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Hey puddle chargers, How do you stop this dyeing engine thing?


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:temper: When I splish splash through the puddles Suby does these things:

 

1) Alt stops charging. After a few seconds I hear a squauk and then voltage is back to normal.:madder:

2) ditsy gets wet, engine goes dead. Dry ditsy, all's ok.:banghead:

 

3) Engine gulps water, engine will only idle till water is gone.:brolleye:

 

how fix?:cornfuzz:

 

Me loves to splish splash!:brow: But Suby says NO.:argue:

 

Help?

 

Thanks

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Except that the voltage drops to about 9 volts! How little will the engine run on? Batt seems ok. Voltage usually runs about 14v with engine running over 1400rpm and just over 12v when enigine is off, acc on. When I hit the starter, it drops to about 10v.

 

I take it, I just put a bead of silicone on the cap and drop it on? Sounds too easy.

 

How do I put a snorkel on me weber? I remember Qman's snorkel on his hatch, Is there any closeup pics of his setup? Qman?

 

Thanks guys!

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If it drops down to 9v for only a few minutes it shouldn't be a problem. The actual running of the engine doesn’t take a whole lot of power compared to starting it. Remember, until the 50's most cars rand on 6v systems.

 

Now for extended periods of time low voltage could cause problems since all of the electrical systems will draw more current then normal when the voltage is below normal. This is why Subaru and other manufactures have under voltage protection on their ECU. When the voltage drops below 9.4v(for Subaru) the ECU will just shut off to prevent damage to its circuits.

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on the dist. if you seal the cap and install a vent hose be sure to plug the drain hole on the bottom of the dist.

 

the charging thing is usually the alt. belt slipping when wet hence a squeak when it gets grip again and starts charging.

I would run the belt a bit tighter.;)

 

yeah puddles are fun at speed:headbang:

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For the Weber, a lot of the guys have installed antifreeze jugs over the air filter to repel the spashed water. Or you can make your own snorkle adapter. I've seen some on Chev Cavaliers that look adaptable or for not much $ you can get one from JAM Engineering that bolts right on. (first item this page) http://www.jameng.com/products/index.phtml?section=13

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my buddy has a Samari and he made a snorkle out of PVC pipe and ran it up to the top of the cab. He also found a screen off of a computer fan and he put that on the end of it to keep debri out of it. It works really nicely and it didn't cost him very much, just some time and a hole in his fender:brow:

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The top of the cab snorkle isn't really needed unless you're doing the serious scuba stuff. I've got my cone style air filter up in the spare tire area with a plastic cover over it. Stays dry just fine.

You can also condomize that disty with a rubber glove. The wires go out the finger tips, then use wire ties and silicone to seal it tight. If it still gets wet the glove makes it a mega hassle to get the cap off to spray with WD40.

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like ken said there is drain holes in the hitachi. which is why i've just sealed it with good ol' rtv. subyfly was having a huge sputtery problem with his car when he touched water. showed him how to seal it and no problems since. it's a hard charging water runner now.

 

for the intake all i use is an anti freeze jug on my weber. deflects initial push of water into the intake and doesn't suck water in unless you are in long enough for your engine bay to intierly flood. i've been through water to the base of the front window but only for a brief little bit. the snorkel is needed for the long haul in the water.

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Another thing you can do to seal your ignition system, is to run a thin bead of silicone around the outside of each nipple on your distributor and then plug your wires on, that will keep water out of the connections, also do the same with your coil wire and where each boot goes over the plugs. Too bad Subaru doesn't make a diesel motor yet, those are a lot easier to water proof (No plug wires or ignition system to seal off)

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Great ideas! :headbang: Time to find some silicone and seal that ditsy. I think I'll try the antifreeze bottle over the air cleaner trick till I can come up with a good snorkel design. :brow: I'll also retighten the alt belt to see if I can reduce the slipping. I'll also add a switch to the feed for the e-fans.

 

Cool:burnout:

 

THanks guys!!!:wave:

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Great ideas! :headbang: Time to find some silicone and seal that ditsy. I think I'll try the antifreeze bottle over the air cleaner trick till I can come up with a good snorkel design. :brow: I'll also retighten the alt belt to see if I can reduce the slipping. I'll also add a switch to the feed for the e-fans.

 

Cool:burnout:

 

THanks guys!!!:wave:

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Interesting. I've never had mine sputter while going through water, but then I have never hit anything REALLY deep. However, my brother told me about taking our parents' 86 wagon through water coming up over the hood. The only problem that created was making the belts squeal for a while.

 

Another good waterproofing/redundancy thing is using plastic zip-ties to clamp the plug wire boots onto the disty. I just like to put zip-ties on everything, though.

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