SNORKEL, WHERE IS THE DEALER LOCATED AT? COLORADO SPRINGS?? I HAVE 6 MORE MONTHS IN AFGHANISTAN AND I'M STILL ADDING GOODIES TO MY WISH LIST

 

Ooh, do want! This autumn I was driving on a street here in Helsinki and a larger-than-expected puddle threw water over the (fortunately) right side of the hood. Pointed out to me just how easy it is to get water splashes above the height of the air intake, even on asphalt...

 

After my experiences, as long as the water, or mud stays below the top of the fog lights and does not get splashed up and under into the intake you're mostly safe. I did have very wet mud splash over the hood, which only led to the radiator steaming and the intake sucked up some clear steam, but the inside of the air box beyond the filter stayed dry.

 

Dude - most likely serious modding will be necessary, but it's always do-able. Just depends on how much $ you feel like throwing @ it.

 

Um, yeahhhhh...

Let's start with the owner's manual which clearly states no more than 5 MPH through water - Dude, let's be honest, you were going much faster, which is a typical reaction! If someone puts a snorkel on and thinks you can do 10-20 MPH through a puddle, you're in for a lot more trouble.

Now, lets turn to the vehicle itself. If you get into too much water, you will begin to float! To counteract this in most vehicles designed to snorkel, the vehicle is designed to sink. Two questions come to mind here: 1) do you really want to drill holes in your floorboards, and 2) do you really want to soak the inside of your vehicle with carpet, padding, seats, etc?

Bottom line, unless you're building an extreme Patriot that isn't your daily driver, as is it for everyone on here I believe, a snorkel is NOT practical or worth the money and modification. Of course, if you think it will make your Pat look "cool", go for it, but I think it will generally garner laughs. I love seeing Land Rovers and other high-end vehicles with snorkels to the roof, knowing that if they actually used it, they would total the inside of their leather-trimmed vehicle. Just my opinion...

 

Let's start with the owner's manual which clearly states no more than 5 MPH through water

You're going to drive 5mph or less every time it rains heavily?

Okay, so you feel a snorkel is not needed. Fair enough. But dude - that's some pretty strong language there. People are allowed to disagree with you, you know.

After my experiences, as long as the water, or mud stays below the top of the fog lights and does not get splashed up and under into the intake you're mostly safe. I did have very wet mud splash over the hood, which only led to the radiator steaming and the intake sucked up some clear steam, but the inside of the air box beyond the filter stayed dry.

Yeah, mostly safe. But things happen, people judge depth of water wrong, sometimes there are deeper spots in water that you don't know about until someone unfortunate drives into one, and sometimes, when the stars are aligned just wrong and Great Cthulhu is rolling over in its bed and muttering "just five more minutes, Mom", engines have been known to hydrolock when the water splashes really weren't that big or that high. It may not happen very often, but when it does happen, ouch.

Personally, I feel a less exposed air intake would increase the safety factor in getting out of a flooded area, driving through "holy **** that was deep!" puddles, and other such situations. This is just my personal opinion. I wouldn't take the Patriot for a swim on a regular basis, snorkel or no snorkel - deep water really does mess vehicles up, even those "serious off-roading vehicles" that are more commonly equipped with snorkels.

 

if this is your occasional fun, a snorkle is a really good idea, and it won't take more modification than any other vehicle does. Cut a hole through the fenders and badaboom...

floating the vehicle has nothing to do with a snorkle. It's to move the air intake higher.

 

The air intake is already at the hood line, approximately 38" (I measured). Since the most a Patriot is designed to handle is 19" at 5 MPH, a snorkel is impractical. Keep in mind, if you don't have the FDII package, your water fording depth is less.

 

Tony, the 5 MPH suggestion by Chrysler, not me, is intended for situations where water fording is needed, not every-day driving, even in heavy rain. I'm not sure how that is "pretty strong language" when it is in the manual. You can disagree all you want, I'm just saying, if you follow what the manual suggests there is no need for a snorkel on the Patriot - as equipped in either FDI or FDII, you can't take it in deep enough water. The only reason Dude hydrolocked his engine is because he was going WAY too fast in an effort not to get stuck. I think he'll agree now that getting stuck is better than hydrolocking an engine.

 

There's lots more to making a vehicle safe for deep water than simply adding a snorkel. If the vehicle displaces less than it weighs, she'll sink just fine. In my case VM Motori contributed nicely to my near 6K LB curb weight.

These were taken during my sentence in FL.

 

fishin........

UTKJ- nice sequence dude ! Perhaps you should invest in a radiator frying pan for the trout/bass that you catch in the grill next time.

 

Ok, so has there been any word on a workable snokel kit for our 'riots? I didn't seem to see anything mentioned about who the vendor is, the prices, and if there's a website available to preview it.

 

Very nice Photos!!!!!!!

 

OK, any word on this? Is there ANY new news? I know this is almost a 2yr old thread....but hopefully there are some updates.

 

OK...8 posts after my question:



And all I got from that is instructions on how to drive through water.....:doh:

Which if you think about it, doesn't really answer my question now - does it? :BLAM:

Pardon me, if you'll excuse my frustration, but I was kinda expecting an answer not a :hijacked:

 

Since this is kind of related, a couple of pictures from downtown Helsinki, last summer. (Pictures linked from a Finnish news paper.)

I happened to be running an errand in the downtown area right when the rain hit the hardest. One of the few times I've had fun driving in the city...

 

bloody hell,man,you need a boat!

 

The secret to driving through deep water is to enter at a sensible speed and create a bow wave which pushes the water away from the vehicle and keep the revs up which maintains the force of the exhaust gases and prevents water running back up the exhaust.

Yeah it looks good and can be fun to just charge into water but you do your vehicle and your wallet no favours if you let it swallow lots of H2O, on top of that in all the videos you see on here, not once have I seen anyone testing the depth of the water and looking for hidden obstacles before charging through, there may just be a surprise in there which could ruin your day!

Have a look at this as proof!

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/03/08/brothers-amazing-escape-from-seven-foot-puddle/

 

I agree with you, 2 ft water ought to be inspected... or averted altogether. The photo however, shows water in a hole.... driving up to that at 40 MPH on a dry road, it would just look like a sheet of water on the road... if people stopped for standing water every time, road systems would shut down That was just a freak accident

 

We have an area here where they are doing road work, where the single lane detour has no where for the water to run off. One day last week we had heavy rains, and everyone was stopping to go through the water VERY slowly. I waited for them all to go, then plowed through, throwing water all over the place, and actually helped to get some of it off the road.

Our FDII's are rated for 19 inches of water.

 

... I waited for them all to go, then plowed through, throwing water all over the place, and actually helped to get some of it off the road.

Our FDII's are rated for 19 inches of water.

:smiley_thumbs_up:

 

"A man's gotta know his limitations"

 

This thread makes the internet cry.

 

and if you believe this isn't held together with duct tape and PVC plumbing, you're kidding yourself.

 

Does anyone know the water fording depth for a FD1? Not that i plan on going for a swim, but just in case

 

I was also wondering the same thing.

Does a 19" fording depth mean that rubber seals around the doors won't leak?

If you're going through a foot and a half of water, isn't the exhaust pipe well underwater . . . . I would imagine that if you let off the gas, water would get sucked up the exhaust?

Like ******, I'm not planning on going for a swim, but just in case . . .


All best and thanks, Joe

 

There may not be any breather tubes, so keeping the water level below the differentials breather holes would be best. In other words, you're safe as long as the water depth is less than your ground clearance.

 

From the Jeep site:

Hit that riverbed with confidence. Trail Rated® Jeep® 4x4s feature additional electrical and body sealing, along with a high air intake location for optimum water fording capability. Note: Do not attempt water fording unless depth is known to be less than 19 inches.

 

Alright, thanks


I take it, then, that only the "Trail Rated" models (in our case the FD2 models) are certified for 19" water fording.

But what depth do you think the FD1 model should be able to ford?


All best, and still learning,
Joe

 

2.6756"

 

Okay . . . thanks a lot . . . .


I asked a sincere and serious question as a newbie prospective Patriot owner, and you choose to give a smart-assed response like that? . . . .

If the ground clearance of these vehicles is listed at 8", I would ASSume that one would be able to get through a foot of water, if the need arose.

I was looking for confirmation of this . . .


Please forgive me for my stupidity and ignorance.


Digustedly,
Joe

 

I wouldn't let water pass the door seals.

 

A water snorkel would be great, alot of people have built one with pvc pipe and a custom bracket. you might want to find the dif. air breather tubes and buy or make extensions for them too though. and your mileage would go down a tad due to more restricted air flow but it would look really neat esp with tires roof basket etc...