You may see tons of people with a snorkel on their Overlanding rig and it’s made you wonder if you should get one. Snorkels are a really helpful modification to vehicles that see a lot of deep water crossings or dusty terrains to make sure that their vehicle gets great quality air in any situation and avoids sucking water into the motor. Figuring out the benefits of a snorkel before buying one can be pretty complicated, but we’ve simplified the process and added our recommendations so you can be fully informed before spending your hard-earned cash.

What is a Vehicle Snorkel

A vehicle snorkel is installed and sealed onto your vehicle’s air intake and features a long pipe that usually goes towards the top of your vehicle in order to raise the area in which your vehicle takes in air. This stops your vehicle from sucking in water if you were to be crossing through a deep body of water as well as helps get fresh air if you are traveling through a dusty terrain.

Your vehicle usually sucks in air from the engine bay, and if you were to be in deep water or heavy dust, it would draw in these elements and can cause damage to your engine which can lead to issues further down the line or even instant hydro-locking.

To install a snorkel, you will usually need to cut into the fender on the side your air intake is on. This is what usually turns people away from snorkels because they don’t want to have to cut into their beloved rig but with the proper installation, the install should go smoothly, it just comes down to making that first cut. Most kits come with templates to show you exactly where to cut as well as proper cutting techniques and how to stop rust forming where you have cut.

Although snorkels do allow you to go in deeper bodies of water, newer vehicles with electrical wiring may have other issues with water. They are not a solution to be able to fully submerge your vehicle, but they do help in case you need to. As far as a snorkel’s limitation in water, it really only depends on how tall your snorkel is, and anything below the opening would be its limit.

Snorkels vs Desert Air Intakes

While shopping for snorkels, you may come across a product that looks exactly like one but is usually called a desert air intake. Although they look very similar, you want to make sure you are getting the right product for your needs.

What makes a desert air intake different from a snorkel is that they raise your vehicle’s air intake the same way as a snorkel but are not sealed to be water-tight. They are made with the sole purpose to keep dust and debris out of your vehicle’s engine bay if you are going through a lot of dusty terrains. If you want the best of both worlds, you can install a snorkel and add on a pre-filter (See below).

Pre-Filters for Snorkels

A lot of companies offer a product called pre-filters. The purpose of a pre-cleaner is to clean the air from things like dust and sand before it enters your snorkel to ensure that you get the best quality air for your engine.

Most people do skip over these, but I would highly recommend getting one if you see yourself traveling through dusty terrains. In general, when purchasing a snorkel, I would always recommend getting a pre-filter.