Snorkles: fashion statements or effective engine mod'

How does the air get into engine without a snorkel? It has to bend around the various parts of the cars body to get to the intake.

Dust? The higher the air intake the smaller the dust particles. Since fitting a snorkel my air filter doesn't need cleaning as often.

Improved engine power? I'm not convinced - maybe a slight increase but not really noticable.

Increased engine life? absolutely - less dust, less wear.

As for fording. I have friends who's work takes them all over the cape and they have at times had water half way up the windscreen. But the engines keeps going coz of the snorkel. They aren't worried about the effect of water on the interior, they just hose the car out when they get home. Without a snorkel they may not get home.

Derek.
You are right about the reduction in power caused by snorkels. The later models with there precision electronic controls are the worst effected.
The snorkels cause problems for engine tuners. One large firm takes them off to tune the motor and then replaces them for the customer.The drop in power is proportunal to rpm and can be 2or 3 kw at 3000rpm.
Eric.

Hi Derek,

We fitted a snorkel to our NH Pajero, mainly because of the large number of water crossings that we were doing whilst living in the NT. Originally had no intention of doing so but soon realised the merits. Air intake was level with headlights and beside the radiator. Have a look at a Paj and you'll see that means the intake was quite low so even on a relatively "shallow" water crossing, we risked taking in a gutsful of water. Electronic airflow sensor at the back of the intake line could easily receive water damage. Replacement cost ~$600 (more than the cost of a snorkel). After several water crossings and before the snorkel was fitted, we removed this sensor and could see evidence of water having travelled that far up the intake tube.

On many occasions, we had water completely over the bonnet, far enough to get a bit of water dripped onto our feet thru the vents just in front of the windscreen. We are not cowboys and never undertook these crossings just because they were there. Also, it is possible to take in water during a shallow crossing if you drop into a hole or on an inital steep decent into the creek etc before the nose of the vehicle levels out. As for the car interior, we never got more than a little bit of seepage around the bottom of the doors and a few drops from the vents as mentioned above. Just stopped straight after each crossing and mopped up with a towel. No damage.

I second comments already made about dust. As for power, we never noticed any difference to the before and after snorkel. Fuel economy hard to say as we had a roof rack fitted at the same time so whilst we did have higher consumption afterwards, couldn't say how much, if any, was attributed to the snorkel.

One other point though, the snorkel did have a negative impact on the resale value of our Paj when we sold it. Dealers don't like 'em cause buyers don't like 'em. Hints too much of a 4WD that might have actually done some off-road work...God forbid!!!

:o) Melissa

Tell this bloke that snorkels are a waste of $$


DROWNED SURF!

Sorry Ron!

First time out in car, Coopers Creek Vic. Hole in block, and all. We removed the air cleaner that was up top and it was FULL.... Petrol motor as well!


over $5000 later he has a new engine. Oh and a snorkel.

Anyone not seen the Safari Video Clip of the Jackaroo FLOATING DOWN THE RIVER!!! then drives off..????

Safari Video Clips. Select one and ... be impressed.

Anyone who puts a snorkle on hoping to get "performance gains" is kidding themselves.

In fact, its likely to make it worse.

What it will do, and as Nigel said, It will hopefully provide a cleaner enviroment for your motor, hence, making it last longer.

Oh, yeah, water in a motor is NEVER a good thing.

Another factor not yet mentioned - a snorkel provides cooler (denser) air because the air isn't drawn from inside a hot engine bay or guard.

A snorkel could have saved us all from a freezing swim in the Buffalo River last year:

http://www.geocities.com/watercrossing/index.html

Also, check your recovery points before the car goes in the water. As in this case, the Ford Explorers recovery point is a hook off the middle of the diff. Who would have guessed? Took us half an hour to work that one out. The car went in for it's 1500km service that week with no problems, luckily. 80 series to the rescue again.

Warren.

I'd certainly rather pay $400 for a snorkel than $13000 for a new T/D engine for my Jack.

Fashion statement - i don't think so

forget the ram air effect and fit a pre cleaner on top of the snorkel and see the gains in keeping your filter clean, only $30 from diesal spares. Col

Here is is for me.

Nissan 3.0 TD 2000 model. Northern Territory.

Before snorkel - top speed 155 km/h (with rack)
Aircleaner constantly clogged from bulldust and dust getting past airfilter. Would sometimes need to wash out with water, dry and reinstall.
Would worry every time I came to water and did not know the crossing. Bit hard to walk every crossing in croc country.


After snorkel - top speed - same as before. But maybe little worse economy due to extra drag.
Dust and bulldust no longer a problem.
Better confidence with water crossings.

For 4wd used of the tarmac - snorkel is the only way to go....................

I don't often see a dust cloud around the engine area or much higher than the bonnet. The cloud billows out and up behind the vehicle. Sucking air in from just behind a head light, inside the engine bay, is not going to be as clean as that from the top of the windscreen area. The extra resistance of the extra length of tube with a couple more bends would be very hard to measure. ...... very low I think. Ram effect.... hmm interesting idea. Sounds good, but as soon as the maximum amount of air used by the motor is being processed, the rest banks up. The air would simply not be pushed into the 'full' snorkel after that. In my case I turbo-charged at the same time as snorkelling... so probably the turbo overshadowed any effect. I sure would prefer to have my air drawn in above water level. Splashing and surging.... even waves can make water enter the air intake.... the higher the better for me.. So what do you think Derek? For a smallish outlay in the scheme of things, do you reckon they might be worth it? Cheers Royce

Ahhh the psychology of 4WD!... How much is for show? I used to have a small Datsun 1000 station wagon. I took it up every bush track I could find. Almost never got stuck. Probably most non-city people don't even need a 4WD. A lot of it's to do with image I s'pose. I have got bogged more in 4WDs than in 2WDs! Cheers Royce