Fording Depth

[SVenable]

I did a seach and the information is a bit light. Should I be concerned that the ECM is located on the side and at the bottom of the engine. The axle, transmission, and crankcase vents are easy to fix. The ECM is what I am concerned about.



Can I ford 2 or 3 feet of water?



Steve

 

[rbattelle]

Can I ford 2 or 3 feet of water?



Steve

The ECM itself is quite bulletproof. The connectors... are a different matter, I think. I don't know what would happen if they were submerged.



If you're fording 2 or 3 ft of water I'd be worried about what might happen if the fan engages. I doubt the axle seals are water tight, so you'd have to change the differential fluid afterwords. Don't want to splash up onto the turbo... sudden temperature change could crack it. I almost guarantee water would come pouring in through the doors, not to mention the firewall pass-throughs. You'd also want to change the transfer case and transmission fluid after, just to be safe.



I'm just speculating here. I've never attempted to ford 3 ft of water.



On edit: I see by your sig that you've got a heavily modified Jeep... so I'm sure you know what must be done to make a vehicle fordable. If you really want to do it, you could consider replacing the ECM connectors with something more watertight, which would involve removing the ECM, disassembling, and rebuilding yourself...



-Ryan

 

[thejeepdude]

I haven't been in in over 2' or so with the '05, but I'm sure 3' would be no problem if you know what you're doing. I had water coming over my hood of my '99 on a creek crossing once. No issues, but did change the fluids after that. I hydrolocked my Jeep's motor and put a hole through the block crossing 1' of water, but going way to fast with an open element air cleaner and it spashed up enough to kill the motor. The rod didn't go until 10k miles later... but anyways, just use common sense and it'll be fine, the EDM and it's connectors should be fine, unless you plan on crossing 3' of water on a daily basis.

 

[BRuppel]

Take a connector loose and look inside it or on the edge of it. They all have gaskets on them so they are waterproof. A for needing to change every fluid in the truck, I don't feel that that is absolutely necessary. The diff's should be waterproof except the breather, which is still just a one way breather. Make sure that is mounted high up. As for the transmission and tcase needing to be changed, is this a stock height truck? If not, I would take some measurements and see what I felt comfortable with.

 

[JHardwick]

About a month ago we has some pretty severe flooding here in southern Ohio. Both ends of my road was flooded and I had to choose the lesser of 2 evils if I wanted in or out. I'd say I was easily in 3' of water, based on where I found traces of debre in my radiator. I just took it slow and easy, 1st or 2nd gear at an idle, can't remember which cog. Moved the mirrors to where I could see the rear tires. The hardest part was remembering where the ditches were on a couple of twists in the road ... ... ... ... 3' could have easily become 13' :--)



No water in the cab, and since the truck didn't sit, I'm not too awfully worried about diffs, although they are due to be changed when the weather breaks. From years of 4wheelin, I can say that the worst thing on gear boxes is when the truck is stuck or otherwise broke down and soaks in water. If the pinions are turning, they tend to create and oil barrier around the seal.

 

[Prairie Dog]

If any diesel injest's water, you'll end up with broken parts like pistons, rods etc. Be carefull!