Waterproofing electrical parts.

Got a petrol 3.9 v8i Discovery 1.
What's the best way of protecting the electrical parts of the engine from water, especially now winter on it's way.
Dizzy, ignition coil, starter motor and sparkplug's.
Did see a while ago someone selling military parts to do it but they are expensive.
Surely there's a cheaper option.
Also seen some v8's with snorkel on.
Surely they have been made waterproof?

CarlTurner972 said:

Got a petrol 3.9 v8i Discovery 1.
What's the best way of protecting the electrical parts of the engine from water, especially now winter on it's way.
Dizzy, ignition coil, starter motor and sparkplug's.
Did see a while ago someone selling military parts to do it but they are expensive.
Surely there's a cheaper option.
Also seen some v8's with snorkel on.
Surely they have been made waterproof?

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Spray of wd40? They are waterproof enough for normal use, as far as I know, never done anything special to mine.
Most snorkels are fitted because people like the appearance. Standard wading depths are more than adequate for what most people will do. If you intend to drive through very deep water, wear a wetsuit. Old tired door seals etc will let plenty of water in the cab too!

Can it be sprayed on the plugs?
More worried that if I have to go through a deep flood that no water gets into the electrical bits and hydro?? up the engine.
I've done it before in a Zafira I had years ago.
Don't want to do that again.
Cost me a small fortune.
Besides that, I really like my disco and don't want to lose her.

A snorkel is not necessarily fitted to allow deep wading, it can be fitted to allow clean non-dusty air to be drawn into the engine from higher up.

What about Vaseline on connections and so on?

CarlTurner972 said:

Can it be sprayed on the plugs?
More worried that if I have to go through a deep flood that no water gets into the electrical bits and hydro?? up the engine.
I've done it before in a Zafira I had years ago.
Don't want to do that again.
Cost me a small fortune.
Besides that, I really like my disco and don't want to lose her.

Click to expand...

Really shouldn't be a problem unless you want to drive through water over about 18inches deep. Dead slow, so a bow wave doesn't form and fill anything. Air intake on that must be almost three foot off the ground. Google wading depths!
Put the wading plugs in if you want to go that deep, although they aren't necessary for a brief immersion. Remember to take them out again afterwards, so yer bell housing doesn't fill with oil.

I used a product called damp start on my V8. Seemed to work ok. Have lots of wd40 for after wading and a decent dry cloth to wipe dry anything that needs it. If you have a snorkel then your less likely to have a drink but that's not the same as water proof. I didn't have a snorkel but a spare filter with me.

Do I need wading plug's as my car is an automatic.?

We used to cover everything in vaseline on our V8 Range Rover classics, tape plastics bags over stuff too. Doing that really helped a lot!

When we took them to billing in the 90's they would always cut out because of water hitting the distributer. Covered in vaseline then covered with a plastic bag and it was fine

we didn't have snorkels and always did the mud run

CarlTurner972 said:

Do I need wading plug's as my car is an automatic.?

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No, u don't.
Also the the plug shroud will stop water getting to the spark plug terminal but the leads may start shorting out if u have iffy ones fitted, but if your going in that deep and water gets in side it doesn't matter, your EFI ECU along with the relays will pack up first as the are positioned lower than plug leads.

Where's the EFI ECU located?
And by relay's is that the one's inside the car footwells?

CarlTurner972 said:

Where's the EFI ECU located?
And by relay's is that the one's inside the car footwells?

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Yes along with a few other ECU's including the EFI one which is positioned on the drivers side.

Unless you are wading you shouldn't really need to do anything.

Have a look at this
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/who-says-v8s-dont-swim.82945/

Also heard about putting a condom over certain parts too.
In the engine.
Before any smutty remarks start coming up.
Any tried this?

if you are really worried about deep water buy a can of motor bike chain spray lube cote leads dizzy n anything else your worried about.
job done. wd40 is also very good but eventually washes off

biketeacherdave said:

if you are really worried about deep water buy a diesel

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Heresy