Liberty Renegade + Lake Christy + speed = bad day

[Renedave]

Hey folks,

Saturday was a bad day for a fellow KJ'er, I'm afraid. Up at Rausch Creek, PA I was pretty happy to see another Liberty Renegade pull into the staging area - all set up with Frankenlift, ARB front bumper, 245/75 MT/Rs, etc. Unfortunately mid-afternoon I passed him completely hydrolocked after having been pulled out of Lake Christy.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=12525824

Looking at the video and having seen the damage, it looks like water came in between the hood and grill and was sucked right into the intake like a shop vacuum. Yeah, it was boneheaded of him to use the skinny petal to try to shoot his way though, but looking at the design of the splashguard on the intake I'm not surprised this happened. The splashguard is obviously designed for the standard Liberty hood that follows the contour of the headlight, and is too low toward the center of the engine compartment to block water coming in under the flat Renegade hood. If you open the hood and look at the intake from just over the grill it's a straight shot in! So... before I go off pulling the intake off my Renny and try to fab up my own splash guard (possibly just modifying the stock one with assistance of a heat gun) has anyone come up with a better air intake for reducing the possibility of water ingestion?

 

[AndySRT]

that is what I like to call a ******* for not checking the depth and using the go pedal to get threw a obsticle.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

That was smart.

The splash guard isn't the cause. Him going through the water like that is the issue. Snorkel anyone? Hehe...

"WTB: 2005 Jeep Liberty 3.7L Engine"

lol3.gif

 

[2003KJ]

Man....I coulda gone with out seein that video.....poor KJ....***** for the dude driving it...but I guess thats one lesson he learned the hard way

 

[JeepJeepster]

Ouch, thats an expensive mistake. Are you sure it was Hydrolocked? They were telling him to turn it off.

Has nothing to do with the intake being made wrong or being a bad design. Its about as high as you can get it.. Only other thing you can do is get a snorkel.

Haha, and why did that guy tell him to floor it? Sounds like he shoulda found some guys that know how to offroad.

 

[Renedave]

Yup, hydrolocked. They told him to turn it off because he kept trying to crank the engine. It's no excuse, but they were a bunch of kids who didn't have the experience to be where they were.

Regardless of how boneheaded a move this was, there's no question in my mind that the splashguard was designed to work with the standard hood and does not work as well with the Liberty hood.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Im alittle confused when you say "there's no question in my mind that the splashguard was designed to work with the standard hood and does not work as well with the Liberty hood."

It looks to be like he has the stock hood on a liberty in that movie.

It doesnt matter what kinda splash guard you have, if the water goes over the inlet on the intake, the water WILL go in.. The splash guard is there to keep rain from shooting down into the intake on the Highway..

 

[Marlon_JB2]

Yeah, that guard isn't for offroading.... never has been or will be.

 

[JeepJeepster]

You could wrap a big tarp over the front end of the liberty before going through a hole like that.. Im not kidding either..

 

[MoladoGuy]

has anyone come up with a better air intake for reducing the possibility of water ingestion?

Yup...... Snorkel. Regardless of what intake you get for the KJ water ingestion can be a problem if not playing smart. A snorkel will be your only possible savior in situations like these.

 

[Gris]

Im alittle confused when you say "there's no question in my mind that the splashguard was designed to work with the standard hood and does not work as well with the Liberty hood."

It looks to be like he has the stock hood on a liberty in that movie.

It doesnt matter what kinda splash guard you have, if the water goes over the inlet on the intake, the water WILL go in.. The splash guard is there to keep rain from shooting down into the intake on the Highway..

Jeepster, I think he means it was designed for the hood that conforms to the curve of the headlights, not the renegade hood that is straight across the front.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

Jeepster, I think he means it was designed for the hood that conforms to the curve of the headlights, not the renegade hood that is straight across the front.

It doesn't matter, in that situation NOTHING is going to help you BUT a snorkel.

There's an additional foam "guard" that is glued to the hood which assists this rain guard, and the two foam thingies are different for each hood.

 

[J-Thompson]

nothing would have helped that guy but a brain transplant
I know about beep water/mud crossing and the worst thing you can do is
"floor it"

from the looks of things he could have just gone slow and steady and made it out fine

But any way he hydo locked the engine?
I wander what he wants for the bumper

 

[MoladoGuy]

Doe he have an EVIC with sunroof control?

 

[tgh117]

just pull the plugs, drain the oil, wd-40 the heck out of the engine compartment, replace the oil, and the plugs and fire it back up. I doubt it would hurt the engine, been there, seen that before, I would be more concerned about the electronics under the hook the the internals of the motor.

 

[JeepJeepster]

If it bends a connecting rod then its over..

 

[sevenhelmet]

Hey didn't you guys know that if you floor it into water you can hydroplane across the top?

Seriously though, if I don't know how deep a puddle is, I stay the heck away from it!!!

 

[hyde]

Jesus Jeep!

 

[Renedave]

just pull the plugs, drain the oil, wd-40 the heck out of the engine compartment, replace the oil, and the plugs and fire it back up. I doubt it would hurt the engine, been there, seen that before, I would be more concerned about the electronics under the hook the the internals of the motor.

I have to hope this is the case. It's possible that he bent a rod, valve stem, or damaged the wrist or crank bearings, but the Libby 3.7 engine comes from the Grand Cherokee 4.8L V8, and that's pretty sturdy DNA.

And yes, he probably dunked it to the point where nothing was gonna help him but a snorkel. However, that don't change the fact that the splash guard isn't doing it's job on the Renegades.

 

[desertkj]

That's just a shame that he had to do that to such a good KJ. Gotta love the Myspace posts too. :-#