When I slam into big/tall snow drifts with my car, it jams the engine bay with snow. It's been jammed so bad a couple of times that my engine has been 'snow seized' until I dig out the engine bay (I run without t-belt covers, and the snow packs around every pulley so tight that the engine stalls and won't start). The last time it happened, it actually bulged the hood a little with all of the snow pack.

 

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any modification I could do to prevent this? (some kind of modified skid plate or something)

 

I can't avoid the drifts because they're on the road leading to my house, and I can't go slow because they are too tall/wide. (i.e. 2' high, 40' long, across the entire road) Also, since everything's all white and very flat, it's hard to tell if the snow is 2" deep or 12" deep until you're already there.

battering ram home built heavy as hell front bumper and a partial skid plate under the front end

might have to cut vents into the plate to keep the suby from overheating in traffic... after all . that hot air from the radiator need to go somewhere

Subaru mounted snowplow....

i have the same problem with my impreza, not quite as bad... but it gets in there pretty tight. i'm guessing a good skid plate could fix the problem..

The problem is you'll end up "hydroplaning" up on to the snowbank and then your stuck

 

Deep Snow wins everytime. :-p

Thats one of the reasons I loved driving my old VW in the snow, nothing hangs below the smooth bell pan, just point it in the right direction get up some speed and slide right over. Was also great when the parking lot was full except for the spot the was plowed half full of snow, I could slide the front end up the pile tell the wheels came off the ground and get into spaces nobody else could use, saved a lot of walking in the muck.

 

I would think some sort of full width skid plate that extends back to the axles should do the trick. But as Pat said, watch the highcentering.

 

I did that once in a Honda Civic, the snow was deep enough that the bumper was pushing it a bit. About 40 feet of forward driving and it had packed enough underneath the front pan to lift the front wheels... and there it sat. I should have backed out of the parking lot, the road was plowed.

 

Gary

I know what your talking about, its a major drag..