I had an interesting experience a little while ago. Was driving along a long deserted highway in the middle of the night, when out of nowhere comes a sign that said 'High Water'. With barely a second to slam on the brakes, my 6'er plunged nose first into what I can only describe as a small pond where the road used to be. Looking just like splash mountain, water flew up all around me. Since I could still see my guestimate is that the level must have been right below the headlights.
Immediately the engine started coughing and gurgling like I'd dropped a whole bottle of alka-seltzer into the fuel tank. I flipped on the hazards, not that there was a point. There wasn't another car, or another house, or another person around for miles. The engine finally switched off, and when I tried to turn it over again it gurgled some more but to no avail. I had forgotten I was still in drive so I moved it back to park and tried again, still with no luck. I let it sit for a second, and then in one last desperate attempt I tried the key again. This time I heard the engine just barely turn over. Fortunately, that was all I needed. I threw it into reverse and stepped on the gas, and very very slowly started to pull myself out of trouble. I didn't stop until I was certain I was on dry land, which was easy to tell because steam began pouring out from under the hood and from the exhaust. The engine was still hacking pretty badly and seemed ready to die at any moment. I put it in park and popped the hood, and grabbing my trusty maglight went to survey the damage. As expected, everything was soaked.
With nothing else to do I got back in and started driving in the opposite direction. I checked my brakes first to ensure they still worked, and all my exterior lights. The engine was struggling, and everytime the tranny switched gears the engine light came on and the car seemed to almost die before jolting forward. I got it up to 50 and it seemed to be driving much better. About five miles later I reached a small town. Worried it might switch off if it idled too long I switched into neutral at stop lights and kept the engine revved. One thing I noticed when I pulled out of a stop is that the dash light indicating traction control was disabled kept switching on momentarily.
After about another hour of driving at speeds over 40 everything seemed to be behaving as it should. The jolting during gear changes had stopped altogether and it seemed to be driving as normal as I can remember.
Once I got home I let it sit overnight. Just tried it again this morning and it started right up. I revved it a bit and the check engine light came on again, so not sure what that could be about. I'm going to let it dry out a bit more and then take it for a test drive to see how it runs. At least right now everything under the hood is stock so I didn't have to worry about ruining any performance parts.
So there you have it. I certainly wouldn't recommend trying this out for yourself, but at least you can all take comfort in knowing that we drive a pretty resiliant little car.
Immediately the engine started coughing and gurgling like I'd dropped a whole bottle of alka-seltzer into the fuel tank. I flipped on the hazards, not that there was a point. There wasn't another car, or another house, or another person around for miles. The engine finally switched off, and when I tried to turn it over again it gurgled some more but to no avail. I had forgotten I was still in drive so I moved it back to park and tried again, still with no luck. I let it sit for a second, and then in one last desperate attempt I tried the key again. This time I heard the engine just barely turn over. Fortunately, that was all I needed. I threw it into reverse and stepped on the gas, and very very slowly started to pull myself out of trouble. I didn't stop until I was certain I was on dry land, which was easy to tell because steam began pouring out from under the hood and from the exhaust. The engine was still hacking pretty badly and seemed ready to die at any moment. I put it in park and popped the hood, and grabbing my trusty maglight went to survey the damage. As expected, everything was soaked.
With nothing else to do I got back in and started driving in the opposite direction. I checked my brakes first to ensure they still worked, and all my exterior lights. The engine was struggling, and everytime the tranny switched gears the engine light came on and the car seemed to almost die before jolting forward. I got it up to 50 and it seemed to be driving much better. About five miles later I reached a small town. Worried it might switch off if it idled too long I switched into neutral at stop lights and kept the engine revved. One thing I noticed when I pulled out of a stop is that the dash light indicating traction control was disabled kept switching on momentarily.
After about another hour of driving at speeds over 40 everything seemed to be behaving as it should. The jolting during gear changes had stopped altogether and it seemed to be driving as normal as I can remember.
Once I got home I let it sit overnight. Just tried it again this morning and it started right up. I revved it a bit and the check engine light came on again, so not sure what that could be about. I'm going to let it dry out a bit more and then take it for a test drive to see how it runs. At least right now everything under the hood is stock so I didn't have to worry about ruining any performance parts.
So there you have it. I certainly wouldn't recommend trying this out for yourself, but at least you can all take comfort in knowing that we drive a pretty resiliant little car.
Comment