Will driving fast through 1 or 2 inches of water damage the undercarriage?
Not the undercarriage unless you hit something like a manhole cover that has been pushed up, but an inch or two is nothing. I regularly drive through 8 to 12 inches to get to work.But safety is another story. Too fast and/or tires two worn will cause hydroplaning, as my son learned once when he suddenly found himself on the other side of the center island, facing the way he had come from (and then got rear ended at 50 mph).The biggest problem with driving through water (other than hydroplaning) is the water that is thrown up by the tires or bumper into the engine compartment, where it can stall the engine by wetting the spark plugs or some electronic component, from distributor to computer, starter to alternator. Water gets in the. bearings of AC compressors and other pulleys. It also gets into the clutch throwout bearing and ruins it.Another big concern from deep water is what goes into the vents on the axle and transmission. After driving in deep water you should check or change the fluids in those.And finally, get it deep enough (depending on where the air intake is) and you will suck water into the engine. A small amount, with the dirt that it takes with it, will scratch the cylinders (just had that happen with one driver and a Suzuki van) and mix with the oil, reducing lubrication. A lot and it will hydrolock the cylinder and bend a rod (had that happen in a flash flood).
How deep can car go into the water?
driving through water could potentially do a couple of different things: First off, if the water level is over the tail pipe, the engine rpm must be kept high in order to keep the exhaust pressure up, so that water does not go up the tail pipe and stall the engine. If this was to happen, it wouldn't likely do damage, but the car would have to be towed out of the water, and a modern car would likely throw a trouble code to the computer, causing the computer to have to be re-set. If you were able to drive through, then you didn't have this problem. If the water level gets above the air intake while the engine is running, the engine could suck in water, and the engine could hydrolock, which means that water is sucked into the cylinders. Because water does not compress like air, water in the cylinders can cause severe damage that will require and engine rebuild or replacement. If water gets in the engine while the engine is stalled, the water will have to be removed before the engine is started or a hydrolock could occur. Remove the spark plugs and crank the engine, and the water will be pumped out of the spark plug holes. If your vehicle hydrolocked, you would know about it, because it would make at least one very loud bang, and would not continue to run. Since most air cleaners are near the top of the engine compartment, in most cases, the water would have to be more than a foot deep to allow water into the air intake. Finally, if the water gets higher than the vents on your crank case, transmission, or differential, you could get water in your engine, transmission or differential oil. This would allow the vehicle to continue to drive, but over time, it could damage the vehicle. To check if this is the case, check the oil in each of these locations. if the oil on the dipstick appears milky, then there is water in it, and it should be changed.
Random water... in my car?
run the water on the vents under the wipers on the passengers and drivers side
What are creative ways to describe the rain?
Water pulls at us, at our core, at our skin and hair and muscles. It's where we came from; it's what we floated in, in our own isolation chambers, for nine months. The swoosh, swoosh, swoosh of the tide of amniotic fluid filled our ears before our mother's voice did. Swoosh, swoosh. Rocking us gently, gently. We like the swoosh, swoosh of the washing machine, too. It reminds us of something, not the least of which is that we have machines to do the heavy work of cleaning. Evolutionary theory says we crawled out of a body of water, where we swam, and got tired of swimming, and grew legs to explore the land beyond. We did that, but always have a yen to return to the water, feeling the silken smoothness on our skin, and the buoyancy the earth can never give us. Our hair floats like seaweed, our spirits soar, and we feel weightless with the first slide into the warmth of a pool, or the coolness of a lake on a hot day, or the salty crispness of the ocean. Perhaps that's why we crave salt. Salt seasons water, and seasons us. You cannot be anxious, or depressed, while floating or frolicking in water. Water is rarely one dimensional; it cradles, hides, protects, reflects, and cleanses, all manner of life, and treasure, and detritus. It drowns, overwhelms, sweeps away, roars, and pounds. Is it any wonder the sound of rain can soothe us to sleep? Is it any wonder the smell of it can make us want to run outside and splash through puddles? Or just sit in the doorway, all thought suspended, while we listen to the percussive beat of prehistoric drums, and breathe in the very smell of life?Water is what we're made of; we rain when we sweat or cry; it's the very essence of life. We have to replace it, or we die. Our planet is the beautiful blue marble spinning in space because of our water. I let my son do something when he was little that I rarely saw other mothers permit their children to do. They were afraid of a wet, muddy child, who might catch cold. I let him run, and sit, and splash in rain puddles as much as he wanted. When it was pouring outside, I let him lay on the sidewalk, and float his toy boat down the gutters, while he chased it to the next obstacle. Rain is a special treat in the desert. It isn't an everyday occurrence, and we relish it.
Drove into a flooded street, engine died, now starts but shoots out white smoke and has milky oil.?
So my girlfriend decided to drive through a flooded street yesterday during heavy rainfall. the water was probably 12" Deep. She told me that once she hit the water going about 15-20 mph, the car immediately died. Shortly after myself and a friend pushed it out of the street into a dryish parking lot. At that point it would not start at all, wouldnt even crank. So I left it over night to dry. Today I got it to start by jumping it with my truck. But it immediately started spraying water out of the exhaust and blowing out white smoke. I then checked the oil and it was a milky color like you would see with a blown headgasket. Now Im not saying that it is absolutely not a headgasket issue, but before this the car had never blown white smoke, and last week she had the oil changed, and the mechanic did not mention anything about the oil being a milky color. He did however tell her about the number of other things wrong with the car, which leads me to believe that if it did need a new headgasket he would have listed it on the repairs sheet. Now my question is, is it possible that the water got into the oil some how and thats why its a milky color and blowing out smoke? Or would it have to be the headgasket? Also would it be ok for her to drive to work tomorrow and then after go to the repair shop and have the oil changed, or would we be risking too much by driving it a few miles? Thank you for your answers! -cory
Why does my car stall when driving in the rain?
I have a ford focus 2007 and I have had it for 6 months which I purchased from a good friend. Well the issue is, every time I start the car and it’s raining and I drive maybe 100 feet, the car check engine light comes on and the car starts to stall. When pressing on the gas a lot of white smoke starts coming out of the muffler. When its dry season, it runs perfectly. I have scheduled an appointment to get my oil change and transmission fluid tomorrow, I have kept the maintenance on it and have not neglected doing that. But now I am worried because this only happen once before when it was raining. My friends and family say its water getting in somewhere and mixing with the oil. Also the car does not overheat and stays at its regular temperature. I don’t know much about cars which I know I should learn more, but can anyone give me some type of information of what the problem might be. Thank you.
I drove my car through salt water, is that bad?
Yeah that's bad. Salt water will eat the crap out of metal. The worst part isn't the body (if its all steel), it's the frame. Frame rust and rot are big issues and the last thing you want is a rusty frame that'll turn into nesquick chocolate powder. I don't want to be an alarmist and suggest that this one incident will do this to your car, but it can start to cause some surface rust. Either way, it's still not good. Rinse off the underside of your car when you can to get all of that dried salt off the bottom. Best way to do it is to get a sprinkler from your lawn and just put it underneath your car. It works for cleaning off mud on the bottom of my Jeep, it'll work just fine for salt water. Give your car a good wash as soon as you can, too. Salt water isn't good for paint. In fact, salt water doesn't belong near cars at all.
What could happen to a car driving through puddle of water in high speed?
I suppose it depends on how deep.I have driven through a bunch of puddles and generally have not slowed down much. I had this going for me.On rally stages you have the expectation that the road is passable and you are not driving into a deep hole.You water proof the engine compartment and try to ensure you won’t ingest water into the intake manifold.You keep the wheels straight when you enter the water.Both sides of the car were equally effected.This picture below was a case with water on one side of the road. The driver clipped a corner hitting water on the inside that pulled the car into the pond. On the same corner I made sure I stayed outside the deep water on the inside and didn’t have an issue.Conclusion;if you know the road is passable, make sure you hit it as straight as you can with the wheels straight ahead.Keep the power on to make sure you don’t get the rear of the car coming around on you as the front wheels want to decelerate.If you haven’t seen to waterproofing your engine that will still most likely result in loosing a couple of cylinders temporarily.If you think it might be deep, slow down!Don’t hit puddles with one side of the car unless you know what you are doing and are very well versed in how your car reacts.
How do you drive fast in the rain?
If you don’t know or understand hydroplaning, you SHOULD LEARN ABOUT IT. Especially if your motorcycle or car has pseudo racing type tires (i.e. with very little tread/very few grooves). My car had this kind of tire and I recently found it totally squirrelly in the rain at freeway speeds. I replaced all four tires with new mixed use tires.Here’s a true story about hydroplaning that you’ll probably have trouble believing, but it’s true.It was a very dark night and it was raining. I was about 28 years old (aka young and stupid; with the emphasis on STUPID) on a freeway at 70+ mph on my way home from work. There was a car to my left and its headlights illuminated my front tire. I started thinking about hydroplaning (I’d been studying about it for my Commercial Pilot’s License). Since motorcycle’s front and rear brakes operate independently, I started slowly/lightly squeezing the front brake lever. Leaning my head to my left so I could see the front tire I continued to squeeze until I could tell the tire was slowing. Then without warning, it actually stopped. Freak-city! I gave it a couple of seconds to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and then I released the brake lever slowly and the tire started spinning up again.All legalities aside, DON’T DO THAT AT HOME OR ANYWHERE ELSE! It was an absolutely DUMBASS thing to do, but I then (and forever more) had proof that hydroplaning actually happens.So, when does hydroplaning become an issue? First, it depends upon the amount of standing or flowing water. It also depends upon the tire; both whether the tread is water displacing or not and the width and shape of the tire.A generic formula for the speed at and above which hydroplaing is possible is:Hydroplaning speed (MPH) = nine times the square root of the tire pressure.Assuming a tire pressure of 36 psi. (typically close to most tire pressures)Square root of 36 is 6Therefore, the basic hydroplaning speed is 9 times 6, or 54 MPH.Think about that for a second when you’re riding or driving 65 MPH in rainy conditions. Also consider the effect on that critical speed if your tire pressures are lower than recommended.And, if you think you’re safer in your heavy car or truck, the vehicle weight has zero effect on the Hydroplaning speed, the only things that matter are the tire pressure and tread pattern.