Got Caught In A Flooded Highway - How Worried Should I Be?

[Lizey93]

Hey all,

Got caught in a flood on I-696 today and the police wouldn't let us turn around so we had to drive through water. Drove through water up to the bottom of my door for about 100 yards car never stalled never bucked anything and there doesn't appear to be ANY water in my oil/nothing electrical wrong/no warning lights. Drove the car 50 more miles before stopping and it ran absolutely fine. How worried should I be? Changing the oil tomorrow just to be safe but should I worry about the trans/rear diff/etc? 2013 LFX A6.

[Lizey93]

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[Lizey93]

3

[My 5th]

Water in your engine shouldn't be a problem. I'd be more concerned about water coming in past the door gaskets and getting into the carpet. Check the carpet around the doors and if it's wet--really wet--I'd pull it back to let it dry thoroughly.

[Lizey93]

Carpet was bone dry all around both doors, think I'm pretty safe there. Never had to go through water like that in this car, was just sort of panicking. Thanks for some reassurance.

[MrChrisLS3]

I highly doubt you had water intrusion into the oil. If oil isn't leaking out, not much chance of water leaking in. Now, if you got water in through the intake, that would be different, however you would've probably stalled at the point, or least ran like crap.

Even if you did get a small amount of water in the crankcase, it would've most likely burned off by the time you got home. Moisture in the oil happens often when taking short trips where the car doesn't hit full temp for long enough time, condensation will form. This is why too many short trips is bad for an engine.

As far as the rest, you should be alright.

[Spurshot]

I think you'll be fine.

[Talladega]

I'll be damned if they are going to make me drive through that. I would pull over and say the car stalled get me a flatbed tow truck to drive my car through. But then again my car hasn't seen a wet road other than the carwash since..... ever.

Glad to hear you made it through ok and hopefully with no long term issues to the car.

[JLSuperfly]

Originally Posted by Lizey93

Carpet was bone dry all around both doors, think I'm pretty safe there. Never had to go through water like that in this car, was just sort of panicking. Thanks for some reassurance.

In that case, you should be fine.

[maddoggyusa]

Originally Posted by My 5th

Water in your engine shouldn't be a problem. I'd be more concerned about water coming in past the door gaskets and getting into the carpet. Check the carpet around the doors and if it's wet--really wet--I'd pull it back to let it dry thoroughly.

This! if carpet dry as you say.... you are fine.

[Lizey93]

Thank you for all the responses, you're all making me feel a lot better about the whole thing. Should I bother checking the trans fluid/rear diff fluid? I never stopped driving and was only going through the water for approximately 60 seconds at 5mph and the car hasn't acted up at in the ~150 miles I've driven since.

[Welker2]

Originally Posted by Lizey93

Thank you for all the responses, you're all making me feel a lot better about the whole thing. Should I bother checking the trans fluid/rear diff fluid? I never stopped driving and was only going through the water for approximately 60 seconds at 5mph and the car hasn't acted up at in the ~150 miles I've driven since.

You can check them just for piece of mind, but it's highly unlikely any water got in either, especially if you haven't noticed either leaking; they are sealed systems.

[BMR Sales]

You should be fine! The Trans & Diff are sealed so definitely no issues. If you had sucked a lot of Water in the Intake, you motor would have Hydro-Locked. Since that didn't happen you are good.

the Good Thing is you Camaro got an underbody wash!

[Chevy Runs Deep]

Your issues would have shown up at this point. If you have not found wet carpet, you're fine op.