Thread: Is sealing up the joints in the stock air intake on a Puma a bad move?

Sealing up the joints is never a bad move. Water always finds a path. However your thoughts are flawed in that even on full acceleration the inlet pressure pre turbo is always at or around atmospheric, possibly slightly less. if the inlet is covered with water it will course the obstruction that lowers the inlet pressure thereby coursing the out side air pressure to push the water in (there is no such thing as suck!) if you have leaky joints they will suck (i know, it doesn't exist) an amount of air but really, the amount of water will be the problem, not that you have a little bit of air also.
If you are submerged in water over the pipe work it will seep in past the poor sealing and get caught in the airflow and work its way though the system. as long as the wing vent is unobstructed water will not be sucked in.

In short, seal the pipe work. And fit a snorkel, its cheap insurance.

Originally Posted by landy

...if the inlet is covered with water it will course the obstruction that lowers the inlet pressure thereby coursing the out side air pressure to push the water in (there is no such thing as suck!) if you have leaky joints they will suck (i know, it doesn't exist) an amount of air but really, the amount of water will be the problem, not that you have a little bit of air also.

In my puma the gaps/air leaks are so "bad"(? Not sure yet it's such a bad thing) that
- if I place a single sheet of A4 over the intake grill on the fender, there is barely enough vacuum pulled to support the weight of the paper at idle and zero noticable change to the engine.
- while blocked completely I can run right through the rev range driving around the neigbourhood with no noticeable impact on performance.

So my perception is that any water presenting itself to the intake grill will have, at the moment, very little atmospheric pressure urging to go further than the grill opening. That changes if I seal up all the air leaks ("alternate air intake paths").

This is my way to explain your that comment that a little air won't make a difference doesn't fit the amount of air leakage apparently present. It's more like a LOT of air can enter via alternate paths (if I don't seal them up) meaning water at the intake grill gets far less attraction to my turbo than you'd apparently imagine

Remember that I am talking here about an operating scenario that will include maybe 90% or more of LR owners, including definitely me by clear decisions I will make in future: I.e. Those rarely ever tackling water near the 500mm stated in manuals as maximum. So even the suggestion to get a snorkel as cheap insurance would be wasted investment.

It is in this environment I am thinking that sealing up all the leaks in the ducting just makes me a little more vulnerable to a rogue splash on the intake vent. (Or rolling on to the right side into a 6" puddle... Yer yer stretching it...)