Requirements for carefree fording?

[85_Ranger4x4]

Back in the 1970s some people thought that gas fumes inside the gas tank were a source of "air pollution"

So the Evaporative emissions system was invented, EVAP for short

Gas tanks had a Vented Gas cap up to that point
So gas caps were change to un-vented and a hose was run from the top of the gas tank to a PORTED vacuum source on the carburetor
Ported vacuum has very little vacuum at idle and then gets higher vacuum as RPMs go up, so opposite of regular vacuum, and not as strong
Gasoline in the tank creates more gas "vapor" when its sloshing around, vehicle moving, which is why Ported vacuum was perfect, it sucked in more vapor when vehicle was moving, which was the point of the EVAP system
And the vapor was just burned up in the engine like the gas from the Jets(or injectors)

Then a Charcoal canister was added on the hose to gas tank, so fumes/vapors would be filtered even when vehicle was sitting and off

Then when vehicles got computers the powers that be decided that this ported vacuum method could be refined, and more expensive parts should be used, lol, many many more parts

And we have this now-a-days: https://www.motor.com/wp-content/uploads/evap1_0317.png

Computer uses the purge valve to control regular vacuum sucking fumes from gas that thru charcoal filter
Computer has a vacuum pressure sensor on the gas tank to make sure pressure is not too high or there is no pressure so a LEAK in the system("Check gas cap" light on the dash)
And then a computer controlled Vent valve to pull in fresh air to charcoal canister as needed

This diagram has flow indicated: https://s3.amazonaws.com/rparts-sit...rts-and-vehicles/evap-system-diagram-500x.jpg

So what started off as a nice simple system with one hose.......................well engineers MUST engineer, lol
Rube Goldberg machine comes to mind

Canister was also moved from the fairly clean engine bay to the dirty enviroment above the rear axle/spare tire so the delicate valve can plug with dirt, and they have a pump to also fail now too.

 

[Chapap]

Any electrical connectors you see can be unplugged and then outside coated with di-electric grease, and plugged back in
Di-electric grease doesn't conduct electricity which regular grease can, so do not get it on the metal connections(pins/slots) because they are suppose to conduct electricity, lol
The grease is used to seal the connection to prevent water intrusion

I’ve seen that said before. I always make sure the entire connector is coated in the stuff… pins and all. It doesn’t conduct, but that doesn’t mean it acts as an insulator. If the pins are tight in the receptacle, everything’s fine.

 

[Shran]

The deepest water I've gone through was a river in AZ that is normally dry but was maybe a foot deep and 100 yards wide when we crossed it, and it was running pretty good. That was spooky. My Explorer got pushed around by the water and there were all sorts of little holes to fall into while crossing it. Found out later that a kid died a week or two later in a car that got washed away in the same spot.

Anyway my takeaways from that were, I needed extended breather hoses on the front axle and the rear as well but to a lesser extent, that one's pretty long from the factory but I still ran it up behind the taillight. Front one went up into the engine bay. I did not have water in the rear axle but did in the front.

The wheel bearings in the front were not happy. I think the spindle seal was leaking and the hub filled up with water. It doesn't really drain out and the wheel bearings ended up rusting a month or so later and needed to be replaced. I would pick up a couple Dana spindle bearing/seal kits and redo yours...you will not regret that decision!

Exhaust I was not worried about. It got some water in it but it just sounded funny for a mile or two and then was all blown out... no big deal.

I'm not too worried about electrical connectors. I pressure wash my engine bay all the time and it's never been a problem. My V8 swapped truck has the ECM under the hood and I've even washed it off a few times.

Axles and wheel bearings would be the main thing I'd look at before anything else.

 

[dvdswan]

You need a swamp buggy...