Snorkel, water.. Why?

[MOAK]

Question, as I have debated the necessity of one for decades now. Having a snorkel will give your vehicle a true cold air intake, so, for those of you that have installed them, did it change the performance of your engines? We go to the 4 corners region nearly every year and had work done at 4x4 Outpost back when Steve was about a mile south of town on the left. I asked him about snorkels for use in the southwest and he just said that he didn't run them on any of his vehicles. He didn't advise for or against them, he just told me what he does.. I'm still debating with myself..

 

[southdiver1]

Question, as I have debated the necessity of one for decades now. Having a snorkel will give your vehicle a true cold air intake, so, for those of you that have installed them, did it change the performance of your engines? We go to the 4 corners region nearly every year and had work done at 4x4 Outpost back when Steve was about a mile south of town on the left. I asked him about snorkels for use in the southwest and he just said that he didn't run them on any of his vehicles. He didn't advise for or against them, he just told me what he does.. I'm still debating with myself..

I personally could not tell a difference with my 200 HP Wrangler but, I would imagine something with higher horsepower might have some benefits of a CAI.

 

[Toyotadirtdevil]

Can you still pass California smog with a snorkel?

 

[LoneWolf]

I would like to know this ^^^^^ as well??? any thoughts? I mean worst case scenario @Michael1929 you would just un install it for the Smog and Star inspection and pass as long as you have all the OEM components...

 

[southdiver1]

Can you still pass California smog with a snorkel?

On the Rugged Ridge one, all it does is extend your air intake. You still use your factory air cleaner and everything else from the air cleaner up to the throttle body is factory. I can't see how anyone can ding you for smog issues.

 

[AlysonH]

Can you still pass California smog with a snorkel?

Yes, I'm in CA and have to do the smog test every year.

 

[MarkW]

I don't see how it could affect the smog testing results in any way. As @southdiver1 said all they do is extend your intake from the factory air cleaner to a higher inlet.

As far as performance I don't recall noticing any but I do know my intake temps were a fair amount lower than a friends truck (same truck and engine) not running a snorkel.

 

[Hiluxoverland]

Lower air intake temps should help make the combustion of fuel and air more efficient. I'd think that would be noticeable as far as fuel consumption is concerned, Have we had anyone notice a difference as far as fuel consumption with the snorkel installed?

 

[Nomadic Mechanic]

I follow Ronny Dahl on youtube for off road performance suggestions on diesel rigs since and some of those guys he interviews claim better mileage (kms in their case). I just installed one on my Cummins Bronco so i'll let you know after my next trip.

 

[Hiluxoverland]

Sweet, please so do. I'm sure we'd all like to know.

 

[O.Dfj]

Can you still pass California smog with a snorkel?

Yes with most snorkles connect to the stock air box in the fender. Now if the snorkle requires a differnt air box it would require a california executive order number aka carb eo number. Im a smog tech.

 

[shoredreamer]

Question, as I have debated the necessity of one for decades now. Having a snorkel will give your vehicle a true cold air intake, so, for those of you that have installed them, did it change the performance of your engines? We go to the 4 corners region nearly every year and had work done at 4x4 Outpost back when Steve was about a mile south of town on the left. I asked him about snorkels for use in the southwest and he just said that he didn't run them on any of his vehicles. He didn't advise for or against them, he just told me what he does.. I'm still debating with myself..

I installed mine a few months ago after it sat in the garage for 18 months. Finally just did it. I'm sure any performance gains are purely mental coming from the intake sound the snorkel makes at higher RPMs. But I'm relatively running a few degrees cooler. Haven't checked out my tuna can yet after two dusty Sierra trail weekends though. Its been sturdy and isn't really noticeable with wind noise which I was worried about.

 

[Michael]

Hey all, this is primarily about a differential breather installation, but I do talk about the purpose of the snorkel, and how water gets sucked into the axel during rapid cooling. Remember, the transmission has a breather too!

 

[Corey]

I got mine mainly for dust control as where we go, mainly the Greenwater area by Mount Rainier is very dry and dusty in the summer time.
When you have a caravan of Toyota rigs, a lotta dust can kick up and it is very hard to see.

However...one week after ARB installed mine at their old headquarters in Renton, WA. (I was the third FJ in the states to get one, some guy back East, the silver FJ that ARB had there, and mine) I was on my way to work in pouring down rain and underneath a railroad trestle the water backs up sometimes, and I hit it hard at 25+ MPH, and my rig slowed down and water came up clear over the top of my rig.
If I did not have the new snorkel, my engine would have hydrolocked for sure, as the stock intake is in front of the right front tire.
The police where there getting ready to block off the entrance as I was coming by for the city to come and get the leaves out of the drains.

Funny thing too when they were installing my snorkel an ocean container showed up from Australia with a ton of snorkels for ARB to ship out to the stores who wanted to sell them.
They had flown in the three we got first, and ARBs president at the time Jim Jackson asked me if I wanted one to buy when it arrived.
Well yeah

I think it was a very smart decision on my part to get the Safari snorkel.
And I think they look great too.

 

[TXbenchRacer]

I did mine mainly for dust control and so I can get a laugh when people come up and ask why I did my exhaust like that.

 

[Hiluxoverland]

Some really good posts turning up here! I like it

 

[4xFar Adventures]

I think any possible performance gain from a snorkel is negated after our rigs are kitted. Even a step up or two in tires size would do that.

No issues with SMOG testing in CA. Maybe if there was a severe restriction of air (clogged pre-filter, severe dent) you might have an issue with the ECU trying to compensate. But the SES (CEL) would turn on way before it was time for the test, and would be pretty obvious something isn't right.

 

[VDawg1115]

Just got mine on today

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

I think any possible performance gain from a snorkel is negated after our rigs are kitted. Even a step up or two in tires size would do that.

Considering the fact that most of the kits use OE air boxes and plumbing I can't see there being any performance gains. The "cold air" aspect is a bit off as well since most modern OE plumbing pulls air from outside the engine compartment anyway. You could actually make a case saying that a snorkel could actually raise IAT's since you lengthen the tract and that lengthened portion is outside the vehicle in the sun pulling air through a black abs tube while crawling along at a snails pace at times. It's not really about gains, it's about helping prevent/slow down performance losses. Heat soak is a real performance robber and I don't see a snorkel doing anything better than a well designed OE system when it comes to performance.

When I think snorkel I think water, dust, and a pretty bad ass rig haha.

 

[southdiver1]

Just to add my $0.02 here.
In an earlier post, Justin (Nomadic Mechanic) spoke about a snorkel.
Now, I have been wheeling with him and I have seen first hand how water can stop a vehicle. In his case, water had splashed up pretty good and soaked his air cleaner to the point where he could not draw enough air into the turbo to do anything more then an idle. After having me pull him out of the small puddle, we had to wait about 10 minutes for the filter to dry enough to get moving again.
A "custom" air filter shroud from 87 dynamics did help a LOT to shield the filter from that kind of a problem again but he still could not really follow me. This week, he installed his snorkel and, with all the rain we have been getting, maybe we will test it this weekend.