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Driving through water...NEED ADVICE

3K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  1jeeplvr 
#1 ·
Hello there,

Sorry for the story but I feel its better to get my point across

So two friends and I were doing a little south central PA wheeling yesterday. I am driving an essentially stock 1998 Tj sahara 4.0, only thing new is a K&N air filter. They were in ford trucks...(ranger with 33s and a bone stock 2011 f150). All was even with performance(wrangler better in the mud :mooning: )until we got to a creek crossing....Now rest assured this creek was in flood stage...but we were going to cross it, which we have done before. The water was probably 2 1/2 feet deep except for a little area right at the end where it was probably 4 feet. The fords went across "no problem" except for a little rough idle. I did not cross :( I am ashamed to say I was too worried about messing something up and didn't feel like losing my Jeep. It def wasnt sitting as high as either truck. Would you have gone in my situation? what is a safe depth? and is water just a bad idea all around? Please let me know. I am going back today and am debating going through.

Thanks for reading!
Josh
 
#2 ·
I would think 4' is pretty deep for a stock Jeep…
 
#4 ·
I wouldn't cross it because I am not a fan of water getting everywhere inside my jeep, Plus you got a k&N filter which sucks in water easier as is. 4 feet of water is half high, i'd go through 2 feet or so but i'd rather play it safe. Their rough idles was probably from plugs getting wet
 
#5 ·
That's too deep for a TJ, water can get into the transmission too easily. I'd get rid of that K&N & go with a good quality paper element air filter like from AC-Delco or Purolator. K&N's air filters are well known to let a lot more dirt & dust pass through which is what I discovered years ago. I couldn't believe how much grime it was passing, I even had to install two pre-filters on top of my now long-gone K&N to get the passed dirt level back down.

This is shows the two pre-filters (pulled back so you can see both) I had to install on my previous POS K&N. Never again. Don't worry about your decision, everyone likes to install a K&N until they find out what a poor air filter they really are.
 

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#6 ·
Remember that you also have a mechanical fan. When that hits water bad things start to happen. Jack it up quite a little bit with bigger tires and you may be fine, but not in a stock Jeep ever.
 
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