Drowning my Grenadier (a sorry, soggy saga)

Tinerfeño · Jan 19, 2025

Mountain4x4 said:
The engine could have been choked out, less then hydro locked. But assuming you were not at full throttle its possible to not have any damage.

Petrol engine maybe, but compression ratio of diesel engine does not allow practically any water.

MattA · Jan 19, 2025

I have been on a trip where a 3l diesel Patrol drowned in a massive bog hole, he had an air filter and turbo full of water when we dragged him out after the car just stopped. The water was over 1 m deep and deep and well over his bonnet, pulled the glow plugs out, drained the air box, pulled the turbo off and literally drained a good up of muddy water from it. Turned it over for about 3 minutes to squirt all water out the glow plug holes , put it all back together and it fired up.
It can be saved on a odd occasion

lightning · Jan 20, 2025

Yep, if you are lucky. l hope the O/P doesn't need a new engine.

LRNAD90 · Jan 20, 2025

For what it is worth, Scott Brady (Expedition Overland) discussed in one of his podcasts removing a Grenadier with a dead battery from a shipping container. He confirmed (as noted earlier in this thread) you can move the transfer case shifter between H and L positions to achieve a neutral condition and rolled it out of the container.

So how deep was it? It certainly doesn't look that deep. I was never a fan of the side intake, can only say it is really disappointing to hear that is all it took to take down your Grenadier. IMO, it should take water over the hood level to stop these trucks (particularly diesels). If that is all it takes to get water into the intake, it is a poor design at best.

I would think engineers could design it (particularly with a side intake) so there is a rather deep draining 'reservoir' that would have to fill before air taken from the top could make it to the engine intake. Add a floating 'door' to close off the intake and stall the engine, but not allow it to ingest water.

Really disappointing to hear, and sorry you have to go through this..

Rather Infamous area that floods, this one was at three ft or so..

Many Land Rovers make it through without issue..

landmannnn · Jan 20, 2025

I thought this post a year ago is worth reading

Dudlington said:
As mentioned earlier this is not a snorkel but a Raised Air Intake mainly for dusty conditions (Standard Air Intake is close to the front wheel). Because of the design of the Air Intake system inside of the Fender you would need to go for a long distance at 1000mm height of water to start to get water ingress in the Engine , the vehicle has a reccommended Wading depth of 800mm . I am sure the aftermarket will find a solution and produce a Snorkel, alternatively you could add further fixings to the RAI/Fender to create something more robust and seal all the entry points using some kind of flexible sealant. A full blown Snorkel was not a business case for Ineos at the time and it was decided to focus on a RAI . How do I know.............I am the Lead Engineer for Exterior inside Ineos and this is my design.

nuclearmonkey · Jan 21, 2025

LRNAD90 said:
For what it is worth, Scott Brady (Expedition Overland) discussed in one of his podcasts removing a Grenadier with a dead battery from a shipping container. He confirmed (as noted earlier in this thread) you can move the transfer case shifter between H and L positions to achieve a neutral condition and rolled it out of the container.

So how deep was it? It certainly doesn't look that deep. I was never a fan of the side intake, can only say it is really disappointing to hear that is all it took to take down your Grenadier. IMO, it should take water over the hood level to stop these trucks (particularly diesels). If that is all it takes to get water into the intake, it is a poor design at best.

I would think engineers could design it (particularly with a side intake) so there is a rather deep draining 'reservoir' that would have to fill before air taken from the top could make it to the engine intake. Add a floating 'door' to close off the intake and stall the engine, but not allow it to ingest water.

Really disappointing to hear, and sorry you have to go through this..

Rather Infamous area that floods, this one was at three ft or so..

Many Land Rovers make it through without issue..

That looked a little dicey for the blue 90 sans snorkel…

Jeremy996 · Jan 21, 2025

Rufford Ford is a well known vehicle killer; surprising as the depth is well signposted.

As for @landmannnn's post and the quote from @Dudlington, I would be astonished if I was ever as deep as 1m, although I would concede that the water flow from the side could/would make a difference.

AndrewW · Jan 21, 2025

Three questions come to mind...
How deep WAS the water? OK, no tape measure, but wheel-top, over wing, or over bonnet?
How fast were you going? I'm guessing not fast - physics wouldn't allow it.
Had you selected centre-lock, and wading mode?
I have heard of a dealer crossing the Dee at 1000mm*** deep with no problem; hence my puzzlement.
I hope it all works out, good ole NFU!

***and in an earlier life fellow Disco3 Club members wading unprepared D3s at bonnet level (with the approved bow-wave).
it remains a bit concerning...

Jeremy996 · Jan 21, 2025

AndrewW said:
Three questions come to mind...
How deep WAS the water? OK, no tape measure, but wheel-top, over wing, or over bonnet?
How fast were you going? I'm guessing not fast - physics wouldn't allow it.
Had you selected centre-lock, and wading mode?
I have heard of a dealer crossing the Dee at 1000mm*** deep with no problem; hence my puzzlement.
I hope it all works out, good ole NFU!

***and in an earlier life fellow Disco3 Club members wading unprepared D3s at bonnet level (with the approved bow-wave).
it remains a bit concerning...

1. This is shortly after the engine stopped. It never came over the wings; but there is turbulent flow right to left and a significant fall from right to left.
2. 3-4mph - I'm not a maniac.
3. No, it's a metalled road and I am about 6" from the nearside edge of the tarmac. This is my usual commute to work, so the road is familiar and I am well positioned on the carriageway.

If Grenadiers have been successfully dunked and driven in 1m of water without ill effect, then I shall feel hard-done-by rather than just dumb.

DaveB · Jan 21, 2025

Jeremy996 said:
Rufford Ford is a well known vehicle killer; surprising as the depth is well signposted.

As for @landmannnn's post and the quote from @Dudlington, I would be astonished if I was ever as deep as 1m, although I would concede that the water flow from the side could/would make a difference.

I like watching the Rufford Ford video's
Seems nearly always they go in way too fast.
Even real 4WDS seem to be driven by idiots often.
Vans and SUV video's are the best ones.
You have to love it when someone in a BMW or Mercedes SUV thinks they have purchased a real $wd.
Or someone in a new Landrover, which has excellent wading depth, hits the water at 60 kmh and rips off the bumper.

samnt650 · Jan 22, 2025

Tom D said:
That’s the older version of the box. The current version doesn't have that feature.

I can confirm this lever is on the B58 (Petrol) ZF transmission

Clark Kent · Jan 22, 2025

samnt650 said:
I can confirm this lever is on the B58 (Petrol) ZF transmission

Thank you. I hadn't looped back to that topic yet. The 8HP76 in the diesel Grenadier has it also.

Search

Search

Drowning my Grenadier (a sorry, soggy saga)

Tinerfeño

MattA

lightning

LRNAD90

landmannnn

nuclearmonkey

Jeremy996

AndrewW

Jeremy996

DaveB

samnt650

Clark Kent

Similar threads

Latest posts

Share this page