Answered WATER IN INTAKE AIR FILTER

[RDMOCALA]

2015 Ventana LE 340 HP Cummins, Freightliner chassis. We have had the intake air filter saturated with water on two occasions. The intake duct is high on left side. The first time we were camped overnight during a high wind rain storm blowing into the intake. When we started the engine we had lots of smoke and no power. We were able to nurse the unit to a repair shop where they found the intake filter full of water. The second time we do not know how water infiltrated the filter. We were not in any rainstorms. It has been two years between incidents and about 30,000 miles. There is a duct bill drain in one of the 90 degree elbows in the intake duct about half way down the duct. I checked the drain after the first incident and it was clear. Wondering if anyone else has had this issue??

 

[Neal]

I believe there was discussion in the past about water getting in via the upper rear left area, can’t remember what’s there such as an air intake area? It was mentioned to inspect for water intrusion for this reason.

 

[DavidL]

On mine, that top left corner intake sends air (and any water) into a fiberglass plenum molded into the rear cap. The air intake is then positioned off the floor of that plenum. On the floor is a drain (for any water). This effectively filters out the water and allows the air to go into the air filter housing to the engine.
If water is getting to the air filter, then possibly the water drain is clogged. A quick spurt of compressed air into the drain should indicate / blow out the debris in the line. If Newmar didn't position the water drain to the bottom of the plenum, then that's a problem. Likewise if the air intake is leaking at the bottom of the plenum, that too is a problem. Either way, if the drain line isn't clogged then one would have to remove the air intake and fix any of those two issues in the plenum. On mine, that's not hard to do, relatively speaking. Not sure about yours.

 

[RDMOCALA]

After further investigation and a couple of calls to Newmar and Freightliner (which weren't much help) I found that the duct bill drain was plugged up with only a drip coming out of it. I opened up the bottom of the duct bill and a small stream of water came out. I was able to get my hand into the drain (pretty difficult) and squeezed it and I could feel the drain break loose. I installed a short 1" hose into into the duct bill which will keep it open and let water either run down the hose and/or around the outside of the hose. I am assuming that enough water built up inside the air box and over flowed into the intake duct. It looks like the intake duct connects to the side of the air box and is about 3" above the drain so it wouldn't take much water to cause an overflow into the intake duct. This is all an assumption so we will keep an eye on it. I asked Frreightliner if I could install a drain at the bottom of the duct just before it goes into the air filter. They did not recommend this because the drain may suck in dust and debris from the road. I thought they made a good point.

 

[DavidL]

Yup. Just clean the drain and replace the duck bill if damaged. When it's maintained, it works fine.

 

[Old-RV'er]

Can anyone provide pictures. Assuming this is across all lines/years/models, but may be on specific to yours. Thank you in advance.

 

[Buly]

Can anyone provide pictures. Assuming this is across all lines/years/models, but may be on specific to yours. Thank you in advance.

I will take a picture in the morning. But it is hidden very high, behind the big air tube coming down from the inlet .
You will need a flash light to see it.