Went through puddle with car...died and won't start
09-10-2004, 03:52 PM
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Went through puddle with car...died and won't start
so my brother drove through a "pretty deep" puddle with my car and he said my car died immediately and was not able to start the car. Had the car flatbedded to my mechanic. The car does not crank....nothing.
What type of damage am I looking at so I know my mechanic is not trying to pull a quick one on me? TIA
What type of damage am I looking at so I know my mechanic is not trying to pull a quick one on me? TIA
09-10-2004, 03:58 PM
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Hydrolock, most likely...
Same happened to me not long ago. the car felt as if it just stalled and made a nasty noise while trying to start. you probably took in water and bent some crap in there. I dont know how it happened to me, the water was like 8-10 inches deep and the intake is like 2.5 feet high off the ground. What you can do to check is take the hose off the intake manifold and feel for moisture in there. thats your best bet to see if you took in water. if so, its $7000 for a new motor i think. I told my insurance company what happened (my neighborhood floods when it rains hard)and it was covered under comprehensive (flood damage). they totalled the car because of it. Try your insurance company, call it flood damage. how deep was the water anyways?
09-10-2004, 04:09 PM
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engine is hydrolocked
the internal combustion engine is essentially a fancy air pump.... air is 1/600th the density of water. Your engine was not intended to compress water which relative to air is not capable of being compressed at a ratio of 9.5:1.
Thus your engine tried to compress water and broke its internals or bent them badly attempting to do so.
a minimum of 12hrs labor probably more like 15 to 20hrs plus a new cyl head and a new short block engine. You are looking at thousands in damage, car is close to being totaled.
If you love your car that much you might want to buy a part yard engine and put that in. If you go that route odds are its not totaled.
Thus your engine tried to compress water and broke its internals or bent them badly attempting to do so.
a minimum of 12hrs labor probably more like 15 to 20hrs plus a new cyl head and a new short block engine. You are looking at thousands in damage, car is close to being totaled.
If you love your car that much you might want to buy a part yard engine and put that in. If you go that route odds are its not totaled.
09-10-2004, 04:23 PM
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as mad as i am...nothing was intentional
when i went over there to have it flatbedded...i saw the puddle and it was pretty unavoidable...(this was on wednesday here in NY where the morning commute was a nightmare due to flooding)...he said he saw other cars going through it very slowly but probably did not take into consideration that my car is ALOT lower than other cars
(ok the truth is that he's alot bigger than me and i've never beat him in a fight)
(ok the truth is that he's alot bigger than me and i've never beat him in a fight)
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09-10-2004, 06:59 PM
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I'm doubting it's hydrolocked... unless...
How fast did he go through the "puddle" and how deep was it?
Quite a bit of water needs to go through the intake in order to hydrolock it. The stock intake is hood high. Aftermarket who knows, but still... just driving slowly through a puddle wouldn't do it. If water came up over the hood, yes it would.
Also, you may get lucky once and just have the engine die. If you sat there and tried to restart it by cranking the engine again (with water in the cylinders), well then you're screwed.
Quite a bit of water needs to go through the intake in order to hydrolock it. The stock intake is hood high. Aftermarket who knows, but still... just driving slowly through a puddle wouldn't do it. If water came up over the hood, yes it would.
Also, you may get lucky once and just have the engine die. If you sat there and tried to restart it by cranking the engine again (with water in the cylinders), well then you're screwed.