Flash Flood
 

Oh man... my wife got home today and she told me that she drove through running water caused by heavy rain here in the east coast. She said that the water may have been a foot to a foot and half deep. She didn't notice anything wrong with the car afterward and continued driving home. She did say that she thought she smelled something burning for a moment, but it went away pretty quickly. I went back outside and turned on the power without cranking the engine and the system stated that everything is functioning properly. Is there anything I should be aware of or check for potential issues?

The manual states that the X5 can take up to 20" of water so that's a little comforting. But I really dont know how good my wife is in gauging water depth either.

What pisses me off the most is that I warned her just last night about not driving through standing water since we did get a freaking flash flood warning :banghead:

This video does show an X5 going through pretty deep water (looks higher than 20") but according to the reports, one of those test vehicles did stall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNvJt...mbedded#at=279

If water went up the intake it can cause immediate and catastrophic engine damage due to hydraulic lock, but you appear to have dodged that since it drove home fine.

Water entry due to deep water has been previously reported in the rear storage compartment, sometimes taking out the radio module. I would look back there to make sure it is dry, and then not worry about it anymore.

I just checked the rear compartment, including the left side with the radio, the spare tire area, and the fuse on the right side, everything appears normal. Will double check tomorrow with sunlight.

I checked videos for the performance center and it looks like they run the x5 through 3 ft of water...more than what the manual states. Hope that is good news for me...but paranoia can be a b!tch!

I'll also need to check if that burning smell my wife noticed came from an external source, or if it is inside the car.

Anyways, thannks for the info!

The performance center mentioned 22 inches. The water trough there is about 18-20. The X5s had no issues when driven slow thru there.
It was deep enough they said do NOT open the doors.

You would need a LOT of water to hydrolock the car! I wouldn't worry about it at all. It was probably a 6" puddle :)

Are you saying women see 6" and think 18" ? lol

That's why there are few woman helicopter pilots.

LOL at the 6" :D


But what also worries me is that it was a 2 ft standing water and she thinks its only 1ft!

Update: I guess it's so far so good.

Just took the X5 for a 30 minute drive, including a car wash to wash off undercarriage. Engine responds normally, all electronics are working, no wet areas detected in the cabin and the rear compartment, fog lights working.

I guess we lucked out. Next time there's a flood warning, I am hiding the key to the X5.

Cars with water in the engine that does damage is not a slight thing. Kinda like you cannot get kinda pregnant. If water got into the engine your wife would still be sitting in the deep water. When you hydrolock an engine, it is immediate and catastrophic and it does not take that much water. My dad was driving his 650 through water 6 inched deep when a semi came through at 10MPH causing a huge wave. 30K later and one totaled car later.... you should be just fine

Thanks.

I wasn't worry about engine damage since she was able to drive it home. I was more worried about electrical issues since the X5 has a ton of them. But so far so good (knock on wood).