Ive heard that if you drive your truck through water or mud you can seize the engine because of that drastic change of temperature. How do some of these guys manage to go mudding and fly through puddles and water without screwing their truck up?

 

Yeah... I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen. The engine would have to be red hot and dropped into ice water to even come close to that I would think.....

 

What causes the motor to stop and the truck to die and the owner to crap and the tow truck driver to grin is not the temperature changes.

It's all the result of taking a 4 cycle air pump (even if it is one with ignition and fuel delivery systems) that's built to compress and pump compressable gases (like say ... an air-fuel mixture) ...
... and instead ...
... ask it to pump a non compressabel liquid (like say ... a water or water-dirt mix) that get's sucked in.

It don't work.

 

who told you that? who ever did is either idiotic or joking with you.

you can seize your motor going thru water if it sucks it into your intake.

 

Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see...wise old man taught me that! !

 

Drove through some REALLY deep water one time with my '95 XL 2wd with the 300I6 and the speedometer was showing 40 mph at 4,000 RPMs. When i got out to check the truck about two miles down the road (truck ran fine about a 1/4 mile after splashing through), i heard water sloshing in the power steering pump when i turned the wheel. That truck is still running today, with at least 300,000 on the odometer

Can't kill that old 300I6

 

I've driven through muddy standing water that was at least 18" deep before. Pedal to the floor in 4Hi the whole way through it. Almost got stuck in the middle. It was during a flood in the city and cars were getting stuck all over the place. I was trying to get home because my basement was flooding.

That was last August and I haven't had any problems with the truck since.

Whoever told you that isn't that smart. The biggest danger with driving through mud or water is sucking water into the intake. That will hydro lock the engine and cause it to bend rods. Then you will be buying a new engine.

It's even worse for our trucks because the intake is right above the front left wheel.

 

there is some truth behind it, if your at operating temp and you hit cold water, like almost frozen water, you can warp things, its common in the four wheeler world i believe. hot metal, touching cold water all the sudden is no good. same way you can warp your brake rotors by powerwashing them with cold water. but it wont cause your truck to die by anymeans. perhaps hes uneducated and referring to hydrolocking, meaning you get your air intake in water, then the motor sucks up water, that can destroy an engine no doubt. when messing around in water, and fording, you need to know where your intake is at all times and beware of drop offs that can submerge your nose. if your fording something, and your hood suddenly plummits beneath the water, dont be afraid, and kill the key. get pulled out from behind. if you ever suspect sucking up water you can usually pull the plugs and crank it over and watch the water fly out, but since spark plugs in our trucks are just that, its better just to stay away from fording deep water.

 

Yea never heard of that happening. The alternators on these trucks are pretty exposed and could easily get alot of water in them which would also shut the truck down. Ive been through water that was creating waves so large I couldn't see out of my windshield any more and didnt have a problem, but Friend of mine in an 04 had this happen to him while driving on the beach I guess its a hit or miss kinda thing.
Speaking of hydrolocking the motor in water got a story. Me and a few of my friends were up at his mountain house in PA and he decieded to turn off the road at 35 mph and try and make it through the creek well that didn't end up well. This was in a late 80's chevy blazer. So we hit the water hard as hell was like hitting a wall people sitting in the back flew up into the front of the truck this was in 30 degree water mind you there was ice forming on a moving creek. Try and start the truck wont start. So we gotta crawl out in the pitch dark and walk up back to the house. Next morning we get a tractor started and pull out the stuck blazer still sitting in the middle of the creek. We get it back up to the house and still wont start we remove all the spark plugs and crank the engine. Engine was pumping gallons of water out. Place the spark plugs back in and started right up and drove about 200 miles home in it those things are pretty bullet proof though was a good time.

 

Also, don't let engine RPMs drop much if the tailpipe is submerged. The engine isn't very good at pumping water out of the exaust and could stall. Submerging axles, wheels, etc. is mechanical failure waiting to happen. Light trucks are not designed for submerged operations. If it happens, you are well advised to drain and flush differentials, and regrease wheel bearings, etc.

 

If you plan on going into water above the hubs (Ford says that is as deep as you should go BTW) make sure you extend the vent lined for the differentials so that they do not get submerged allowing water into the diff.

As for everything else, Hydro-locking a motor is always a risk unless you take precautions not to suck water into the intake.

 

Yeah I'd worry about the differentials before anything engine related when going through water. If you are driving in water deep enough to submerge the intake in one of these newer trucks then you are an idiot. Leave that to small import diesel rigs with a snorkel.

 

Speaking of differentials & axles, I was under my '07 Fx4 today, measuring, planning on my drop ..... seems I'll have to have the left side tail pipe reworked some over the differential first ....

.... but anyways, while under here I recalled a thread about that axle vent hose and I know on my '77 it is just fastened with a clip up high and a down loop. On my '07 it runs up to a plastic snap in fitting that goes into the bottum of a bed floor crossmember that happens to be open on the ends. I don't recall if there is a loop in there, I forgot to look .... but watch out how you use water to flush into the crossmembers.