Drove Through Water
 

Hey guys,
I got caught in a flash flood last friday in the storms in Melbourne.

My engine stopped due to water.

Has anyone got any advice or similar experience as to resolution..?

My engine will not start at all now..

cheers,

Do you mean water in the electrics, or water in the engine via the air intake? The first is a pain, the second is much more of a problem.

well I got caught in a flash flood and had no option but to drive through a flooded interestion. So i think water got into the engine via in the air intake.

It got pushed out.

whilst on the side of the road out of the water. The engined cranked over a couple of times... no spark though..

then after a while it just stopped completely.. wouldn't turn at all.

all electronics in the car were operating normally though..

When water enters an engine it can cause a hydraulic lock, as the water isn't compressible. In that case, the engine won't turn over at all, as the pistons come against water in the cylinders.

It sounds more like an electrical problem. There are lots of electrical devices in the X5 that don't take well to being submerged, like fuel pumps and control units. The usual damage point is at around 20" IIRC. Recommend you get the codes read and see what errors are showing.

Check your air filter to see if it got soaked. If it did you hydro-locked it in which case I would first remove all of the spark plugs, then crank it to get the water out of the cylinders. Then you will have to remove the intake manifold to dump out the remaining water. IF you escaped this without bending any rods you will be ok, it is always iffy though. Fingers crossed for you that it bogged and died at a low enough RPM to not bend rods!

Do what Weasel says. Do not attempt to start it again until you do. Hopefully you only have an electrical problem and have not ingested water into the cylinders which is potentially catastrophic for the engine. What engine do you have?

How deep was the water?

I'm going camping just after Christmas and will need to drive through some shallow water to get to the camp site. The manual says I can do 50cm deep, but I'm a bit worred about what will happen if I go over that (or under that, depending on how you look at it!)

I would get out and walk the path first to know for sure how deep it is.

If in doubt about the depth of the water it's always best to stop before the water and walk through just to check the depth.
I've gone through slightly deeper water than 50cm in my 2005 3.0d but it pays to be super cautious as ingesting water is the fastest way to destroy an engine.

We'll be the first to arrive at the camp site, and given all the rain we've had, I'll definately walk it first. I am pleased to know that someone else with an '05 3.0d has done the same though!

I thought the air intake was quite a bit higher than that though, and would have thought it would be more an electrical thing?