J35A8_Party

So with all the reading I've done about CAIs and hydrolocking, I really figured.. what are the odds? I live in Eastern Ontario and although it does rain and we get little storms here and there, nothing really to worry about. I mean, you'd need to drive in a pool for this to happen.

I installed the Injen RD1482P CAI in my 07 TLS 6mt last month. Sounds great!

We had a huge storm last night, and after a 45 minute drive home, 20 ft from my driveway, I plowed through a substantial puddle I could not see or avoid. It was raining so hard, all I could see what the two red lights ahead of me. I followed, I stalled.

Engine was under low power, first gear under 3k RPMs.. I clutched in midway of the puddle realizing what was happening. Engine stalled, no snapping, creaking or other noises. Tried to start her up again, starter made a small jolt, zero rotation.

The puddle was perhaps 10" deep, just enough so water did not get into the car. I stalled right past the deepest point so who knows, maybe water would have got in. Water covered the curb and I could not see it or the lines in the street.

I had it towed to Camco, we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed for no internal damage.

This pic was taken a few hours after the incident while waiting for a tow. Water receded a little, believe me, it was worse. Not sure this would have happened with stock box... but maybe.



I guess this is what happens when you go CAI


*I've already read the other posts on hydrolocking, I thought I'd share my story and provide any information if possible.

Will provide updates on the situation soon.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Never try to start it up! water does not compress, a quick way to bend valves.

J35A8_Party

Agreed, but I hear the starter is not powerful enough to damage components when the engine doesn't turn. I had to try, was my only way of knowing right away.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear it. good luck.

RedAggie03

iTrader: (4)

Never try to start if it dies...Pull the plugs first and dry.

Rockstar21

iTrader: (1)

i always cut about 2" off the bottom of my intake.

still takes in the cold air from under the car, but doesnt come near the water.

also, a hydroshield is a great investment as well.
wont protect from submerssion, but helps out a ton on splashing.

Comptechtl2367

The best thing you can do is pull the plugs and turn it over by hand to get the water out. Then drain the oil and put kerosene in instead of oil, run it for a min then drain. do this 2-3 time changing the oil filter each time. Kerosene with absorbe any water left in the engine. then drain and refil oil twice to make sure its all out. This is what i have done a few times to peoples cars that go into water... its a 50-50 chance you didnt bend something.
Dispite what people think the starter does have enough power to bend things if you have water in your cylinders.

mdrolet77

Youll be very lucky if nothing is bent with a manual car, the car being in gear forces the engine to turn and as others said water doesnt compress. So unless the clutch splipped or you didn't suck up enough water for the engine to be filled to the point it can still compress the air/water mix past top dead center you'll most likely have something bent.

It does take quite a bit of water to fill the cylinder even at tdc tho.

Either way its really not the best of things for an engine, it can damage seals/piston rings/heads/rods/crank


Edit : Btw since its kind of obvious the draining system is deficient, prehaps you can sew the city for the damages, its not everywhere the law allows it, but since you have the pictures and all it could be worth it if you end up getting costly damage done to the car... Typically you can't sew them for damage to tires and suspension, the engine is a different thing.
Wishing you the best of lucks...

phee

iTrader: (5)

fixed. your valves should be fine

J35A8_Party

I pushed in the clutch before it stalled, so hopefully that gave me a break.. I coasted though the deepest part of it.
As for the city, it is an option, I took pictures of this area late last night and this morning, 5-12hours after this happened, still flooded.
Thanks for the input guys

Comptechtl2367

The city will just laugh at you if you try to go after them, they didnt make you drive into the puddle even if you didnt mean to. Its the same with pot holes, you hit one and damage a wheel they would do anything for you. Insurance companies cant even subrogate cities for damages.

mdrolet77

The city is responsible for providing safe roads, if they are negligent on that aspect they can be sewed ( at least thats true in Quebec ). They made laws to avoid lawsuits stating that they cant be if damage is done to tires/suspension but even then when you can prove they were negligent you will win in court. The other part about this is that the engine isn't covered by those laws so it should be alot easyer to get them to pay for it. Of course you have to be prepared. And its obvious that you will have to take them to court, theyr not just gonna write you a check for 5k$ because the street is under a foot of water... That doesn't mean they won't have to pay for it or part of it in the end. Of course that all depends on your city/state law which I can't really help you with. But considering the stakes its worth giving it a look.

Yvuru

Rofl, I just told some guy who was buying a TL on the 3G TL page that there were no incidents of TL's hydrolocking with the CAI.

tommypenguin

I feel for the OP, that really sucks. I have never driven in water deep enough I would be concerned with submerging the filter (knock on wood) but have been concerned about getting splashed by someone driving in front of me a couple of times. For a little extra insurance I’m going to order the AEM prefilter and throw it on, better safe than sorry. For the OP I’m not thinking it would have helped.

For the record if I were ever driving through a giant puddle I couldn’t avoid. I would keep my car in gear and attempt to coast through it giving no throttle since injector duty cycle would be at 0% and the throttle opening angle of the butterfly plate on the tb should be shut. If I couldn’t make it through the puddle without having to give it gas, I would push the hazard lights button, shut the car off or just let it die in gear and call for a tow. Then say some prayers and hope for the best.

Comptechtl2367

Correct, I am an insurance adjuster for the states of WI and IL and we have tried to go after different cities and even the state and they all have the same response, they didnt make you hit ________ its your job to drive safely and avoid objects (including pot holes and standing water). I agree that its worth looking into but i would not be suprised if they tell you to pound sand. Also i missed that this was Canada so you will most likely have a better chance then if you were in the states.

By the way, this is why you have car insurance... they will take car of this.

mdrolet77

Your better off letting the car die out of gear since you wont have the weight of the car pushing on the internals trying to compress water. Even if the injectors are off its still taking air in and compresses it ( hence engine braking ). Best would be to coast up and shut the engine off but at that point, just turn around and take a different road...

I dont think car insurance in Quebec covers that unless you get the ''all risks'' coverage, which almost no on takes due to the price. Which is why you have to take a shot at the city.

If your insurance covers it its a no brainer...

Toddy

iTrader: (5)

The city had to pay for my engine on my S10 when I was in high school. I hit a man hole cover that was 3 inches above the surface and tore a hole in the oil pan. Good luck. Hope it works out for you

TL Luver

iTrader: (2)

i popped a tire and bent a rim from a pothole on the highway called the city to see what they could do about it said all i have to do is write a letter; pretty much stating date time and place & that they would pay for it but i was too lazy and just fixed it on my own... San Antonio TX... probably have a harder time in a smaller city...

J35A8_Party

Dealer pulled water out of some cylinders today, maybe a cup's worth. They will let it dry out, put in new plugs and change the oil before running cylinder compression tests tomorrow. Fingers crossed...

As for the letting it run in gear, that would probably not have helped, maybe made it worse. The engine is like a pump, whether its air/gas or gear driven momentum making it turn, if it's turning, it's pulling in, and pushing out. I agree on the valve, but at idle it's barely open at all. The hydrolock slam would have been harder in gear, maybe hurting other components.

Technicalities aside, it happened very quickly.. all I could think of was to clutch in and see what happens. I was not in hydrolock avoidance mode hehe

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Sorry to hear this. I hope it all works out for you.

riicky

sorry to hear this bro! but good luck.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Yikes....I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! This is exactly why I've hesitated to get a CAI....




.

TL Luver

iTrader: (2)

the dealer didnt care that you had CAI? they didnt just say its your fault and send you on your way?... i know when i went in to get some kinda service done (power steering recall or something) on the notes they wrote aftermarket intake or something to that sort... or are you just paying out of pocket hoping on the city thing?... curious to know thanks...

oh ya and good luck!!!..

Noober

iTrader: (7)

Ouch! I'm in Ottawa too.. that 5minute flash flood storm was ridiculous!
I was stuck in the rain as well, fortunately my car didn't hydro lock seeing as how I also have a CAI.
Sucks to hear about your situation, best of luck, hope to see you on the road soon!

omnuts

that sucks, I gotta be careful watching out for puddles, good luck and hope everything works out

J35A8_Party

Dealer doesn't seem to care at this point about the intake. Their job is to fix my engine. Seen as this is most definitely not a warranty issue, besides grinning at me, the intake doesn't change much for them.
If they can pump water out and compression tests come back great (no damage) I'll pay out of pocket the few hours of service, spark plugs and oil change, no biggy. If engine is toast, I will contact my insurance and bite the bullet. They might be pissed about the intake, but they should cover it anyways. My rates will surely increase.

I'm not really considering going after the city. If this happened under normal rain conditions and the city was negligent about it, sure. This was a freak of nature storm, there was flooding everywhere.
Had the city sent over 20 workers to help, there's nothing they could have done. Being realistic and honest, not the city's fault..

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

That stinks man.

mdrolet77

I sure hope you engine just works ok in the end

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Just curious why would you even mention anything about an intake to your insurance? Unless its already too late because the dealer knows about it, but I think you might be in trouble with insurance if they find out you had a cold air intake which was absolutely the reason you sucked in water. The OEM intake box is designed to not allow this infact it sucks water in from as high as next to the battery. Basically what im saying is you MUST get the OEM intake back on that car otherwise I would imagine there is a very good chance insurance would laugh at you as well.Just trying to help you out. It would be kind of similar to saying you want insurance to cover engine damage caused from running nitrous..sorta..

Keep us posted im hoping that the dealer is able to get it going without any major work.

James

tommypenguin

Again I wish you the best of luck with this situation, hopefully no damage was done. Do you think the filter was completely submerged at any point going through the puddle? It really sucks either way, when you hit a monster puddle like that, by the time you hit it, normally too late. Hopefully compression and cylinder leakdown tests come back with positive results.

J35A8_Party

Car fixed. No damage to internals, compression came back 100%.
Got new plugs and oil change. 523$ tax inc total

**I never contacted my insurance, I only would have done so had it cost over 3K$

The intake is staying. I will get out and push my car through the next puddle lol

Super happy, thanks for all the support!!

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Awesome glad to hear it and im sure you are relieved as well. Thats one heck of a price tag for plugs and oil change ;-) Plugs are soooooo easy on the TL I was able to do mine on my 08 Type S in literally 15 minutes. But either way you had no choice you had to have the car towed and other stuff checked so im sure that price includes labor to that stuff as well such as compression check etc etc.

nice man enjoy that black Type S....just like mine :-)

tommypenguin

That's great news. Glad everything worked out considering.

BostonSilverTypeS

man, glad to hear the good news...as I been there done that with flash flood storms, although the motor I hydrolocked was much cheaper than a TL-S....yea after I hydrolocked that motor it was last time I owned a CAI....Good News indeed!

J35A8_Party

Ya I'm just fine with the price, could have been much worse. I needed new plugs anyways and was @ 30% oil life. For an engine life threatening incident, the balance of that is more than pleasant.

TL Luver

iTrader: (2)

Hooooooooooorrraaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!... glad that didnt traumatize you and make you remove it... Keep on Keepin on!!!

edmua6

wow, good to hear about the result!

thisaznboi88

iTrader: (7)

get an AEM bypass valve. I drove through a lot more water then you friend. It was over the curb and the road was slanted in a way that all the water was going into my land. Hella BS, Drove into the water and a lot of steam came out. Scared the shit out of me. lol

Anyways, at least your engine is fixed!! yay!!

phee

iTrader: (5)

Must be a 3G owner thing. All the 2G guys know this .. Haven't seen any hydrolock threads out there

TL Luver

iTrader: (2)

^^^ Low Blow... im sure this is the first one reported or someone else would of probably brought it up and posted a link... im sure under certain circumstances it could happen to anyone; i seen many threads asking about it but before this no one has ever stating it actually happening from what i've read atleast... "3g owner thing"...lol...^^^