Mark and all you other Vanagon-Nuts :-)

On Mon, 1999-05-10 10:40:04 -0700, Mark Mages wrote:

> As I was driving through the foot deep water that is
> all too common in Houston at this time of year, I was
> wondering if anyone has hooked up a snorkle system to
> their vanagon.

Stock  in Syncros, but probably   not necessary in a   normal van.   The
crucial points on a Vanagon are the spark plugs.  They will be shortened
by the  water  long before   the air  intake will be   flooded.  Another
crucial point is the venting of the  gearbox.  On Syncros the gearbox as
well as the  front diff vent into  hoses which end  somewhere high up in
the van.  Don't know  about normal Vanagons, but  I'm assuming they just
vent.  Without any hoses.   And where air can  go out (or in), water can
go in, too.   Water in the  gearbox isn't such  a  good idea.   However,
since the oil  will swim on top  of  the water, it's  relatively easy to
drain   all the water  from the  gearbox via  the normal  oil drain plug
almost without draining any oil.  You just need  to loosen the oil drain
plug completely without really removing it and to  quickly screw it back
in as soon as real oil is  coming out.  I dearly  hope you'll never need
all this good advice ... :-)

> ...
> Would you need to set up something for exhaust too?

As long as  your engine doesn't stall  the emerging gasses will keep any
water  from intruding into   your  exhaust system.   This   little extra
pressure while fording once in a while doesn't do any harm.  However, if
your engine stalls,  water will enter into the  muffler and perhaps into
the cat.  Once stalled you will most probably  not manage to restart the
engine, due  to the additional back pressure  at the  muffler and due to
wet plugs.  So you'll need another vehicle or a winch to pull you out of
the  water.  Once out  you should punch a little  hole into the belly of
the muffler to drain all that water.  You can later seal this hole using
a little screw.  The cat, too, will probably need to  get a hole punched
in its   belly (no, not  the  mamal, the catalytic  converter  :-).  Any
residual water will quickly  evaporate, once you have  managed to dry up
your spark plugs and to re-start the engine.

Again, I do hope you'll never need to do this.

Sincerely
 Rainer

'89 Caravelle GL Syncro 16"

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