RJNN TL

Hey all, just thought it'd be interesting to hear peoples stories of near hydro-locking their car or just a plain old scary encounters with your TL.

I'll start it off.

A week or so ago, I was going to a Honda meet in NJ. It was going to be my first meet up with my Type S. And I was pretty darn excited to see everyone's cars. I traveled all the way from Woodstock, NY to Jersey Shore, NJ. After traveling all the way to NJ and finding out it was canceled, it was quite the let down. So I had to drop my girlfriend at Jersey Shore and well...
As I was going off the main road onto a smaller road, I went nearly into a river of water. The TL was in water of about up to the door about to come in the car. So I quickly turned off the car before it completely stalled. I jumped out of the car and pushed my car out of the water about 15 feet. (Keep in mind my girlfriend wakes up half way in a daze having no idea we went into a crap load of water.) So I end up trying to start it. It cranks, but I can tell the spark plugs are wet. So I let it sit for about 5 minutes, and it finally starts.
I finally drop her off and im trying to find my way out of this town which at every exit is filled with water. So I am like in a maze of watered streets. Like an idiot I go through yet another thing of water. (This was about... 45minutes or so after the first mishap) But this time it doesnt start. The water was above the intake so it sucked up a bit of water. So the bitch is hydrolocked. I push it safely into someones driveway which isnt in water. The car wont start. It only clicks. So I knew it was royally F*cked. Thankfully however I go to the nearest neighbor and ask them if they have some tools I could borrow so I can take the spark plugs out. They let me borrow them. I end up taking all 6 sparkplugs out. I turn it over and it blows a crap load of water out sparkplug 2's bay on the front. So I dry off all the sparkplugs completely and make sure it's dry. And I crank it over again and it starts. Sure it was a rough as hell start, but it stayed at a decent idle. I let it run for about 10 minutes, Turned it off and back on a few times and the start up got better and better. So it went back to a perfect startup in about 20 minutes. And I took it to the nearest shop, which was about 5 minutes up the street and I got the oil changed. Just in case there was water in the oil, which I BET there was. So the streets ended up drying up and I was on my way back home another 150 miles. HELL of a trip. I thought my car was done. It started and ever since this event it has been fine with no issues or knocks or anything odd. I replaced the oil THAT day within 30 minutes of me starting it. So this was a hellovastory haha. I am glad I didnt try to pop start it, because that would have probably screwed up the engine BAD. But in the end the Type S runs fine and there is no isses. But damn.. I thought it was done. Sorry to ramble on about my story. Just thought i'd share it with you all. :P



Tell me your interesting stories.

erdoc48

The valuable lesson here is never, ever drive into water that high. You did the right thing by removing the plugs. If you stayed there and tried to repeatedly crank the engine, you would be telling us that you had to replace the engine. Water is just not that compressible. Unless you're in a Hummer with the snorkel intake on the outside, driving into water is going to end in disaster.

When I was a wee lad (OK, maybe 20 or so), I had a Honda CRX-Si, and the same thing happened to me. My brother goaded me on to drive on through the water, and yup, it hydrolocked. Then the engine ran like crap, made a ton of noise, and I took the car home. I changed the oil on it without effect. The bottom line is that I cracked 1 piston and broke 1 connecting rod. I had the engine fixed under an extended warranty that I bought with the car- it worked out well as I had the car until 126,000 miles (the event happened at 50K), but I learned a valuable lesson that day. There will be a lot of standing water today with all of the rain in the northeast, so be careful, and if you see deep water, turn around and find another way to your destination.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

I hydrolocked my CL back in the day. Went through about 4 inches of water but unfortunately there was a nice pothole in the middle.

You did the important things. Change the oil and plugs. I would recommend that you drain the oil again after a couple hundred miles and maybe swap the plugs.

Acura_Dude

Wow OP, glad your Type S is safe. Man that would've been bad if you'd had locked the motor. In my state it's easy to flood (in my area atleast) and I had my ma's 02 sentra (little car) and I actually drove it through a street prone to flooding, but that day it appeared to be no different. I learned quickly that it had to be almost a foot of water in the middle. The car tried to turn off on me, but i slammed the gas to the floor and let it chug itself out (the water was almost high enough to stall it). Unlucky/lucky for me since its such a small, weak car, that it didnt cut off an as I was nearing the end of the puddle, the car started to pick up speed and I came out with no damage.

When I had my 1st car (17ish) I was speeding down a wet road that had flooded one night and didn't even noticed the river in the street (can't see standing water on a dark road at night) and plowed right through it! Water started to drip inside the car. When I plowed through it, there was a wave of water that washed OVER the hood, windshield, and down the back of the car. After that incident my camry (1st car) made a whistling noise everytime during acceleration. But in these instances I made 2 huge mistakes. 1. driving like a bat out of hell at night (whole road looked the same) and 2. Attempting to drive in water that appeared shallow.

OP never attempt to drive through water like that again. Seems like you had 2 chances like I did. Turn around, don't drown. I'm very glad to hear your Type-S is running excellent. To nice of a car to kill imo.

r3devi7

iTrader: (2)

Op youre from Woodstock, not far from me then. When I first got my TL in Kingston, we took a trip to Woodstock, thats where I got a few compliments on my stock car lol. I dont have any cool stories, I will never run a cai on any of my cars, especially the daily, just not worth it.

eduthesamurai

I have had 1 ft of water or something around that around the car like 2 times and has never gave me any problem . At what exact height the water has to be to hydrolock the car ? I have even get a bit of water I had to CleAn from the inside.

blacktsx05

iTrader: (1)

were you going to honda day aug 13th and 14th? i hydrolocked my motor the night of the 13th and it rained so hard my car flooded. this happened to me in jersey city after leaving nyc coming out of the holland tunnel

RJNN TL

Yep! That's where I was going haha.. It sucked big time!

RJNN TL

Yeah.. be glad that you werent near Woodstock during Irene. Any areas that surrounded the town were flooded. My home town Phoenicia was destroyed by the river being as high as 11FT over the normal flow. As for a cold air intake. It's all about NOT going through water. haha. Which reminds me I should change my intake filter. :P