Snorkel Kit for a 550 S4

[vanderrt]

I was out on the beach yesterday. There had been a very high tide because of a storm of the coast. The water wasn't very very deep but it splashed into my intake manifold and stopped me dead in my tracks. After about 5 minutes it started right up again. We drove very slowly and got out of the water. I thought I might add a Snorkel Kit for my 550 s4 but I can't find one on line. If anyone can tell where I might find one I'd appreciate it.

[Dane]

I'm betting it might be more an electrical problem. Salt water may have shorted the ignition coils to ground. I think the cooling air blows right up through that area. Water splashed up might have been sucked in with the cooling air and dribbled over the coils and their connections. Also, with the charging system built into/around the flywheel it's quite low on the engine not to mention the starter on the bottom front side.

The air intake us about mid-height in the center of the vehicle in a pretty protected location. I think there is a one way rubber valve to let smaller amounts of water out not to mention a circuitous path after any water gets past the air filter. Then air intake opening inside the filter assembly is up a inch or two up from the bottom of the filter's chamber. Not to mention what a blob of salt water ingested into a hot engine would do. You'd be checking shipping costs for my old engine.

Even if you didn't suck in some water a snorkel is probably not a bad idea to get it breathing cleaner air higher up. The air filter housing has a huge sealing area so you'll probably never get it sealed 100%. More water proof might be to relocate an aftermarket filter and intake snorkel. The end of the rubber gooseneck coming up from the engine is 2 1/2" diameter at the end so it's relatively easy to adapt to round pipe or tubing.