After swimming my way into work today, office discussion on dealing with floods has just started. I would appreciate if anybody can add to my knowledge (or lack of it!) on the subject.
I drive a diesel. My tactic for driving through floods is to stick it in 2nd and drive straight through at a moderate speed and revs. My colleague assures me that I am doing it all wrong and what I should do is bung it in 1st, rev up to above 3000rpm and slip the clutch all the way through to keep the speed down. he further tells me that if I don't do this my engine will fill up with water and get kn*ckered.
Any opinions on this? I would be interested in hearing them due to the increasing number of times this crops up for me these days. ta!
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I've no doubt that somebody will correct me if i'm wrong, but the perceived wisdom says to use first and slip the clutch whilst keeping reasonably high revs. I think the thinking is to be sure the engine does not stall, as it may prove difficult to re-start with all the water around, and I should imagine this is more true for petrol engines than it is for diesels
As has been said elsewhere in the backroom over the past few days, engines and water don't mix. Water does not compress, and if drawn in to the engine is likely to break a con rod or damage the cylinder head
here's a couple of thoughts from me -
1 - at this time of year, the news is full of pictures of stranded cars - all yesterdays news showed a silver mondeo up to the wheel arches in water. At worst they'll need a new engine, at best a new set of carpets, and I doubt that either would be covered under their car insurance. How many journeys into floodwater are worth that potential cost ?
2 - if you have to drive through water that's more than an inch or so deep, always check your brakes afterwards
3 - remember you don't know what's under the water - we had a torrential storm last year, which lifted the manhole covers and i remember seeing one van stuck with a wheel in the resulting hole !
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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FFX-DM
I noticed that many folk who had their vehicles damaged by floodwater two years ago were caught out by water being sucked into the intake - my neighbour included.
What seems to be an issue, is that many cars, both petrol or diesel fuelled, often have low mounted intakes. Perhaps it would be a sensible time to review the position of the intake on your own car, and take stock!
For the record, my neighbours wife was caught out by rounding a corner on an unlit A road in the country and ploughing into a shallow but extensive puddle. The problem was on just one side of the road take note.
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Reiterating a previous plea: I live on a road which has a major 'dip' in it, and I live in the bottom of the dip. In times of a freak torrential downpour, we have found ourselves standing beyond the tops of our wellies in the water in front of our house which is within a gnat's willy of flowing across our door sill, physically having to flag down the boy racers who think it's better fun than a track day to try to see how fast they can drive through the lake. On the last occasion one such boy racer ignored my wife's gesturing and almost ran her down. Have a thought for the local residents.
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If SHMBO MUST stand in front of the house, tog her out in a yellow coat and give her a hair-dryer to point at the cars.
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Nah. The guy in question wouldn't know a hair-dryer if he saw one. Probably would assume it was some form of radar detector.
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My approach is all things in moderation. Very high revs increase the risk of the engine 'hoovering up' some water.
As mentioned many cars have low down air intakes, this is to try and get cooler air, rather than the air heated by the engine, thus increasing efficiency.
Apparently Xantias are quite vulnerable, and possibly other PSA cars. My TD is on it's second engine because the previous owner drove into what they called 'a puddle' and tried to compress water.
As far as I'm concerned if it's so deep that you need to slip the clutch in first, then it's too deep to drive through, don't risk it, because if there's a dip in the road that you've underestimated you won't know until you've done some real damage.
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The point about low air intakes has been well (and justifiably) covered. The bill for fixing my diesel Clio was over £2000 when I took it through deep water and it hydraulic'd.
I've looked at my diesel Yaris and the intake is very high - but I still won't be volunteering to go wading in it.
For someone whose journey is known to regularly include this increasingly common problem the answer must surely be to consider one of the less agricultural but higher riding 4x4's..... and preferably a diesel for economy. There's no shortage of them and for those who might fancy one but have not been able to justify it to themself - then here's the ideal excuse.
KB.
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Jusr how long *would* it take to dry out the big puddle with a hairdryer? :-)
I have a diesel, it IS a Citroen and I have sussed out where my intake is! Most importantly, I have also sussed out another route between work and home which involves going along the top of the hills rather than down in the valley, and seems to be pretty flood free.
I think the advice urging caution and avoiding the puddles in the first place is probably the best. Lots of dead cars of different types littering my (now dry) route this morning. I was not inclined to indulge in mad revving of my engine, and I am glad that the consensus seems to be against it too.
4x4's are fun, but not neccessarily for everyone else. It's those... 'chaps' who generally whizz through puddles showering everybody else with mud and water and deluging their cars with their bow wave. I tend to stick to driving one though fords and other legitimate off road fun!
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There are three or four regular flood spots around here, you can spot them by the water depth gauges at the side of the road!
A couple of years back I took my Mondeo TD through about 1ft. of flood water over a 1/2 mile distance (Between Milton Ernest and Radwell just off the A6, if anybody knows it!) Engine came through fine, didn't fill the car up with water either. (It was eerily silent too, I suppose because the water was up to the sills, hence no "sploshing" noise.)
HOWEVER... within about 20 miles I could hear a rumbling O/S/F wheel-bearing noise, soon to be joined by another matching one from the N/S! And by the next day both back ones had joined in too, boo hoo...
This week I'm going the long way round the villages.
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I had a similar experience with a differential quill-shaft bearing which became noisy on my Triumph 2500 about 20 years ago. I replaced it but the noise reappeared a few months later so I thought I must have installed it incorrectly.
I asked the advice of a friend who used to be a chargehand in a Triumph main dealership. He asked: "Did they both go about three months after driving through flood water?". I thought about it and he was right. Apparently the grease is washed out but the bearing doesn't become noisy until enough time has passed for you to forget the circumstances!
Replacing a quill-shaft bearing is a pig of a job but I was luckier than another local chap who sucked up water into his 2500PI engine and bent a conn-rod - it cost him a major engine repair *and* he had to pay to be towed from the depths of the flood water!
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North Bank bravado Dizzy?
It keeps the tractor drivers busy!
MM
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Got it in one, MM.
The local paper got a shot this week of a Peugeot 206 trying to go through with the water up to its headlights! They reported that a few seconds later the driver was calling out the emergency services.
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Folks,
OK, so you can buy a snorkel air intake thingie for your Landie, etc, or drive only to the depth of your normal air cleaner entry, but what about gearbox "breathers", etc? Surely water can feasibily get in? I have often wondered this about the Monterey; there are breathers on the top of the transfer and gearbox. Potential water ingress points?
(And, O dwellers of the flatlands, can you advise what "North Bank Bravado" is?. Tribalism in the Fens?
rg
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Rob,
Dizzy and I are both located where we have occasion to use a country road that is known as "the back way" to the local city.
The road goes for miles alongside the river (and across the washes leading to it) just a few feet above its normal water level.... and it is within the flood bank. As soon as the water level rises, even in normal winters, this road floods to varying degrees.
The alternative route is a nightmare and often brings the locals to the wrong side of the city hence the strong urge to take a chance.
Locals try and judge the water level to the inch each day and many go through when they really shouldn't...we've all been there!
MM
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MM,
So for the beenfit of other listmembers, (and this debutant XM driver), is there anything of the suspension at risk from water ingress/interference on a Citroen, say your Xantia? It must do the various linkages no good at all in the medium-term, but is there anything that the water affects immediatly? Sure, it should all be sealed but, hey, it's a Citroen!
rg
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Rob,
Well the ability to raise up the Citroens to high setting is of benefit to get the floorpan, air intake, engine and transmission that bit higher in an emergency.
But remember it leaves the wishbone balljoints, wheel bearings, discs, calipers/pads, ABS sensors and inboard ends of the driveshafts at exactly the same height as a normal car!
One point to remember is to select high and wait for the car to rise before you enter the deep water. If you don't the rear suspension cylinders can suck in water through the breather if it is already underwater as the car lifts on the suspension.
Funnily enough I'm working on one at the moment (Xantia TD) and had to take off the air filter box to adjust the clutch. It seems so easy to re-route the air intake hose to a higher position I may well investigate that for my own car.
Actually bit of a dilemma today. Do I carry on with my work or sling a rope into the LR and hang around the floods down the road for "towing tenners"??
MM
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Also a frequent occurence in Oz.....roads around the Murray in western NSW can be closed for months!
As well as the comments on air intake location (my subaru had its
intake up in the top of the bonnet) there is another point worth mentioning. The radiator cooling fan has to be protected from water...if it runs continuously (rare nowadays) or cuts in because you are revving the engine at low speed the fan bits into the water, rips off its hub and tears into the radiator. A collegue did this with a Rover 3500 in a creek by his home, .
Recomended method (4*4 and for cars) in Oz is low gear, sufficient speed to get a SMALL bow-wave (reduces water level in the engine bay) steady progress and if possible a tarp around the front/radiator grille to stop water directly entering the engine bay.
Also walk the route first to make sure that the water is the depth you think it is....not unknown for the road surface to vanish in Oz leaving the depth markers to be 300-400mm out.
Ian L.
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H'm. Not a problem in SA I venture Ian, where currently there's hardly enough water in the Murray to wet the tip of a pencil.
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Oz,
I have been back in the UK for 18 months so have avoided the latest droughts, but my 5 years in western NSW from 1996-2001 were some of the wettest on record at the headwaters of the Castlereagh river...when we got flooded the Murray caught the flood several weeks later then about 3 months for the flood to make the sea.
But there again so much water in the Murray/Darling is being used for agriculture not much makes it to the sea anymore.
Back to motoring.....one thing I forgot....disconnect the fan unit completely if possible
regards
Ian L.
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