Distributor? River Jeep Issues

it turns out that once you get asking around, there are plenty of old jeeps hidden away from the public eye. one of my teachers has a '69 cj5 with a dauntless. he says that when he gets in deep water it dies, which he thinks is from the fan flinging water back. my dad theorized that it may be the distributor getting water in it, as it's mounted forward and can apparently suffer from that. assuming dad is correct, would it possibly solve his issues if he were to repurpose some thin sheetmetal (heatshield from a newer car?) and make a cage/deflector for the dizzy?

 

just put a cut motorcycle tube on it . also known as raincoat
raincoat means other things too

 

maybe. sounds like a good idea, but unless it's loose it might be a pain coming off to work on it.

 

If its loose, it wont work. Simple solutions are a good thing.

 

i guess i could have him do that...

 

In reality you should be able to pressure wash the engine while it is running. I can mine and every car I have owned. That will test your dads theory.

 

Way back when.... we used to spray the distributor and plug wires with hairspray. Spray heavy enough to leave a light film. Don't have the engine running, not sure of the propellant in the can.

 

In reality you should be able to pressure wash the engine while it is running.

That would be a different reality than the one I live in. Sometimes I even wipe off the distributor on rainy mornings.

Old timers would slip off the fan belt before fording.

 

The Buick might not have the right distributor cap.
Open element air cleaners are also a bad idea.
I've never had luck with points distributors in car washes.
All the old time stuff says to pull the belt off and I've lost an engine by not doing so (with open elementary cleaner).

In the local group there is a f134 with Chevy hei that has about 3 tubes worth of silicone on the distributor to waterproof it.

my new distributor for the TBI has a big vent in the bottom so it's by no means waterproof just better shielded than the buicks. It is also good to have the alternator and starter up high but once water is up to the axle tube you are as high as the civilian jeeps are intended to go and venting becomes important.

 

he's got an oil bath, not the problem. slipping the fan belt off seems like a kinda sketchy idea, as that provides the cooling. i guess the water would keep the temperature down.

 

Yep. The engine won't overheat. This is an advantage of an electric fan - just turn it off.

With everything wet, water will condense inside the distributor cap. May not happen immediately, but next time you try to start, no start. Then wipe out the water in the cap.

 

5th wheel grease around all the seams will keep water out. Its a heavy, tacky grease that sticks to everything.

 

I always do that when fording. If the fan is hitting the water enough to start flinging water back on the engine then it is getting close enough to maybe dig into the water and suck the fan into the radiator and then your have a lot more of a problem then just the engine dying. And it happens so fast you can not kill the engine before your radiator is destroyed. I am pretty sure old military jeep fording kits included a way to loosen the belt. Not that big of a deal to loosen the belt, plus most fording are so short the engine will not get hot. I always loosen the belt even if the water does not look that deep. Cheap insurance.
Mike

 

This has me thinking.....has anyone found a clutch fan that works with the dauntless? And would that alleviate needing to slip the belt off?

 

I've done this.

This happened to me last summer.

I bought this from another forum member, supposedly off a Volvo car.

 

The 231 I have out of a 85 Regal has a clutch fan but I am not sure there is room for it in a Jeep. Even with a clutch fan if the water is deep enough it is going to get hit by the fan so I don't think it would help much.

 

Yup, loose fan belt is the trick. Looking to avoid belt adjustment I have a piece of material, gym mat fabric, to fit over the outside of the grille. The suction holds it in place. Proper fording technique is just the right speed. Not real fast like idiots on you tube or truck commercials. Just fast enough to create a bow wave. Of course every wave is followed by a trough. If your speed is correct that trough will be about were the engine compartment is. The grille cover is to further limit water coming into the engine compartment. Next time I will likely remove the hood to visually verify this this.

 

That's how we always did it.

 

it aint me doin this, but this might be useful info for the jeep owner.

 

I have seen a WW2 picture where they drove the Jeep onto a big tarp, fastened the tarp around the Jeep and floated it over a river that was too deep to drive across.

That approach takes care of these problems.