I saw a tj today with a snorkel and thought to myself that makes no sense. It seems to me by the time water reaches the air filter level you've got much more serious electrical and mechanical problems! And, you'd better be wearing galashes! I personally don't like the look but I guess that's beside the point.
Am I the only one who thinks a snorkel on a TJ is crazy?
- Thread starter nitrofalcon
- Start date
You’re not alone. There are a number of reasons they are unhelpful. They also look ridiculous. But it’s no crime to have bad taste.
Jason06
TJ Enthusiast
I think they are useless on just about every vehicle I see that has one. I guess some people obviously like the “looks” of it but it is a waste of money to me. If I get my Jeep that deep in water I’ll drown
I think the angry grill looks worse, but then I would not have either one
Every one of these snorkel thread turns into who can come up with the most clever way to crap on them.
Snorkels aren’t popular here, because they’re not required for most people’s purposes. I get that, but I’ll give an alternate POV.
They are most useful for wheeling in very wet/swampy areas. In fact my old wheeling buddies back in Russia view them as a necessity. In some areas you can’t make it even a couple kms without reaching a water crossing that requires either having a snorkel or getting towed across w/ engine shut off. Yes sometimes water gets into the interior, but at least you won’t hydrolock your engine.
Winch and snorkel are the first 2 mods that any serious offroader does, back home.
Snorkels aren’t popular here, because they’re not required for most people’s purposes. I get that, but I’ll give an alternate POV.
They are most useful for wheeling in very wet/swampy areas. In fact my old wheeling buddies back in Russia view them as a necessity. In some areas you can’t make it even a couple kms without reaching a water crossing that requires either having a snorkel or getting towed across w/ engine shut off. Yes sometimes water gets into the interior, but at least you won’t hydrolock your engine.
Winch and snorkel are the first 2 mods that any serious offroader does, back home.
I respect your POV. Can you clarify how they minimize, or prevent damage to the car?
From what i gather,snorkles are useful for getting the air duct up out of dust and dirt in desert environments like australia and africa
This will seem like a long ramble because it is just a collection of my personal experience tagging along on trips with older vehicles. Not an expert opinion or recommendation by any means:
Concerns over electrical damage are vastly overstated. It just isn’t that big an issue for most offroaders there that try to minimize the time spent in water.
The more extreme folks will do things like stuffing special sealant in the electricals, relocating interior wiring to the ceiling, bringing spare fan clutches, sealing off electrical blocks. Alternator/starter/fuses don’t seem to be affected most of the time.
The bigger concern is the trans/tcase/axles for which you either add or extended the factory breathers. Still a good idea to check all fluids every couple trips. There are also considerations with the snorkel quality, installation and maintenance.
Prevention is the best medicine. Enter the water slowly and only then slowly speed up to keep the wave in front of your hood. Always walk the seemingly “small puddle” before crossing.
If you happen to catastrophically flood the interior, and it’s sunny out, let it sit and just dry out. Insulation within door cards and in engine bay may fall apart. Over time, the wire harness will start falling apart and glitching, so try to dry it out too.
If you’re an idiot and entered say a fast moving river and feel the rig start to float, open your doors! It’s better to flood the interior and get towed away, than for you to get taken away/rolled over who knows to where.
But nothing is guaranteed. Occasionally people still do flood their electronics, hydrolock the engines or even write off their vehicles entirely. I see it as a similar level of risk to rolling over while rock crawling here in the US.
This all assumes freshwater of course, saltwater is an entirely different ball game.
Snorkels can be very useful in the right circumstances. 
Oh yes they can be
This. Snorkels are as much about dust reduction as they are for water fording.
Simply raising the air intake level higher does nothing in a desert environment. Dust doesn’t magically disappear 6 feet off the ground.
Now add a prefilter in place of the traditional “goose neck”, there’s an argument to be made for it’s effectiveness in dust reduction.
