Thread: is a snorkel necessary....

In my opinion YES, tdi's suffer when the air filter gets clogged by dust (personal experience), the cleaner (more air volume) air the better they run and more fuel efficient, you can get cheapies for about 300-400 bucks on ebay, Airflow brand, i was going to buy one for my car, but i like to make things myself so i'm going to make an mantec type one from exhaust tube. The Airflow would be fine for what you do and atleast its a new kit.

Originally Posted by HPLP

............................... Now ive been offered a new job over in wa and it will involve some remote/dusty road driving.

I was just wondering is a snorkel really necessary?........................
What do people think?

Hugh

Depends what some is. The Tdi has a large air filter, bigger than a Toyota or Nissan of a similiar age (well, bigger than my mates GU and my old 75 series Troopy). Unless you're going to spend a lot of time wading through bull dust (apart from the advice on this forum), I wouldn't bother.
For normal and even heavy duty work I reckon the factory unit is plenty good enough. What I used to do in extremely dusty country was carry a spare filter and swap it over at the end of the day. I'd put the 'dirty' filter in a heavy plastic bag and by the end of the next days drive the dust would have been shaken out of it. I'd then swap filters over again and so on.
I'd make sure all the air flow rubber and 'fluffer' valve(s) were in good nic.

Different story if deep water crossings are contemplated though.

Deano

mate i live in a dusty area of WA in the pilbra and would reccomend a snorkel, even when I havent been offroad its suprising how dirty the air filter gets.

Before I fitted a snorkel my Disco TDI airbox would end up with lots of sand etc sitting at the bottom. This was due to the stock air intake being located in the inner wing and all the crap flying off the front nearside wheel would end up in the airbox. I fitted a Safari snorkel 12 years ago and its been a good investment for sure.

It all depends on the type of driving you do. I would rate it only as 'necessary' if you plan on exceeding the manufacturer's maximum wading depth by a substantial amount. But if you are operating in very dusty conditions, especially on unsealed roads with a lot of traffic, I would rate it as 'advisable' rather than necessary (allows the filter service interval to be safely higher than would otherwise be the case - in some situations daily servicing should be done!).

In my view the majority of snorkels fitted to four wheel drives are not necessary or even advisable.

John

I have done a fair bit of driving in remote parts of WA. Creek/river crossiings are few and far between. Even with 50 mm of rain on the CSR/Gibb, our group of 4 vehicles (only one with a snorkel) managed to drive through everything without problems (except ignition issues on the petrol).

Unless you are driving in convoy with other vehicles on dusty roads, and even then, there is only an advantage if you fit a cyclonic pre-cleaner.

So - in short - not essential.

I will eventually be fitting a snorkel, but more for travel to places like victoria and tassie which have deep river crossings.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

In my view the majority of snorkels fitted to four wheel drives are not necessary or even advisable.

John

I agree, I think most are on as w#nk value, and supposed 'ram air' boosted performance.

I read a test recently, and the one's that flowed the most air were the old Donaldson pre-cleaner dust bowl type.

Seriously though, given that you are in Seymour, I imagine you will be doing some high country work. It is reassuring to get the intake as far away from the water level as you can.

If you are trying to save bucks, google around for home made snorkels. Not as pretty but just as effective.







P.S. The elephant escaped.