Driving through floods - best way?

T

tallpaul

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With all the rain overnight, I came across many flooded parts of the road on my way to work this morning. I was wondering to myself what is the best way to traverse the water: slow right down and creep through, as I saw some cars doing, or keep speed and barrell through??

Personally since I had nice new tyres, I generally went for the latter (except for one very deep one). Was I right??
 
Petrol or diesel car? Diesel engine is dangerous in floods and engine can be ruined. Even if you crawl through a flood and the car coming in opposite direction is flying through it the "waves" can cause trouble for you.

Generally speaking (but I am no expert) I would change down a gear to keep revs higher than normal and slowly travel through it. Some floods can have booby traps in the form of potholes.
 
leex said:
Generally speaking (but I am no expert) I would change down a gear to keep revs higher than normal and slowly travel through it. Some floods can have booby traps in the form of potholes.
Click to expand...

I would do the same.
 
yeah never barrel thru - even with a petrol engine this could write off an engine if water get into the air intake

Avoiding floods is the best option, if that cannot be done I would tend to choose a low gear (2nd/3rd) and go thru at a steady pace. also once out flood, test brakes ...
 
If you drive to fast you'll force water up into the engine bay. Which is exactly what you don't want to do. You want to drive slowly so the water rises as little as possible. Also keep to the high part of the road which is either straddling the centerline or its putting two wheels up on the pavement.

But consider is it worth chancing it, (if its deep) if it only takes 10mins to go around, vs a engine rebuild of 2k+
 
I very nearly got caught one night if you dont know the road be carefull of hidden dips where water level could be high. Otherwise as aircobra19 said keep to the high part of th road slowly in a low gear then when you get out of it be sure to test your brakes.

Take it easy,

J
 
I was once told to ensure you keep the revs up to stop water going into the exhaust pipe
 
Forgot about the rev's. Yes keep up and also the brakes. I had that problem one night drove through water standing water only a few inches deep. Car in front stopped and I suddenly had no brakes. (water gets between pad and disc). Took me forever to stop. In hindsight I could have cut the engine, and used it to slow down. But I didn't think of it. Not sure if pumping the brake pedal is pointless with ABS now.
 
Drive slowly through the water, the water that sprays outwards from the wheels also sprays inwards towards the engine bay if the water is ingested into the water intake it will be drawn into the engine cylinders and will cause what is called a hydraulic lock (a fluid cannot be compressed) what will happen is the connecting rods to the pistons will bend and your engine will be in need of an overhaul "SLOWLY DRIVE THROUGH" There is no need to keep the revs high as no moisture will get to the electronics as long as you drive slowly, also the brakes will operate but obviously not as efficently give yourself space.
 
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Low gear high revs - try to be only car going through the flood at any time, if you are following a car through always always always stay back so that you have room to stop or swirve to avoid hitting the preceeding car in the event of it stalling.

As for checking breaks, be careful if it's icy, test the breaks a bit away from the flood as in icy conditions ice will always be close to the floods (where drops fall from the cars as they exit the flood) whatever about anywhere else again watch out for preceding cars.

Safe Driving
 
First thing to ensure is that there is nobody in a Jeep, van etc. coming the other way too fast causing a massive bow wave (there's always one idiot who does this).

Then, drive through slowly in a low gear in the middle of the road.

If it looks too deep, or is too busy to get a clear run, don't chance it.

Water in an engine will wreck it and you won't be covered under warranty.

SSE
 
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