Hey All,


We recently had a pretty sudden rain storm here in the Northeast. I was on my way home from work that night driving down back dark lit roads. I suddenly came across a puddle which once I realized how deep it was, it was too late. I'm guessing it was up to the top of my bumper/bottom of the headlights. I made it thru the puddle but after that the car immediately died. I let it sit for a minute without starting and then when I had traffic building up behind me I decided to try and start it. It got into accessory mode fine but when I got the turning the engine over, nothing happened all it did was click. After a minute of sitting in the accessory mode all the warning lights came on.

I had the car towed to my home which was only about a mile down the road and had it left in my driveway. After a couple hours I decided maybe to try and start it again but same thing was happening, the engine would not turn over and the lights would just flash.

I had to leave early the next morning for business and haven't been able to try and start the car since. I figured I'd let it sit and dry out a little. As you can imagine I've been worried since that this is obviously probably a serious problem.

My question is, how would I know if I Hydrolocked my engine? Do you think this is more of an electrical issue? I found a couple different threads on people doing the same thing but it was more so just a flooded engine.. Maybe when I get home Sunday it will start?

Any ideas to ease my mind??


Thanks all for your response in advance!


-John D.

 

Did you take a look at the intake pipe and see water there? If there is then water surely went inside your engine.

 

Worse thing you can do after your car shuts off by itself is try to start your car again.

Best advice is to have it checked out, start taking things apart and analyze any damage.

 

dear Jonathan I feel that when you traveled home and you got to that raging river/Prado that you should've thought twice did I pay over $25,000 for this car should I drive through a puddle is this an SUV let's go for it I just want to go home I hope that your car drives out and starts fine and has no issues I truly do make God bless you and your Acura please regard me as a friend on acurazine

 

Are you hearing any funny noises when your start is trying to start? Does the starter even attempt to turn over? I think if your car isn't making any noises at all (the starter isn't attempting to turn over) then you have an electrical issue. If you hear some sort of gurgle noise then it's hydrolock. It could be both but at this point, you might need a mechanic to assess it and possibly go through insurance because it'll be an expensive repair regardless.

 

this is what you should do next time, every one take note!


DO NOT ATTEMPT TO START THE CAR!
if water did end up in the cylinders, water will not compress. you will bend metal inside the engine.

the next step would be an attempt to find out how far the water traveled.
pop the hood and check your engine air filter for dampness.

if filter is damp, you'll need to at least pull the intake manifold cover and soak up the water that was accumulated there.

next, spark plugs need to be pulled and you'll need to crank the engine for the water to shoot out the plug holes.


and FYI; it wont gargle if its hydrolocked. if hydrolocked, you've bent metal.

 

Are you serious?



^^^^ This

 

At this point the car isn't even getting to the point where it's trying to turn over and that's why I'm thinking it's more of an electrical problem. Hopefully not both. When I get home I'll be sure to check the dampness and start to assess the damage from there.

I'll be sure to keep you posted, thanks for your help!

 

Good luck.

 

keep us in the loop....
fingers crossed for electrical problem...

 

Well, had it towed to the Acura dealer...fingers crossed!

 

What a crazy day that was for us Northeasters. I too drove through the water and it was too late to turn back when there was another car was right behind me. I didn't have a choice but kept on driving as fast as i could. Water pressure was so strong I lost my front license plate. Although my car didn't die I was very worried. I contacted my ins. right away and was told my car would be under coveraged as flood damage if anything wrong with it. I brought it to local Acura the next couple days to check up and was told everything ok. I hope you already started a claim with your insurance. GL!

 

OP, hopefully the water didnt make into your engine

as it usually doesnt.

 

Ya, it came down hard and fast! Acura dealer said they'd get to it first thing tomorrow. Stay tuned. Thanks for all the positive vibes!

 

the best thing to do is pull the fuses for the fuel pump and ignition coils. Then remove spark plugs and try to turn over the engine. This will send all the water from the engine out from the spark plug holes.

 

imagine you are under water.. and your only source of air is through a straw.... the moment you sink your straw into water and try to breath air.. you get massive amounts of water in your lungs..

concept is the same.. next time (which i hope there wont be) dont start the car.

 

OP - Any updates on the diagnosis???

 

+1....

 

+2...

 

Looks like this thread and car is dead in the water

 

It is rather amazing the amount of stories like this on car forums. Ppl just drive through deep water because it is more convenient in their minds then turning around and going a different route or just waiting out the storm/water. I understand some instances can't be avoided but most I see posted can be avoided. Ppl don't think about consequences till after the engine dies and it is too late.

 

lol..

 

My guess is the car was a write off and the owner ended up going with a different brand.

 

UPDATE - Hey guys - Sorry for the delayed response I've been traveling for work and holidays. Car was considered by the insurance company a total loss. Geico, of all companies I must say has been great to deal with. ACV on this car was about 11K with the miles and they agreed to give me 13K which should be paid in full by tomorrow. Diagnosis - water was unfortunately sucked into the engine and it was completely flooded.

Today, I'm happy to say I stayed in the Acura family and picked up a 2012 TL base black/black with 28K. I'll post some pics later.

Thanks for all the support and positive thoughts on this forum!

 

Congrats on the new car!

 

that probably made all the difference. Letting off the throttle allows water to go up your exhaust.

 

How many miles did the car have? I was looking for 09 to 2013 TL in my area last month and some of the 09 was still asking for 17-18K.
Anyway, grats on the new car.

 

Good to hear that the insurance has totaled your car.

 

Sounds like things worked out reasonably well.

 

Thanks for follow up. When I had my shitty Cavalier, I just drove through anything. I recall driving through a massive snow bank and puddle once. I would not do it now....

 

Wow you didn't leave Acura! Ahahaha.

Wait... your TL was only worth 13k? What year was this. I was under the assumption that your TL was a 4th gen.

 

^^^ that's a 4th gen on the flatbed......

In terms of the $13K, could be an early 09 with tons of miles

 

Can't believe our cars are going down in value so fast... Makes me a little sad.

 

Car had 147K on it. I bought it 4 years ago with only 6K miles... I tend to spend a lot of time in the thing as I'm an outside sales rep for work. Did all scheduled maintance and kept on top of fluid changes, brakes, etc. NEVER ONCE had an issue with the car. Amazing. That's why I decided to stay with the Acura family. I've had my new TL for about 4 days now and love it! I'll be sure to post some pics when I get a chance to take some decent ones. Glad I found this forum!

 

Best of continued success with your new TL and in for pix.

 

Congrats. Really sad to see a well maintained car go at only 150k, especially a luxury car like a TL. but at least you ended up on a good note.

 

this must had been a very deep water over the door sills.

 

OP said the water got to the top of the bumper / bottom of the headlights. No doubt very deep water, but where did it say over the door sills?

 

he didn't i did, isn't this a discussion? anyway thanks for setting me strait!

 

Oh, okay. I didn't know what to make of your post. There is no reference to whom you were posting about and seeing this is a discussion but primarily related to the OP, my thought was you were adding to the discussion about the OP's incident.

So you drove into door window deep water???