Make sure your "Air Intake Chamber" is secure from water

[IdleUp]

I recently received a follow-up from one of my friend Bill which I thought I would share with the community. In this situation, it appears as if rainwater collected in the air intake chamber then seeped into the engine hydo-locking and damaging the engine.

While both Sprinter and Transit have different arrangement, it might be worthwhile to make sure your air intake chamber is securely clamped or closed. On the Transit chassis all the rainwater from the overhead cab and windshield is collected in the windshield tray which then dumps into the inner fender. I've noted when washing, the tray over-fills and dump water on the engine, electronics module and the air chamber. I've since modified my tray to prevent this from happening as shown in the image provided.

Regards - Mike



Mike,

Just thought you might be interested in an update about my coach. I suspect I’m doing this because it's like psychotherapy so I don’t lose my mind.
In early September I was cleaning up the coach preparatory to a weekend trip coming up. The coach had been sitting for a month or so and I last started it in early August 2019. When I tried to start it up to exercise the engine the starter burned up. After I had it towed to Freightliner they found that the engine had “hydro locked” because of water in the cylinder. When they dumped the oil there was about a gallon of “rainwater” in the crankcase. Well, for the past 10 weeks I have been fighting with Newmar, Freightliner, and Progressive Insurance about who is going to pay for the repairs - that I am being told means replacing the engine.
Nobody accepts responsibility. The best they conclude is that water entered the air intake and seeped through the cylinders into the crankcase. The adjuster thinks that happened because of the design of the intake and the baffle inside the intake not being effective. There is a concern that a rod is bent as well.
So, again another nightmare. I actually started a thread on iRV2 to see if I could get some advice, but nobody has had the same problem and i don’t know what actually happened to cause this - or prevent it in the future.
Bill

[DUTCH in Atlanta]

What vehicle and what year on the chassis? Since he mentions Freightliner, I'll ass=u=me that he's talking about a Sprinter, but my 2018 Sprinter chassis engine bay looks nothing like the included photo.