Have you driven your Landy in Morocco?

Good morning guys i hope you are all well?

So in Oct i will the taking my 300Tdi Defender in to the sand dunes of the Sahara and i have been wondering about my air cleaner in the desert dust.

At the moment i have a standard set up with a pipersport foam air filter fitted.

I will be fitting a raised air intake with a Donaldson 10 inch diameter pre filter.

What are your experiences with air cleaners in desert dust?

 

1 for @hef19898 as he was recently in the Tunisian desert I fink with his RRC.

Good luck on your travels Lee.

Cant wait to see the pics.

J

 

I'd say it depends on the conditions, a snorkel won't hurt anyways so. Propably doesn't have to be a cyclon filter on top of it. Enjoy your trip, a 300 Tdi shoupd have less problems with the heat then a v8 on carbs!

 

We went about 20 years ago, I would suggest using a standard filter and take a spare one. Will get very dusty if you are in a convoy. Raised air intake will help (turn the top round so it faces the rear).

 

Are you going with a tour group or on your own?

 

Im going on a tour with ProTrax

 

We went with them, was a good trip. Don't get roped in to going to all the rug or pottery shops like we did, lol

 

im really looking forward to it

 

+1
I drove in a friend’s Jeep (sorry not a LR) in Sidi Bou Said near Tunisia. Aiming the raised intake towards the rear helps immensely.

 

@dag019 has been to morocco

 

I have indeed I have been twice. I don't do anything special with my air filter other than change it regularly. I have a mushroom top snorkel fitted so get a little cyclone action out of that but it does not have a pre-filter. Both times I have been I have driven down though France and Spain then spending two weeks in morocco before driving home. I changed may air filter after the first week and again before driving home, I am just running standard TD air filters.

I don't know how much planning you have done so far, how long you are going for, and if you are going "alone" or in a guided group, but I have my planned and actual itineraries for my trips and some of the interesting off road routes recoded on Wikiloc (link) if any of that is of any use to you. the only thing I will say is it was three years between my trips and the last was maybe four years ago, and between trips there had been huge infrastructure improvements so a lot of the information I found on line at the time was very very out of date for my first trip. Even then things had changed and improved between the two trips for example more tarmac main roads and the ability to pay for things with card (especially fuel) which was not possible anywhere first time around.

 

As I’m sure you know, the actual problem is dust clogging your filter. Raised intake and cyclone separators help reduce this but don’t eliminate it. I’d just take a few spare filters. That way you’ll ALWAYS be able to fix the issue if you have a problem. There also not too hard to find in North Africa.

The filter you mentioned is that one of the cleanable ones? If you’re going into lots of sand I’d personally keep the air filtration standard but I suppose as long as you’ve got the facilities to clean it that’ll be ok. I have heard stories of these aftermarket performance filters not being great in that situation as they’re really designed for engine performance and actually clog easily (particles reach deep into the filter due to higher air flow and some have a thin oil coating I think?) don’t clean that well but that’s just anecdotal.

The dust from desert sand isn’t as bad as the dust from dried mud tracks. Particle size is bigger and you’ll likely be travelling at lower speeds. Plenty of exceptions to this of course.

enjoy your trip!