Wading? Does it knacker the alternator and starter motor?

Hi all, i am just in the process of having a new sterter motor fitted to my 1991 Defender 90 200di. The alternator was was replaced for a brand new one at just the cost of the alternator, because my dad and uncle fitted it.

But the starter motor, which is a bosch one is costing me £180, because its being done by a garage. A rip off i know, but seemed like a bitch of a job to do because of having to take the exhaust manifold off.

The question i'm asking is whether by going wading it will cause the alternator and starter motor to become knackered again? If so then i will avoid going through too deep a water from now on? I don't go wading in muddy water, just fords/rivers, so pretty clean and not to muddy.

Any info on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Terra.

yes deep water will knacker ya electrics.

It can do. I mostly, not always, make a point of jet-washing inside the engine bay after muddy laning or fording, then spraying the alty and starter with WD40 as a water repellent. I also sometimes spray them with contact cleaner. Dunno if it helps, but I've only needed one alternator in 70,000+ miles of having the Disco ..and that was the bearings, not the charging side of it.

It looks like i should avoid deep water then, and be a bit more sensible. What other things can wadind affect apart from Tranferbox, axles and gearbox. I have a wading kit waiting to be fitted and it has a 1" lift kit with a safari snorkel? I've also recently changed the oils and the tranfer box oil was like baileys due to wading obviously.

if your exhaust is running hot and is suddenly cooled by the water it can cause the catalytic converter to collapse if you have one fitted

I dont know if mine has a cat fitted. It's 200tdi 1991.

Just been doing some wading in my V8

There's an intermittent river where I live, and it runs along one of the roads for about a mile, was only about 18 inches deep but was great fun

I just sprayed some wd-40 over all the electrics I could see, and it's absolutely fine.

The deepest i've gone in mine was upto the bottoms of the doors and the ford/river was about 100meters long.

Only problem was i filled the headlights up with water and blew the bulbs, :doh:

Its not the water that's the problem, its the suspended solids in muddy water. It tends to get into the bearings and ruin them. Water itself, yep the thing gets wet but can dry out again with few issues.

So its muddy water i should steer clear of. I don't go through much muddy water, mainly fords, but i spose i would do if i'm off roading. What bearing were you on about anyway? Are bearings not sealed?

invest heavily in wd40. Sparya it on everything before and after getting wet.Then work out how to get the residue off but thats another thread....