Thread: My Discovery is ruining my fun.

But I discovered that others we’re having fun and excitement that I was missing out on.

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Originally Posted by Russrobe

....went above the 700mm wading capability LR claim it's capable of. TBH i think it's capable of 900mm without a snorkel, .....

I think the 700mm is based on the vehicle being stationary in the water without compromising the air intake. 900mm with a bow wave to provide the hollow, yes, but if for any reason you fail to proceed.... well, time to talk to the bank.

Did I mention the is the best thread in a long time! Great stories Sean and Matti!

Whatever happened to the idea of throwing a tarp across the front grille, has it gone out of Offroader's fashion?

Originally Posted by 4bee

Whatever happened to the idea of throwing a tarp across the front grille, has it gone out of Offroader's fashion?

Agreed, but everyone thinks diesels are submarines back when most people had petrol motors it would have been the 1st thing to do!

Curious that.

A low level air intake is still a low level air intake & it doesn't matter what fuels the engine behind it.

As the man said it could be time to talk to one's bank.

Idea behind the tarp being pointless is those watertight seals you have under the bonnet, and the way the bonnet itself is designed to disperse water during a crossing (there's tracks running inside). It's supposed to create an air pocket, which is enough to prevent a wall of water instantly flooding the engine bay.

I read enough a couple of years ago to decide it wasn't worth worrying about. With both systems in place, hardly any water has got past the belt for me. I had a squeaky belt after a crossing once, which went away after a minute or two.

That's great if it works ok consistently for you, no really, just pray that it wasn't designed by the same engineer that designed the top Rad Hose protection, the 'lifting Dash' & probably more little doosies that can jump up & bite your bum..

A $10 blue tarp is very cheap insurance though.

Obviously we all know the main reason for the tarp is to help minimise water entering the engine bay through the grill/radiator so as to keep the relative water level down in the in the engine bay helping to the keep electrics dry, reduce the chance of the cooling fan ending up in your radiator and if you don't have snorkel, hopefully keep the water level below the air intake. However, on the more modern land rovers there are a couple of design features that reduce the need for it:

• Clam shell bonnet design helps disperse water washing over the bonnet outside of the engine bay
• Cooling fans have all fins joined by outer ring to stop them breaking off or being pull forward into the radiator
• fans are viscous coupled / electrically operated so are easily slowed/stopped by water resistance (enter water slowly)
• The rubber seals as previously mentioned

In the case of the D3/4, the air intake is the side grill behind the drivers side front wheel arch (for diesels, V8 uses both) so, a tarp is going to do nothing to help control water level to that. The only thing that will assist in deep water (without a snorkel) is decent forward momentum to ensure the bow wave creates the hollow at the intake. The other reasons for the tarp are somewhat mitigated by design.

No doubt that a tarp would give a bit more peace of mind, but to imply that not putting one on is inviting disaster is really over dramatising the risk. Needless to say, when wading to the specified wading depth a tarp is absolutely not required.

In the case above I don't think he would have attempted it had he known the depth, tarp or not. He mentioned the circumstances that led to him making the crossing.