Bearing failures after wading?

About a month or so back I took my 300tdi powered 110 wading through some pretty deep 'water' on Salisbury plain. Great fun, but my engine developed several nasty sounding noises slowly over last few weeks. Turns out the bearings were shot in the tensioner, water pump and fan pulley, and the alternator bearing seems to be on the way out too. I have fitted a new tensioner bearing and a new water pump, and I have removed the fan and have ordered a shorter belt so I can bypass the fan pulley alltogether.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future? Or was it just coincidence/bad luck?

they are not submarines , so wading does take a toll , sometimes sooner rather than later .

check wheel bearings ,axle oils,transmission etc every time you go wading ,non of its water tight

Yeah I did check all the wheel bearings etc, even changed transmission, transfer box and diff oils (were due anyway), but how can I protect all the engine ancillary bearings? I appreciate continued wading isn't good for it but surely there is something I can do to stop them all failing within weeks of wading?

Did you use wading plugs?

DreXeL said:

About a month or so back I took my 300tdi powered 110 wading through some pretty deep 'water' on Salisbury plain. Great fun, but my engine developed several nasty sounding noises slowly over last few weeks. Turns out the bearings were shot in the tensioner, water pump and fan pulley, and the alternator bearing seems to be on the way out too. I have fitted a new tensioner bearing and a new water pump, and I have removed the fan and have ordered a shorter belt so I can bypass the fan pulley alltogether.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this in the future? Or was it just coincidence/bad luck?

Click to expand...

Yes, it is called grease, it is available in all good car shops. liberally apply to all pulley and tensioner bearings before and after after off road trips involving water.

goonarmy said:

Did you use wading plugs?

Click to expand...

No (I know, I know), but I don't wade that often so haven't bothered before now, I will be getting some though. They aren't relevant to this specific problem anyway.

martin1512 said:

Yes, it is called grease, it is available in all good car shops. liberally apply to all pulley and tensioner bearings before and after after off road trips involving water.

Click to expand...

No need for the sarcasm

Being sealed bearings it never occurred to me to grease them, but I'll make sure they are well greased in future.

martin1512 said:

Yes, it is called grease, it is available in all good car shops. liberally apply to all pulley and tensioner bearings before and after after off road trips involving water.

Click to expand...

This is about your only defence, it will help but water brings all sorts of dirt with it, sailsbury plane is famous for its concrete like mud, took me ages to get the rad and intercooler clear again!

DreXeL said:

No (I know, I know), but I don't wade that often so haven't bothered before now, I will be getting some though. They aren't relevant to this specific problem anyway.



No need for the sarcasm

Being sealed bearings it never occurred to me to grease them, but I'll make sure they are well greased in future.

Click to expand...

That's the problem with those bearings. They are not watertight, but they are an arse to lubricate when the grease inside them is contaminated. I thouroughly coat the outside of the bearing with grease. Rather than actually lubricating the bearings, the coating of grease keeps moisture and fine silt and dirt from being washed into them and contaminating the grease inside them.

Makes sense, I'll give it a go

I had my cambelt replaced in nov and in jan it failed again,when pete took it all apart there was mud n water in there and the tensioner had seized causing belt to snap.also the front wheel bearings were full of water and they were only 1 month old

it comes with the territory im afraid,,goin shopping and dropping kids off at school wont bring these probs

so much easier back in the days when fings had nipples to grease,
you could pump `em wiv grease before going swimming,
then grease `em when you got out,
it would have pushed out any grit/crap/water or forign bodies..







NO, not them forign bodies...............

You've made me paranoid about my cambelt now WLM

DreXeL said:

You've made me paranoid about my cambelt now WLM

Click to expand...

I think I was just unlucky

Hopefully mine is OK, there are no nasty/dry noises coming from my timing cover area. I'm going to change my cambelt next month anyway.

martin1512 said:

Yes, it is called grease, it is available in all good car shops. liberally apply to all pulley and tensioner bearings before and after after off road trips involving water.

Click to expand...

Love it

Alternator bearings failed today on the way home from work

DreXeL said:

Alternator bearings failed today on the way home from work

Click to expand...

you really will have to learn how to resist a little

Not in my nature lol

Wading is inherently bad news for any off roader, a bit like drugs for your body, great at the time but sooner or later it will damage the internals and you won't necessarily know about it at the time.

I love water crossings, can't get enough of getting wet, but all the issues I've had have Ben caused by this silly habit.

Wheel bearings and pinion bearings are common place failures. I have the Zeus timing gear conversion so belt don't bother me but my mates have ll had failures in the last six months following water play.

All because a landie can swim, doesn't mean you should and I don't recommend it.

Now if you insist then stock up on ATF and ep80/90 so you can swop fluids upon return. Also strip off hubs and repack the bearings so all is good. At the same time you can renew wheel bearing grease seals for a few pence now.

Finally as with the rad, use a. Wading blanket.