water in engine

atrebor

Dear all
I would welcome some advice from any mechanic heads out there...... my car stalled today whilst driving through a ford (quite a wide one that has a concrete road under the waterthat i drive through a lot) It wouldn't start again, although sometimes it sounded like it might, other times it just laughed at me. the local garage came to rescue me and has said that either its is going to be nothing or it is going to be expensive. I am fully comp so I think I will be covered for this (I hope....) but will lose my no claims. Does anyone know if water is
very fatal? my car is worth about £6000 could anyone let me know if it likely to be repairable or is a write off so I can soften up the husband - its his pride and joy. Might just go and start cooking his favorite meal.......
Many thanks
Bx

Wig

Could be cheap, could be expensive, like the man said.

atrebor

think its more likely to be at the expensive end ??water in the injectors??............maybe he'd like his favorite pudding too.

goldspanners

what car is it?
is it petrol or deisel?

bryanb

Sorry but I don't think your insurance company will be interested, hope I'm wrong.
Get cooking!

Ginger_Nuts_2

If it's petrol it might be just damp and will hopefully dry out, that makes it a cheapy fix. If it's diesel, get the tissues out:( What happens quite often is that the air intake to the engine is fixed quite low down, as you go through the water it gets sucked in and then it'snasty nasty, water just dont like being compressed, it dont explode see, so it makes for a very dear repair.


But hopefully it's gonna be a cheapy;)

goldspanners

bryanb wrote: »

Sorry but I don't think your insurance company will be interested, hope I'm wrong.
Get cooking!

i was thinking this too,it was up to you to drive through the ford.

Conor_3

atrebor wrote: »

Dear all
I would welcome some advice from any mechanic heads out there...... my car stalled today whilst driving through a ford (quite a wide one that has a concrete road under the waterthat i drive through a lot) It wouldn't start again, although sometimes it sounded like it might, other times it just laughed at me. the local garage came to rescue me and has said that either its is going to be nothing or it is going to be expensive. I am fully comp so I think I will be covered for this (I hope....) but will lose my no claims. Does anyone know if water is
very fatal?
Bx

Yes it can be. Water cannot be compressed as much as air. As the pistons rise, they try and compress the water. They reach a point where they can't anymore as the water provides a solid block but the momentum of the other pistons keeps the engine rotating. It is known as "hydraulicing."

The energy stored up in this has to go somewhere and it usually results in something being bent - either the conrods or the crankshaft. Sometimes they'll snap and go through the side of the engine block as well.

THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO is try to restart it once it's stopped if there's water in it.

If you've not got away with it then cost wise you're probably looking at around £1200-£1500 for a replacement engine plus 4-8hrs labour to change it over and the cost of additional materials such as oil and filters. It can rack up to £2500+ quite easily.

atrebor

thanks connor, tried to thank you but couldn't will try later.

I'm fairly sure the insurance covers this, and as for it being my choice to drive through a ford, it is fairly difficult not to drive through a ford round here, and the highway markers indicated that it was low and safe to do so.

atrebor

oh and its petrol but it does have a very low air intake - I now gather......

goldspanners

could simply be dampness then.
did you go slowly through the ford, ive seen some folk act as if they arent even there and just going through them without slowing down.