Snorkels on Petrols ?? Why - how deep can they go ?

I have had my cruiser in deep . Up to the top of the bonnet . You should aways use a tarp across the gril to make a good bow wave , this stops water entering the engine bay

Eric got it in one !!!!

Fit a tarp around the front, get the bow wave going and it should keep the water out of the engine bay. Don't stop, for any reason : )

I have had mates in petrol engined beasties travel everywhere I have been able to go in my 80 Series diesel, all with snorkels.

Another point is to stop and let things cool down a bit before taking to the water. We've had more trouble with water in diffs etc than wet ignition. Seems the rapidly cooling diffs/axles can suck in water past the seals.

Cheers
jack

Modern diesels have electonics as well. Water will affect them too.

One other reason...dust. The higher you take the air, the less likely there is of a large dust ingestion, meaning the air filter will keep working for longer.

Jeff,

Back in my younger days, early 70's, in Darwin, I had a stock standard FJ45 with the 155 petrol donk, 3 speed box. Us'ta dunk it in creeks and pools with the water up over the bonnet, the fan spraying the water every where, no tarps no snorkels, never stopped.

Now I have petrol 4.5lt with snorkel. Did a creek crossing (Summertime Crossing on the Murray WA), water was to the top of the tyres, had a tarp on front, went through no prob's, came back the other way 3 times and it snuffed each time.

It's already been mentioned but modern diesels are efi aswell so they are no longer "water proof". I have a 00 model 3l diesel Hilux,it's the last model Hilux with total mechanical injection and have a snorkel but still use a tarp when deep crossings. My brother inlaw has a 99 hilux with the 2.7l efi petrol, the spark plugs will never get water in them as they have a good plug sealing setup now, takes a bit of effort to get one off. Not sure about the dizzy though, you can always silastic up though... Cheers Isaac.

G'day Jeff
They'll probably go a lot deeper than most people would be willing to take them. I've had water up over the bonnet and up the windscreen on my petrol 80 and I don't have a snorkel. But I always take the appropriate precautions ie tarp, good spray of the electrics etc. A snorkel is just extra insurance.
Another factor to consider in the purchase decision is that the running costs for petrol vehicles is lower and they cost less to buy. You need to do a lot of kms to come out on top with a diesel.
Check past posts because a while back there was a discussion on the new Prados having a problem when an aftermarket bullbar was fitted - something about water ingestion. Other than that I know of no other issues. Everyone who I know who owns one is happy with it (mind you I only know a handful of petrol Prado owners).

Yeah EFI diesels and EFI petrols aren't quite the same, just because you have a computer under the glovebox inside the cab does not mean it's going to get wet (one would hope not anyway!!) A dizzy sucking water in on the other hand is not going to fair so well.
Most modern day petrols have pretty good seals and designs, dizzy's on top of the motor etc etc.
The trick is to make sure everythings kept in good order, I went through muddy water that was over the windscreen wipers with no tarp, just a snorkel. My cheap spottlights got a few drops of water in the plastic covers, but upon inspecting things like battery isolaters etc they were perfectly clean and dry inside. Just keep your engine bay as clean as you can (yeah I know it's hard!) and make sure that all your calbes, fuse boxes, seals etc are in good order. That's the best advice I could give.

Gday Jeff,one point to remember is that if you are going to be doing any remote travel, unleaded is not easily avaliable,diesel is.
Cheers Nick