Driving into water - Are you covered by insurance for damage. Rufford 29 August 2022 at 11:41AM in Motoring 44 replies 4.3K views

Norman_Castle

Some might suggest not much happens in Rufford.

spoovy

Car_54 said:

spoovy said:

Wouldn't it depend on your car's wading depth vs the depth of the water you're traversing? My car's is 500mm I think; it's definitely listed in the handbook somewhere. 

I imagine any "wading depth" assumes still water. Usual advice is to drive slowly, to avoid causing a bow wave, as seen in many of the incidents in the video clip above. 

I believe you do want to create a bow wave, as it reduces the depth immediately behind the wavefront, being where your engine is. What you want to do is keep the wave steady and don't allow it to "wash back".  

facade

spoovy said:

Car_54 said:

spoovy said:

Wouldn't it depend on your car's wading depth vs the depth of the water you're traversing? My car's is 500mm I think; it's definitely listed in the handbook somewhere. 

I imagine any "wading depth" assumes still water. Usual advice is to drive slowly, to avoid causing a bow wave, as seen in many of the incidents in the video clip above. 

I believe you do want to create a bow wave, as it reduces the depth immediately behind the wavefront, being where your engine is. What you want to do is keep the wave steady and don't allow it to "wash back".  

The "trick" is to drive at the same speed as the wave, keeping the crest in front and the trough in the engine compartment.

I've seen a couple of rufford videos, they pop up in my Youtube clickbait feed every now and then.

Seems the correct way is to hit it as fast as possible, ensuring a slam dunk for careless driving and usually causing the car to shudder to a halt facing the other way downstream, whilst crowds of onlookers cheer as they are showered with raw sewage.

forgotmyname

Watched a few videos  from Rufford, one video had police cars pulling drivers that drove through too fast or did not have
full control of their vehicles.  One wally tried to handbrake it in the water, water 1 - wally 0.

Watching someone drive through sensibly and then see the damage where it rips undertrays off or even the rear
bumper puts me off driving through unless really shallow.  I know my air intake is lower than the water level
on most days.

Mgman1965

facade said:

spoovy said:

Car_54 said:

spoovy said:

Wouldn't it depend on your car's wading depth vs the depth of the water you're traversing? My car's is 500mm I think; it's definitely listed in the handbook somewhere. 

I imagine any "wading depth" assumes still water. Usual advice is to drive slowly, to avoid causing a bow wave, as seen in many of the incidents in the video clip above. 

I believe you do want to create a bow wave, as it reduces the depth immediately behind the wavefront, being where your engine is. What you want to do is keep the wave steady and don't allow it to "wash back".  

The "trick" is to drive at the same speed as the wave, keeping the crest in front and the trough in the engine compartment.

I've seen a couple of rufford videos, they pop up in my Youtube clickbait feed every now and then.

Seems the correct way is to hit it as fast as possible, ensuring a slam dunk for careless driving and usually causing the car to shudder to a halt facing the other way downstream, whilst crowds of onlookers cheer as they are showered with raw sewage.

The best way if unsure is to reverse (yes, reverse) through it.  Keeping the engines rpm up will stop any water entering via the exhaust. 

Seen a couple do it at Rufford through quite deep water and emerge the other side fine which forwards would have killed it.

ontheroad1970

Mgman1965 said:

facade said:

spoovy said:

Car_54 said:

spoovy said:

Wouldn't it depend on your car's wading depth vs the depth of the water you're traversing? My car's is 500mm I think; it's definitely listed in the handbook somewhere. 

I imagine any "wading depth" assumes still water. Usual advice is to drive slowly, to avoid causing a bow wave, as seen in many of the incidents in the video clip above. 

I believe you do want to create a bow wave, as it reduces the depth immediately behind the wavefront, being where your engine is. What you want to do is keep the wave steady and don't allow it to "wash back".  

The "trick" is to drive at the same speed as the wave, keeping the crest in front and the trough in the engine compartment.

I've seen a couple of rufford videos, they pop up in my Youtube clickbait feed every now and then.

Seems the correct way is to hit it as fast as possible, ensuring a slam dunk for careless driving and usually causing the car to shudder to a halt facing the other way downstream, whilst crowds of onlookers cheer as they are showered with raw sewage.

The best way if unsure is to reverse (yes, reverse) through it.  Keeping the engines rpm up will stop any water entering via the exhaust. 

Seen a couple do it at Rufford through quite deep water and emerge the other side fine which forwards would have killed it.

If it's the high RPM that is stopping the water, then what's stopping you driving forward in a low gear and keeping the revs high?

Car_54

Can someone explain how water could possibly make its way into the engine via the exhaust pipe?

ElefantEd

The air intake of cars tends to be at the front, and if it is low down then driving forward means that water goes into the engine; as water is incompressible this makes rather a mess - it's what happens to the cars that get trashed at Rufford.

Driving backwards means that the water isn't being pushed into the air intake. However if you block the exhaust pipe then the engine will stop (though it won't, I think, be damaged). You can achieve the same effect by sticking a potato into the exhaust, the car will stall when the gases stop flowing (and the pressure build may crack the pipe of course).

Car_54

Even water 3 feet deep only exerts a pressure of 1.3 psi. I'm no engineer, but I can't imagine that stalling an engine even at idling speed.

mgfvvc

ontheroad1970 said:

If it's the high RPM that is stopping the water, then what's stopping you driving forward in a low gear and keeping the revs high?

Going backwards the exhaust is pushed through the water. The high RPM pushes exhaust gases down the exhaust and that stops water entering the exhaust. Going forward the air intake, in the front of the car, is getting pushed through the water. If you get it right the bonnet and bow wave keep water out of the air intake. If not, high revs will suck water in, resulting in terminal damage to the valves and other components.