Did I damage my car?

[DigitalWanksta]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: DigitalWanksta
Wow, the surface tension of the water must have been very harsh to bend that back 90 degrees.

Are you for real?

Ever belly flopped into a pool? It hurts

My old man was fording a pretty deep stretch of water a few years ago, and he was a young bloke in a ute go plowing into the water at about 110kmh. The car stopped. Very quickly. It also tore off the front bumper/spoiler and wrapped it around the front axle iirc.

Oh yea, I've belly flopped several times. I was defiantly being for real. I know of a guy that jumped into a lake from a cliff about 4 stories up and he caught the surface tension of the water just right, and it split his chest wide open.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Captante
The biggest thing you need to worry about is that water made it into the combustion chambers in your engine & caused knocking which can destroy the valve train ...

Wow, just wow. So incredibly wrong.

Water won't cause "knocking". In fact, some engines even use water injection to prevent knocking.

If you were talking about possibly hydro-locking, that's possible, but that doesn't damage the valvetrain, it causes bent or broken connecting rods. It would be obscenely rare to have that cause valvetrain damage. In this case, a bent connecting rod seems possible, but not probable since he says the car is running fine.

Originally posted by: Captante
its also possible that you shorted out the main engine control computer which ultimately could have the same effect... even if it appears to be running smoothly now theres no garantee you won't have problems down the road.

Electronic parts either fail or they don't. If he caused an issue with his ECU he would be experiencing either continued or intermittant running faults. If the engine runs fine once started, the electronics are fine. The parts that got soaked (VSC system) have dried out and the fault cleared.

Originally posted by: Captante
The safest thing to do would be to not start the engine again & have it flat-bedded into the dealer or a trustworthy mechanic to get checked out.

Bull. If it's running and there's no difference in engine behaviour there's no reason at all to flatbed it.

To the OP: As has been stated, the "smoke" was almost certainly steam. Engine parts are hot and will evaporate water.

The excess RPMs were probably due to the clutch getting wet and slipping (a clutch is protected, but not sealed and that much water will certainly mean that some got into the clutch housing). This was probably the "burning smell".

As far as feeling "looser", it's possible that the force of the impact with the water caused some suspension issues, it's also possibe that water was forced into some joints and such, weakening the lubricant.

A remote possibility is a warped block from the rapid cooling caused by the immersion in water.

I would drive the car to the mechanic's and ask for an inspection after explaining what happened.

ZV

 

[Aimster]

copy-paste from another forum I go to:

This is a correct statement but as you know if you stall with the exhaust submerged DO NOT attempt to restart. You will draw water into the cylinders and the engine will hydrolock and you will blow the engine. If you stall you will need to be pushed or pulled out.

I found out the hard way..... an M3 in two feet of flood water is a bad thing. Luckily insurance footed the $10,000 for a new engine..... The situation brought to mind the "Who's the U-Boat commander?" line from Risky Business!

The best way to naviagate water is slow and steady with a "bow wake" pushing the water in front of the vehicle and not over the hood. Always know how deep a stream is before crossing. The last thing you want to do with your X is find out the lil waterway you were crossing has a five foot deep hole in the middle!!!!!!
Reply With Quote

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Aimster
copy-paste from another forum I go to:

This is a correct statement but as you know if you stall with the exhaust submerged DO NOT attempt to restart. You will draw water into the cylinders and the engine will hydrolock and you will blow the engine. If you stall you will need to be pushed or pulled out.

It may be a copy and paste, but it's wrong. You will NEVER suck anything in from the EXHAUST PIPE. As long as the intake pickup is not submerged, the exhaust pipe can be 20 feet under water and you won't damage the engine. If the intake pickup is submerged, you're already hosed and the engine ain't going to re-start anyway because it's already pulled in the water and locked itself.

ZV

 

[funboy6942]

The smoke you saw was the water hitting the exhaust manifold and steaming up, no big deal there, you most likely got water down into the head area, coil area, fues box area, causing the lights and car to run like crap. Depending on the year it may have a cap (where the plug wires come out of to the spark plugs), it is not water tight, and any water gets in there will cause the car to run like crap.

Also with that force you hit the water at I would look at your radiator and make sure you didnt smash in all the cooling fins, if you did your not going to get any air flow through it and over heat your engine. Also you may want to take it in and atleast have your trans fluid flushed. It was undoubtedly submerged and any water getting in there will cause havoc, and rust the parts out, thicken the fluid turning it into goop, and can/will cause you alot of trouble down the road. If it was a automatic the trans wouldnt be that big a deal, but you have a manual, and under the gear shifter is nothing more then a rubber cover, if that is torn, you cant see for the interior trim is covering it, or is not secured properly, its not a boat so its not meant to be water tight, water will get into the trans at that point. And if you havent done this yet, pull the dip stick and check your oil and make sure you didnt get any water to go down into the crank, slim chance there, and if you did the oil will be overfilled and look like mayo, or thick and gray in color, but mainly overfilled for sure, which will cause the car to run like crap also, hell some cars wont even start if just a quart overfilled.

To dry the car out, if you have a garage, open the car up, all doors, trunk, hood, rent a de-humidifier from the local rent place, big commercial one for doing homes that have had a water leak, and put it in there with the car for a few days and let it pull all the water out, and cross your fingers it runs good again. If you cannot get to a one of them, on a nice sunny day put the car out there with the hood open, take off all the fuse box covers under the hood and make sure to point it in the direction of the sun all day so it keeps the sun beating inside the engine compartment and heat things up in there evaporating the water under the hood.

You can drive a car complete submerged under the water, if you have it completly waterproofed

 

[Q]

Uh, take it to a shop instead of asking on AAT....

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Quintox
Uh, take it to a shop instead of asking on AAT....

Best advice posted here ... unless somone posting in this thread is a Nissan-certified mechanic they are only guessing as to any damage done to your engine & you'll be the one to pay the repair bill if they guess incorrectly.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: deadlyapp
engine may be waterlocked slightly, i'd check your compression. As far as everything electronic goes, sensors might be shorting out. If you have the know how, i'd unplug most of them for a day or so in a warmed garage and hope it gets better.

There is no such thing as "slightly" hydrolocked. Either he bent a rod or he didn't.

The OP should take his car to a mechanic and get it checked out. It is very possible than any damage could be covered by his insurance.

 

[MasonLuke]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
During the Nor'easter here, I drove through a 2' high flooded road by accident (it was pitch black and I was going about 40mph). My car (Infiniti G35) nearly came to a stop. I knew my tailpipe was submerged so I kept the RPMs up while I tried to traverse the section of the road. I was at 6000RPM yet I was barely moving and my engine started smoking. I made it through the block long flooded section but was stranded again. Eventually I made my way out but the next day my engine didn't turn over immediately like it normally does and the car felt loose (might be my imagination).

Today I drove the car again and again the engine didn't turn over on the first crank. My vehicle skid control and slip lights were on and stayed on until I drove the car again about 2 hours later.

Is there anything I should do or will the car "dry" itself out?

One thing I noticed was how hard I hit the water. The day after the flood, I looked at my front plate and noticed the impact from the hit to the water bent my plate upwards about 90 degrees.

6K rpm, u were either smoking your tires or your clutch was slipping.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: deadlyapp
engine may be waterlocked slightly, i'd check your compression. As far as everything electronic goes, sensors might be shorting out. If you have the know how, i'd unplug most of them for a day or so in a warmed garage and hope it gets better.

There is no such thing as "slightly" hydrolocked. Either he bent a rod or he didn't.

The OP should take his car to a mechanic and get it checked out. It is very possible than any damage could be covered by his insurance.

I have personally hydrolocked an engine (The engine stopped dead) before and didn't bend any pistons or break any con-rods. I destroyed a few valves, though.

BTW, if that ever happens, take out the spark plugs, pull the fuel pump fuse, and crank the water out, it's an interesting sight. Also, a McDonalds straw is very good at sucking out mud/water out of the intake manifold. Finally, mine didn't start until we dumped some alcohol-based anti-bacterial hand lotion down the throttle body while cranking. :thumbsup: