worried after driving thru flood water

Pont

arcon5 wrote: »

Stop scare mongering. This article refers to drivers ignoring road closure signs and like. It also states "we feel it is unreasonable for insurers to reject claims as motor vehicles generally are expected to be able to withstand adverse weather conditions in the course of normal use". "It is not easy for motorists to gauge the depth of water when they are travelling along roads". "Motorists would drive through fords as a matter of course and you would not expect insurers to reject any claim resulting from that."

Op was driving quite slowly on a country road and misjudged the depth of a puddle. Hardly gross negligence.

EDIT: oops somebody get there first.

God in heaven!!!! All I did was point out some info which was originally supplied by the local police!!!! Get a grip!

Btw, where does OP mention a 'puddle'? Who says 25 mph is 'driving quite slowly down a country road'?

Local police also said that if a driver got into 'difficulties' in such a situation they are open to be prosecuted.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Paradigm

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Er no, low speed low revs would be the way to do it.

Low speed, high revs is correct. High revs prevents water entering the exhaust, low revs doesn't & has a risk of stalling... something you don't want.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

I'd say OP has gotten away without doing anything major to it.


although I would pop open the air filter box and see if its wet and or has some pooled water in the bottom of it, that could result in some odd readings to a MAF sensor with wet air particles being sucked in.

GolfBravo

pd52 wrote: »

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

The main issues are:
- wet air filter and MAF sensor
- thermal shock can shorten the DPF and cat lifespan (very likely)
- thermal shock can damage/kill clutch, also water in the clutch housing can kill the bearing (this usually happens when very hot)
- possible timing belt damage
- fan belt gets wet and dirty water ends up inside the alternator
- possible wheel bearing damage

vikingaero

Most modern cars have so many undertrays that help to keep water/debris away from components. Most that water damage is limited to torn undertray mountings and mudflaps and wheel arch liners that are dislodged.

Gloomendoom

vikingaero wrote: »

Most modern cars have so many undertrays that help to keep water/debris away from components. Most that water damage is limited to torn undertray mountings and mudflaps and wheel arch liners that are dislodged.

My wife managed to rip the front undertray off her last car by driving through flood water.

Strider590

pd52 wrote: »

Today on my way home from work at dusk i managed to drive thru some flood water at speed ( it was at about 25mph)

It may have been your speed that saved you, most people who get screwed over by flood water, get screwed over because they drive too slow and too low RPM and they get water flooding up into the exhaust.
Which is the reason why when I see fools driving slowly through flood water, I hold back until they're clear and then go through at 15-20mph whilst giving it some beans.

It's not easy to get water into the air intake, you'd need to be underwater at the depth of the airfilter housing to do that.

I think water has an electrical resistance of 10+ Mohm per cm, which if you apply ohms law, makes it no threat to a 12v supply. As such, 12v is too low for water to cause a problem and modern cars have very well weatherproofed coil packs and plugs.

The real killer is being too slow and possible corrosion afterwards as a result of not allowing the car to dry out quickly.

Gloomendoom

Strider590 wrote: »

It's not easy to get water into the air intake, you'd need to be underwater at the depth of the airfilter housing to do that.

All you need to do is get water close to the depth of the inlet to the air filter housing. Unfortunately, many are situated low down in the engine compartment.

pd52

today I've done 100mile round trip, car ran fine, no issues - mechanical or electrical wise, so hopefully all is ok :beer:

pd52

GolfBravo wrote: »

The main issues are:
- wet air filter and MAF sensor
- thermal shock can shorten the DPF and cat lifespan (very likely)
- thermal shock can damage/kill clutch, also water in the clutch housing can kill the bearing (this usually happens when very hot)
- possible timing belt damage
- fan belt gets wet and dirty water ends up inside the alternator
- possible wheel bearing damage

the engine had only been running for less than 5 mins when i hit the water, it had been stood for about 50 mins previously (popped to sainsburys after work)