Engine starts but car won't move... 30 June 2012 at 6:53PM in Motoring 81 replies 4.5K views

rainbow_791

On thursday night I got caught in flash floods on my way home and had to drive through alot of water to get home, but not enough I thought to do so much damage.

I have a 2001 clio and have not been out since Thursday night, so I just went to go out and the engine starts normally but when I try drive off the car will literally not move - I have tried driving normally and reversing.

I will be getting someone from the garage out on monday morning but does anyone have any ideas what this could be?

Thank you for any help

thefishdude

does it go into gear ok ? rev ok ? and feel like it wants to move ?

if so i would guess that the brakes have siezed on as they wer wet when you stopped. could be the hand brake at the back espeially if you have drum brakes on the back

rainbow_791

Yeah it goes into gear normally and revs ok, up to this point everything is normal and the car feels like it is ready to go but then it will not move at all.

If the brakes have seized is this a big job to get sorted?

Thanks for your help

thefishdude

no not really yo umay be able to free them yourselves i have this issue once on my car. chances are its the rear wheels and teh handreak. if you can try rocking car back and forwards first then reverse then first then reverse etc. then you can try tapping teh rear drum with a mallet to knock them loose.

rainbow_791

I will be calling the garage first thing on monday morning but has anyone had this happen before with an easy & cheap solution? I know with brakes I will not be messing around

Bob_the_Saver

rainbow_791 wrote: »

On thursday night I got caught in flash floods on my way home and had to drive through alot of water to get home, but not enough I thought to do so much damage.

I have a 2001 clio and have not been out since Thursday night, so I just went to go out and the engine starts normally but when I try drive off the car will literally not move - I have tried driving normally and reversing.

I will be getting someone from the garage out on monday morning but does anyone have any ideas what this could be?

Thank you for any help

It's French

rainbow_791

thefishdude wrote: »

no not really yo umay be able to free them yourselves i have this issue once on my car. chances are its the rear wheels and teh handreak. if you can try rocking car back and forwards first then reverse then first then reverse etc. then you can try tapping teh rear drum with a mallet to knock them loose.

Thank you so much for your help

mikey72

When you say it doesn't move, does it stall when you let the clutch up?

PasturesNew

Can you push it if it's not in gear? Don't even need the engine on for that... just in neutral with the handbrake off.... can you push it?

Salz

My Vauxhall Cavalier used to do that all the time when it had rained, and as above you just had to keep going from first to reverse until it freed itself.

rainbow_791

PasturesNew wrote: »

Can you push it if it's not in gear? Don't even need the engine on for that... just in neutral with the handbrake off.... can you push it?

No it can not be pushed, wasn't the strogest person who tried but it should not be too hard to push should it?