worried after driving thru flood water

pd52

Today on my way home from work at dusk i managed to drive thru some flood water at speed ( it was at about 25mph) on a country rd it was quite deep probably about 10 inches and I hit without warning so didnt have chance to brake or slow down.
The car didnt cut out (its diesel) but for a few miles after i could smell a oily/diesel smell thru the air vents. This disappeared later, i drove another 15 miles without any issues.

Im just concerned about this smell and what damage i might of done?:o

vaio

The big danger is you suck in water and hydrolock the engine but you'd have noticed that already so my vote goes to "don't worry, no damage done"

pd52

vaio wrote: »

The big danger is you suck in water and hydrolock the engine but you'd have noticed that already so my vote goes to "don't worry, no damage done"

Thanks, just all the way home i was thinking it had got in the oil/fuel/gearbox/electrics. It is a Peugeot so it doesnt take much to break it

Nodding_Donkey

Modern cars are pretty weatherproof.

It is best to slow down though

Pont

Also be aware that driving through floods can also invalidate your car insurance and should an accident occur when in a flood can result in police prosecution!

No, I didn't know this either until earlier this week!

pd52

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Modern cars are pretty weatherproof.

It is best to slow down though

it was a narrow country lane, i went around a corner and it goes slightly down hill and i didnt have chance to brake so i think it all went thru the front grilles :eek: it was pretty deep, thought it was going cut out. Hopefully i wont be on here tomorrow talking about a dead Peugeot !

I do need to slow down and pay more attention in future especially with all these floods around

Nodding_Donkey

Pont wrote: »

Also be aware that driving through floods can also invalidate your car insurance and should an accident occur when in a flood can result in police prosecution!

No, I didn't know this either until earlier this week!

Never heard this before. Most cars have a maximum wading depth and what differentiates a flood from a puddle?

vaio

Pont wrote: »

Also be aware that driving through floods can also invalidate your car insurance and should an accident occur when in a flood can result in police prosecution!

No, I didn't know this either until earlier this week!

Nah, can't see anyway that driving through floods could invalidate your insurance, got a link?

Joe_Horner

pd52 wrote: »

it was a narrow country lane, i went around a corner and it goes slightly down hill and i didnt have chance to break so i think it all went thru the front grilles :eek: it was pretty deep, thought it was going cut out. Hopefully i wont be on here tomorrow talking about a dead Peugeot !

I do need to slow down and pay more attention in future especially with all these floods around

If you'd done any damage it would have shown by now.

But yes, you need to drive to the conditions. That includes the ones you can't see but can anticipate like "lots of rain, could be a flood round the next bend".

We've all (probably) done similar - I took off once over a hump-back bridge in patchy fog and needed a passing tractor to get me out the hedge. On a provisional licence :P

No harm done, useful lesson learnt. If only all mistakes on the road ended like that!

pd52

Joe_Horner wrote: »

If you'd done any damage it would have shown by now.

But yes, you need to drive to the conditions. That includes the ones you can't see but can anticipate like "lots of rain, could be a flood round the next bend".

We've all (probably) done similar - I took off once over a hump-back bridge in patchy fog and needed a passing tractor to get me out the hedge. On a provisional licence :P

No harm done, useful lesson learnt. If only all mistakes on the road ended like that!

I totally agree, I had previously driven on the same road on the way to work - and it was flood free (and never usually floods), it took me by surprise, it was a heart in mouth moment when I hit it:eek:

Its ones of those things you never learn on driving lesson. Ive been driving for 10 years and I thought had driven in most conditions over the years, but the incident yesterday was an eye opener. Im usually the first to judge when other drivers fly past me at 90mph on the motorway in bad weather. So i feel a bit foolish.

And as you say, it was and is a lesson learnt. I guess we all seem to feel so safe and protected in our cars, when really were not

redux

Pont wrote: »

Also be aware that driving through floods can also invalidate your car insurance and should an accident occur when in a flood can result in police prosecution!

No, I didn't know this either until earlier this week!

If you ever look at salvage for sale on behalf of insurers, you might see that some cars are described as flood damaged.

That means the insurers paid out the claim and now own the car.