307SW 136 won['t start after going through big puddle ?

Jul 21, 2007 22 Replies

My fathers 307SW 136 went through a big puddle on the side of the road last night and the engine stopped. He tried to restart it but there is just a clonk from under the car and it doesn't seem to turn the engine.



This morning he tried again and the same thing. The lights come on but when he attempted to turn the engine over it looks like they go dim, as if the battery has gone flat.



Any idea's ?



I won't have though it has sucked up water as I think its like my 110



307 and has the airfilter and such like high up in the engine bay.

Steve



Yes the RAC picked him up and said the same. The guy said he could hear water in some of the air pipes when he squeezed the. He also said that the car doesn't turn over because water is probably locked in one of the cylinders ! The garage will need to remove the injectors to release the water and check for damage.

Any idea's what the likely damage is going to be. RAC guy said they are usually ok once the water is drained out of them. Not sure what it does to the particulate filter though !

Steve

Conrod damage is quite likely when water gets in the cylinders. Hope for the best!

Is this a diesel? They suffer more with water in the cylinders because there is less free space in the cylinder due to higher compression. Water won't compress so the con rod has to bend.

Yes but he was only going walking pace so I'd expect that the conrods will be ok.

He phoned the insurance today just to check if they would pay if its expensive. They said that over the last few weeks they have had hundreds of people with the same problem. All French and German cars seem to have the problem. All caused by the air pipe being so low and the airfilter being on the passenger side of the car and hence sucking up the deeper bit of a puddle. Obviously abroad the filter would be sucking up air from the middle part of the road !

Is it possible to move the air intake pipe higher up ?had a look at my

405 and the air intake is up high by the pass headlight, also its got hole in the pipe so if any water went up the pipe it would be able to run out the holes.(well lets hope it never happens to any of us as we all learn by are misstakes)

Well he is going to ask the garage if there is a mod and if there isn't he is going to chop the pipe off and make his own.

send it up and over the roof.just like the new landrovers.and do a patten on it and sale it.

Even better, turn it into a snorkel.

Or put it in a rubber suite and lets go diving in it hahahahaha

Have you where? i dont get to hear much when i am working hard lol

Well the garage haven't took the head off yet but they have mentioned that they think the engine is wreaked which I think is crazy as he was only going walking pace. =A35000 for a new engine !!!!!!

They have said that the sudden rush of water into the engine had probably warped the block and not done the pistons any good. This sounds crazy to me, things like land rover which I've driven into deep water don't complain about cold water hitting the block.

I've told him to ask for a full break down of what they think is wrong because it sounds like they are taking the easy option to me.

=A35000 for a new engine . what is it gold ?never heard of a warped block maybe head, but cant see that if it was only doing about 2mph.i think i would get some one else to take a look then find out price for diff things that might need to be replaced.

The car may only have been going walking pace but the engine will still have been doing at least 1000 rpm and suddenly chucking in water inside a cylinder will have bent it badly. It's not the sudden cooling that has warped the block but the coming to a dead stop with incompressible water in a cylinder.

The garage said they had replaced 5 engines last week with the same problem. Strikes me its a damn design fault to stick the air intake that low. I was having a look at mine and its just at the base of the bumper, how cr*p is that ! My old rovers could go though the local ford above the bottom of the door with no problem at all.

The simple answer is don`t try to suck up lake Windermere next time you go for a drive ! You may have learned the hard way this time and i feel sorry for you but most manufacturers are putting the air intakes low down now. I am a Ford Technician an we get this every now and then - one of the reasons the air intake is low down is so that it is at the furthest point from the occupants in the car to reduce induction noise and increase driver comfort + the engine gets a nice cool supply of air !

----- and additional water.cooling ;o)

That was unexpected. How did you pull it off (and what was done)?

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required