Wading depth

F

flybobbie

Elite
 Stourbridge
Well this little disaster happened a couple of weeks ago and seems relevant today.
Invited to lunch, i had the choice of two roads to get to my destination.
Obviously i took the wrong road.

Narrow country lane, slight dip and flooded road, about 20 odd foot long.
Another car, Audi sat on my tail, so very awkward to reverse out of situation. Didn't look too deep so very slowly moved forward.
About halfway i could see a small bow wave move out. It rebounded of the verge hedgrow but came back twice as high, splashed under the front and the engine cut out!
Sat there i tried to restart. The Audi pulled around me passed and drove off into the distance. Another car driver coming the otherway had second thoughts and reversed off.

So sat there, i tried using the starter to pull me out. But, yep brilliant BMW design as soon as you drop the clutch the starter cut outs.
So in small lurches i inched forward on the starter.

Eventually the engine started and i drove out.
At arriving at my destination i looked at the air filter. It was soaking wet.
So what had happened the second wave passed over the bottomlip of the bumper, splashed up the radiator and up into the air intake, swamping the filter.

Why on gods good earth do car designers put air intakes at the front of vehicles just to gain a few extra horsepowers when doing 150 plus mph!
The air box is designed like a bucket to hold as much water as possible.
I dried the air filter out, drilled a slightly bigger drain hole in the bottom of the air box and for the duration of the wet weather i have removed the air intake, for now, from the front of the car, so that air is draw from inside the engine compartment.

Remember the day when air filters were bolted to the top of the engine.
 
I will let the resident river driver (Carol) comment on this one :D

You sure were very close to total engine failure. A little bit of water entering the engine and it is a write off ...
 
'Dear BMW I am most upset that I got stuck on a flooded road, you should design your low slung sportscars to cope with deep water' lol...

There's a warning about it in the manual. If you want to go through deep water get a normal height car or higher. I personally never drive down a flooded road as unless you know the road very well, you've no idea how deep it is. Sod anybody else that gets inconvenienced, its my car not theirs.
 
flybobbie said:
Another car, Audi sat on my tail, so very awkward to reverse out of situation. Didn't look too deep so very slowly moved forward.
Click to expand...

There's the mistake right there, you got to get a bit of speed up as you hit the water so you have an immediate bow wave.
The fact you got the wave hitting you back from the side shows you were going too slow.

Rookie error my friend. :D
 
Well the wading depth is quoted as one foot, which i would never go anywhere near that. If it gets anywhere near the lip of the bumper, which looks on my car about 8 inches is when the problem starts.
I drove through at about 2 mph.
 
Carol M said:
flybobbie said:
Another car, Audi sat on my tail, so very awkward to reverse out of situation. Didn't look too deep so very slowly moved forward.
Click to expand...

There's the mistake right there, you got to get a bit of speed up as you hit the water so you have an immediate bow wave.
The fact you got the wave hitting you back from the side shows you were going too slow.

Rookie error my friend. :D
Click to expand...
Yep. I concur. You need to use the bow wave as your friend when traversing flooded areas.. or just not do it in a 'sports' car..
 
flybobbie said:
Why on gods good earth do car designers put air intakes at the front of vehicles just to gain a few extra horsepowers when doing 150 plus mph!
Click to expand...

Why did you drive into the water without watching other vehicles drive through it first so that you could've gauged it's depth? You could've waved the car behind you to pass, since, from what you've said, there was room for other vehicles to pass whilst you were stranded...

I hope your car is fine. Lesson learned. :thumbsup:
 
I get abuse from other drivers as I do not want to go through the bushes - ever. I just stop and let them work their way around me. My vocabulary is enriched often :D
 
Well no other vehicles to watch.
Its a road i hate with a passion.
The 'puddle' was at an entrance to a farm, so the 'T' junction makes enough space for two cars to pass, as did the Audi driver when he saw i got stuck.
Been fording water all winter but difference was the corner of the junction. A bow wave would normally move forward down the road. Unfortunately it reflected off the corner.

Speed wise very cautious having burst two tyres on same side with hidden pot hole.
 
flybobbie said:
Well no other vehicles to watch.
Its a road i hate with a passion.
The 'puddle' was at an entrance to a farm, so the 'T' junction makes enough space for two cars to pass, as did the Audi driver when he saw i got stuck.
Been fording water all winter but difference was the corner of the junction. A bow wave would normally move forward down the road. Unfortunately it reflected off the corner.

Speed wise very cautious having burst two tyres on same side with hidden pot hole.
Click to expand...
:cry:
 
Speeding through water is both dangerous to youself, other road users and antisocial and will wreck your car very easily, good advice here from the AA.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/seasonal/floods-and-wet-weather.html

And no driving at even lowish speeds and creating bow waves is not the way to drive through water if you have too. If I could find the van driver who sped past me the other week with water cascading over the top of my car I would gladly have rammed his head down the nearest drain.

I would always go through standing water as slow as possible keeping revs high, the people behind me can wait.

Tim.
 
Talksthetorque said:
Is it worth reversing through? Just a random thought.
Click to expand...


Wouldn't have thought so, it could go up the exhaust. :cry:

The AA do recommend creating a bow wave, like I said actually, and driving at about 4mph through water if you have to but no deeper than 4".
 
I did think about the exhaust but then I thought that as
a) its bloody hot
b) it's blowing stuff out constantly under pressure
it should be alright :? :? :?
WIll anyone lend me their car to try my theory out?
 
The AA quote "Drive slowly and steadily to avoid creating a bow wave"
and

"you should only attempt to drive through if you know it's not too deep and maintain a steady, slow speed to avoid creating a bow wave."

Tim.
 
Years ago I parked an old Marina van just before high tide on an embankment road near Putney Bridge, I returned to a van with a 6" tide mark inside it (the river had by then subsided to just below the sills). I eventually got it started one cylinder at a time and drove out the overflowing river, the gutting thing was a week later all the wheel bearings had failed, a nice grinding / scoring noise due to I assume something like the bearing grease being rinsed out. I avoid water at all costs now!
 
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