Thread: Diff Breathers

I have run mine up to the to of the wheel arch then back down to the chassis rail. This 180 degree bend acts as a vacuum breaker preventing a cooling diff from sucking water in.

Trev.

call me a moron, (or weird apparently) but it already has that bend standard, so whats the diff?(pun intended)

Mine was missing from new. However if you have it, why do you want to put it into the car?

Trev.

Dunno, thought you had to get them up high for water crossings, if there ok in the wheel arch with the 180 bend, why do all these mags and forums talk about DIY jobs , 'put ya breathers up into the engine bay, mate'
Not that I look at any of those other forums, "cos I pity the fool that visits other forums", sorry had to do it!

My guess is they dont understand the point of the loop, or they dont have loops and suck in water. I saw a note in a book that suggested tying them all up to the snorkel. 8O Jeez they must be trying to drive under water.
My understanding is the car will eventually float, and you lose traction anyway, so why bother? LR quote 600 mm as the wading depth. This must be on the safe side of floating away.

I also found all my breathers in the engine bay laying down! Useless, they need to be vertical with the 180 degree bend and a longer tail fitted to be effective. They are all tied up correctly now.

Trev.

Further to the above, you cannot force water into a sealed cavity. (try blowing into the breather tube). When a hot diff hits cold water, the hot expanded gasses cool and cause a negative pressure (vacuum), which can draw in the water. However if you have a loop, as the water attempts to go over the top of the loop a bubble forms and breaks the vacuum and the water (liquid) drains away.
Having all you breathers in the engine bay assumes that you will not put you bonnet under the water, ever!

Trev.

<span style="color:blue">breathers are best fitted with some sort of filter....
the best and simplest being a cheap plastic fuel filter.....
if fitted to the bottom of the loop mentioned above it will provide a fair
amount of air for the diff to suck instead of water......


and used filters work better due to something the fuel does to them....
and they are cheaper again.......(free from workshops.....)</span>

Well, what the hell did I buy? I have breather hoses mounted up in the wheel arch, they have a 180 bend in them, and they have a filter as well, but I bought it new?