snorkel to keep out road salt... but that valve would be cool “just in case”

 

I'm thinking something like this:

 

there will be holes in the factory air box... to have a complete seal, you'll need to take the box out and seal that up.

also good to have silicone or rtv sealant around the joints connecting the snorkel plumbing to the airbox.

if you wanted a complete seal, when you are sure the above is sealed, take the snorkel "hat" off and plug cover the top. it should bog down the engine...

here was me testing after i sealed up after the airflow install years ago, https://youtu.be/qA5GVcrDgHk

 

Fixed it. Sure enough, it was the one single drain hole in the air box. I put a machine screw in it and cover the inlet and it acted like an air starved vacuum and actually started collapsing the intake boot on the way to the throttle body. I call that sealed. Incredible how that one little 1/4” hole could let in that much air.