Logerhead for Water Induction 8.1L

[Blue Ribbon]

About 4 weeks ago, during a very heavy rain, the coach (on W22) would go into limp-home after more than 1/4 throttle. This persisted for more than 6 hours, until the sun came out.

I think I understand what happens - the air cleaner gets wet, and the mass air flow sensor sees a reduction in air, and goes into limp-home.

With guidance from Workhorse corporate/service, they worked with the service center, and told them to look for cracks at the bottom of the snorkle (down by the front wheel) and possibly how the air cleaner box is fastened and is the gasket is tight.

Service center says nothing is wrong. Regional service manager refuses to call me.

What does someone that knows Workhorse well, recommend that I do? Engine is in warrenty, it does not work right, and service center says tough luck.

I really don't want to take leagal action against Warkhours, but there are occations which I want to or have to drive in the rain.

[Blue Ribbon]

About 4 weeks ago, during a very heavy rain, the coach (on W22) would go into limp-home after more than 1/4 throttle. This persisted for more than 6 hours, until the sun came out.

I think I understand what happens - the air cleaner gets wet, and the mass air flow sensor sees a reduction in air, and goes into limp-home.

With guidance from Workhorse corporate/service, they worked with the service center, and told them to look for cracks at the bottom of the snorkle (down by the front wheel) and possibly how the air cleaner box is fastened and is the gasket is tight.

Service center says nothing is wrong. Regional service manager refuses to call me.

What does someone that knows Workhorse well, recommend that I do? Engine is in warrenty, it does not work right, and service center says tough luck.

I really don't want to take leagal action against Warkhours, but there are occations which I want to or have to drive in the rain.

[ron55]

Same thing for me. Take your air box off (it's not the smorkle) and hold it up to the light and you can see about 5 different cracks or places for it to leak. It sets right over the front wheel and gets a deluge in the rain.
Seal it up with a good silcone sealer and reinstall. This worked for me.
This air box is from an older Chevrolet auto designed to be under the hood, not over the wheel with no protction from water.

[Trek-Cyclist]

You can tell they went overboard with their Research and Developement and they just love it when you fix their mistakes while it's covered.

[Joe Gilbert]

I also had a water ingestion problem with my Dolphin. I was able to solve the problem by adding "tube-type" weather stripping around the front hood/door. I also added a new cold air intake however, it was the weather stripping which solved the water problem.

[TAN]

I live in B.C. Canada where it never stops raining and so far I have no problams.

[DriVer]

I ran through a storm generated by "Katrina" in 2005 while entering Louisville and it was raining sideways. Most other vehicles were stopped on the side of the road except Class A motorhomes and commercial 18W trucks.

The only thing I got by the end of the day was an SES (service engine soon) lamp. When I pulled into the CG I opened the air box, removed the filter, allowed the filter to drip dry somewhat and air dried it in front of a fan.

Next day - dry filter, assemble air box, lamp went out, proceeded down the road straight and level.

You are going to have to resign yourself that there isn't any fooling mother nature and in every test case she will over rule any litigator. Note: This also pertains to tornadoes and hurricanes.

[oemtech]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I ran through a storm generated by "Katrina" in 2005 while entering Louisville and it was raining sideways. Most other vehicles were stopped on the side of the road except Class A motorhomes and commercial 18W trucks.

The only thing I got by the end of the day was an SES (service engine soon) lamp. When I pulled into the CG I opened the air box, removed the filter, allowed the filter to drip dry somewhat and air dried it in front of a fan.

Next day - dry filter, assemble air box, lamp went out, proceeded down the road straight and level. Big Grin </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You should not have to do that... poor design, implementation and very poor testing.

My DIY CAI with a air scoop about a foot off the ground works great. I have been through rain the dumped 8" in Denton, TX. It's amazing what some sewer pipe, a battery box, 6" flex tubing and a 90 degree floor register can do

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by oemtech:
You should have to do that... poor design, implementation and very poor testing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I was running the tuba at the time but since have the UP CAI. No issues since.

About the tuba, it's a system that all the OEMs have signed off on as acceptable. This is why the tuba is used as opposed to some sewer pipe, a battery box, 6" flex tubing and a 90 degree floor register.

Convince them and we could have our newest millionaire.

[Mr Near Purrrfic]

HI FOLKS...IT'S ME AGAIN.... ON THE SUBJECT OF WATER INGESTION AND ENGINE MISS.......WHEN PLACING A HEAVY DEMAND ON THE ENGINE (3000/4200 RPM, HILL CLIMBING IN DRIVING RAIN) I FOUND THE CAUSE OF "MY PROBLEM".....THE POLYETHYLENE AIR FILTER BOX IS NOT AIRTIGHT. LOOK BEHIND THE "HORN," WHERE IT IS ATTACHED TO THE FILTER BOX. THERE ARE GAPS IN THE CONSTRUCTION ALLOWING WATER TO BE DRAWN INTO THE AIR STREAM AND INTO THE FILTER..........HENCE....THE ENGINE WILL MISS UNDER HIGH POWER DEMAND.... SO....IF YOU, TOO, ARE HAVING THIS TROUBLE, EXAMINE YOUR AIR FILTER BOX. REMOVE THE FILTER COVER...THREE CLIPS ON TOP, SLOTS ON THE BOTTOM...LOOSEN THE CLAMP AROUND THE OVAL TUBE LEADING TO THE ENGINE AND LAY THE FILTER COVER ASIDE, NOW EXAMINE THE BOX INTERIOR, GIVING CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER WHERE THE BOX IS MOUNTED ON THE METAL SUPPORT. I FOUND I COULD INSERT A NUMBER 2 PENCIL IN THE GAP!!!!! I FILLED THE GAPS WITH SILICONE CAULKING ALONG THE BOTTOM AND AROUND WHERE THE "HORN" ATTACHES TO THE BOX......JACKPOT....NO MORE BUCKING AND SNORTING.....TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT

RON

[TandW]

My air intake (cold) is situated high and dry on top of the engine radiator. While it originally had the workhorse tuba and associated polypropylene tubing with filter box located in a wet zone (wheel house) the only workhorse parts left are the oem rectangular filter box and oval to round adapter. The MAF sensor is next and semi-rigid 4 inch aluminum dryer duct finishes the relatively straight and approximately 24 inch run to the intake butterfly. I consider my system to be a high and dry cold air intake. It has absolutely the least amount of ducting and so therefore it minimizes detrimental naturally occuring supercharging. I have added gasketing to the front engine service panel. The oem did not. Just passin' it on. Good luck to all!!