Sceptical about fitting snorkel -Defender 200tdi

Hi
I'm thinking about fitting a snorkel so that I can go into deeper water off road. I'm slightly worried about how watertight my air filter box will be. It's a black metal cylindrical effort with a sort of rubber duck bill shaped effort on the end. What's that for and surely it will leak water into the air filter ?

Also the existing pipe from the air vent on the wing to the air box is in poor shape and seems too short to reach the vent attachment. Is there a part available to replace this ?

By the way my Landy is a 91 Defender 200 tdi.

Thanks for your thoughts

Needalandy said:

Hi
I'm thinking about fitting a snorkel so that I can go into deeper water off road. I'm slightly worried about how watertight my air filter box will be. It's a black metal cylindrical effort with a sort of rubber duck bill shaped effort on the end. What's that for and surely it will leak water into the air filter ?

Also the existing pipe from the air vent on the wing to the air box is in poor shape and seems too short to reach the vent attachment. Is there a part available to replace this ?

By the way my Landy is a 91 Defender 200 tdi.

Thanks for your thoughts

Click to expand...

How deep do you go now ?

How deep are you thinking of playing in? I would have thought it highly unlikely that the whole engine and air filter housing would be under water

Dippypud said:

How deep do you go now ?

Click to expand...

Hi Dippy - I tend to avoid anything above wheel height but there's water at our pay n play that's bonnet height which I have to drive round at the moment coz don't want to risk engine damage

The rubber duck drain thing should be water tight if it's in good condition. It's designed to suck closed when air is being sucked into the engine and can be squeezed open to drain water out if any does find it's way in when the engine's off. These can be replaced or you could blank it off if you're worried about the engine drinking water.

Its all about the bow wave.

if you worried about damaging the engine stay out of it, if your going for a snorkel then id suggest swapping all old and crappy pipes for new, sealing and new jubilee clips. installing a snorkel to the inner side of the wing and making it water tight is a faff! I removed my air box and havnt ran one for 3 years, this isn't good practice but it hasn't killed mine yet. touch wood

Needalandy said:

Hi
I'm thinking about fitting a snorkel so that I can go into deeper water off road. I'm slightly worried about how watertight my air filter box will be. It's a black metal cylindrical effort with a sort of rubber duck bill shaped effort on the end. What's that for and surely it will leak water into the air filter ?

Also the existing pipe from the air vent on the wing to the air box is in poor shape and seems too short to reach the vent attachment. Is there a part available to replace this ?

By the way my Landy is a 91 Defender 200 tdi.

Thanks for your thoughts

Click to expand...

Standard airboxes are placed so you have quite good wading depth as standard. Stand airboxes also have a small one way valve, which is at the bottom of the air box and rubber, probably the thing you are asking about. The idea is, some water can get in the air box, but it should fall to the bottom and drain out of this valve. In practice it works, but is only designed for splash water, not submersion.

If you are fitting a high rise air intake, you need one that is air tight. Some cheap crappy ones can crack easily. But you'll want to seal the airbox, so that no water ingress can occur. These valves are designed to be one way, but if submersed, then they are likely to leak.

However if you plan to do a lot of deep water work, you'll also want to think about extended axle breathers, as well as extended gearbox and transfer box breathers. There are kits available, or you could fabricate something for these.

Also think about electrics. Starter motors and alternators can be prone to failure with regular submersion.

Electric fans aren't too keen either if you have one. Or make sure your viscous one is in good working order.

And if the water is really deep, also consider a snorkel for the heater inlet.


Last up, water wading can be fun. But tbh it can get tiring. If it's deep enough or you sit in it for long enough you'll fill the foot wells with water, fun at first maybe, but if the Land Rover is half way tidy or you use it daily, you may find it less fun after a while.

Superglue dump valve closed and then fill with silicone, remove the air filter tin cap and fit a large thin o-ring to it, then you need to get to the inside of the passenger side wing to seal up the dump valve there (not a lot of people know there is a dump valve fitted down there) and make sure all the seals are good some of the plastic joints are just push fit.
Make sure oil filler cap is fitted correctly, mate didnt filled engine with slurry and wrote if off!
Make sure engine breather pipes are also all connected.

Be interesting if you notice any loss of power like I did when snorkel fitted.

Mines been up to the top of the seat in standing water and flowing over the bonnet in running water.

Thanks guys for usual detailed and helpful responses. Diagram is helpful Lynall as realise I'm missing parts 3 and 4 from the diagram so will try to source them from somewhere. My hose from air box is pointed towards the side vent but not attached to anything. Its also made from some kind of material with wire inside and in no way looks waterproof.

You can get that flex pipe off ebay its cheap and is water proof when new, I used 60mm wire wound on my series but i think the 90 is smaller.
Some of the td/tdi inlet piping is actually quite dear for what it is.