Air intake

A couple of weeks ago I had to negoiate some single track roads during some intense rain. I crossed a landslip nearly blocking the road and then came across some deep water in a dip on a sharp bend which I was traversing slowly - and then a white van came round the blind bend at a stupid speed and sent a wave which lapped the bottom of the windscreen

No problems with the Yeti, but when I got home I had a good look at the air intake system.

It seems the air intake in the top right of the grille is in two layers, water hopefully shoots straight through the enclosure and onto the radiator, and clean air on the top half is diverted into the induction hose.

If water gets past this, there is a drain valve on a hose below the filter which hangs low down in the engine compartment. This valve is a simple silicon rubber flap valve which opens with the weight of water in the tube, but stays shut when immersed underwater.

I'm happy looking at the tide marks that no water went anywhere near the filter, never mind the intake hose.

Just hope this might alleviate any worries about deep water wading - the best advice is don't

In my case, after negotiating the landslip I had to keep going forwards, otherwise I would have turned round and had to drive a long diversion.