I have an 05 TSX that has served me very well over the years. It has about 74000 miles on it and has mostly all the mods like comptech header, comptech icebox, random hi flo cat, hondata reflash, rear swar bar, etc. I live in north jersey and this area REALLY stinks with flooding.

Anyway, this past Tuesday was another bout of torrential rain and guess what? I was suddenly caught on a flooded road and my car stalled. I thought to myself.. that's it.. the engine is toast. I actually did everything wrong in this situation because I tried to start the engine twice and the car sounded like the battery was dying. I ended up getting out and pushing the car back 20 feet and tried to start the car again. It turned on and allowed me to move it off the road.

I called my insurance company and had the car towed. I got a 2010 Mercury Grand Marquis as a rental and I hated it. It was like driving a huge boat and even though it has a v8, it didn't really feel that powerful to me. Anyway, the mechanics checked my car and confirmed that water did get into the engine but they claim it wasn't enough to cause damage. They said the air filter was soaked so they cleaned the intake and replaced the filter. They also flushed the engine and did four oil changes to make sure all the water is out. They checked the ecu and found no codes. They ran it on the highway. They said it sounded great. I found this hard to believe. I got my car back two days later and I sware the car seems like it runs new. It idles fine and runs great. I've ran it for 300 miles city and highway miles and not one problem. Runs very strong. Now i'm confused. Based on what I've read about hydrolocking the engine, it seemed to me that the engine would be toast. I'm confused that there is no damage to my engine. I'm still kind of skeptical about the whole thing but the car seems to run great. Anything I should do? Shoud I get a second opinion?

 

Maybe you got luck. Did the mechanic perform a compression or leak down test to verify the numbers?

 

That's the thing. I was insisting that they do a compression test but the adjuster told me it was not necessary because the car sounds and feels like it has excellent compression and no damage which I found so odd.

I want to get a second opinion. Do you suggest I do both a compression test and leak down test? How much would that cost? Thanks.

 

Personally, I would run the test for a piece of mind and hope for the best. However, you may have to do it at your own expense unless there's a problem. At which case, the insurance will most likely reimburse you.

Not sure how much it would cost but it's probably around one hour labor time.

 

I agree with this sentiment (the first part anyway). You got lucky is all. Maybe the car inhaled just enough to kill it and after getting the water out it seems (and pretty obviously if you ask me) that it's OK now. You say it runs fine, you've put some miles on it with no negative results.... I'd say thank you to the TSX gods and go on my merry way (and be more careful of large puddles). And..... this might be a lesson for those of us that have replaced the OE air box set up (though we all have read of incidents like this with more dire consequences)