Hello. Just curious if a water crossing poses any threat to the aluminum heads (or block?) on these trucks. Is there any chance of cracking or warping when fording a river? Thanks!

 

do you have a snorkel kit installed? (do they make one for the F150?)

If not, I'm pretty sure you'd suck water in before you crack the head.

 

i don't actually own the truck yet. i just don't want to buy a work truck if i am going to be limited by the engine. i'm sure you are right about sucking water, but just want to be sure splashing or sloshing water on a hot engine won't ruin it. i will stick to iron if it is going to be an issue. thanks!

 

As long as the engine is runing there will be no harm. The big problem is if you have say a iron block and aluminum heads they cool down at differnt times (one cools faster than the other). Same goes for adding collent to the rad.If the engine is hot do not turn off. A water whyel the engine is runing.

 

ahhh... that makes sense. so, if you had aluminum block and heads and sink the hot block into the water still running, is it going to survive?

 

I can't say for sure, but I'd think if you're still running you'd be ok as there is a lot of hot engine oil circulating inside that will keep the outside from cooling too fast. But thats just my guess.

what are you planning on doing that this is such a big concern?

I can tell you that I went through some really deep water this past week (for sure my oil pan was submerged... at one point it got deeper than I thought it was going to be and my passenger side probably got in to about the door sill) and I didn't have any trouble. My engine was hot, but not necessarily really hot... I'd been driving for about 10-15 minutes.

 

you will be fine. ive driven through 3ft of water with my truck when it flooded a couple months ago. only thing to be worried about is the intake sucking water

 

If you completely sink these engine, you wont crack your block but no it wont survive. like said earlier, you will be sucking in WAY too much water and your truck will die far before the block cracks. If its stock, i think fording depth is what 2 feet or something? Can't imagine it being that high up. throw on a lift and tires and you will able to go through deeper water. I am sure the truck will be fine for what you will be wanting it to do. Just be logical. Biggest thing would be to make sure to check diff fluid (and all fluids for that matter) after any water play/fording.

 

As long as your moving very slowly and have a stock intake anything up to about the tops of the tires should be good. Just remeber to go slowly