Engine cut out driving through a storm

[THE_EGG]

Hi all,

Unfortunately I got caught driving in a severe thunderstorm a few days ago (severe rain/wind + it was at night). Anyway while I was driving along, the road lights and traffic lights were out due to a black-out in the area and it was very difficult to see if there were any flooded areas on the road whilst driving along. I went through a few puddles and the car was fine apart from aqua planing occasionally. I always make sure to stay on the accelerator whilst going through water to avoid water entering the exhaust. It was all going well and then I hit a massive puddle and while keeping on the accelerator the traction control kicked in and stopped my throttle input. I think this is what caused the engine to cut out immediately. I restarted the engine and it spluttered a bit but seemed alright and I got home fine apart from a small tree branch hitting the side of the car and breaking off my driver's side skirt.

So far the car is driving fine, but what I was wondering was, could that engine cut out be from water entering the engine through the exhaust ? And if so, are there any bad things that could occur from that happening (long term damage etc)?

Cheers

[Dangerousfish]

Easy solution - Drive the THP like it's meant to be driven. ESP always off.

No idea what could have caused the engine to cut out though I'm afraid.

[cyclone]

The bad thing about water in your engine is hydraulic lock. Where there is water in the cylinder and as the piston goes up it tries to compress it and we all know you cant soooooo bamm broken pistons, rings, bent rods, etc. If you had done any damage you would know it. Also the water has a good way to travel back up the exhaust and the cat would slow the flow down quite a bit also do not think any got in there. How deep was this "puddle" we talking Pacific size? Maybe the water just splashed up in the engine bay and got some of the electronics wet

[Owd git]

also the air intake is high up (on UK spec anyway) so the engine shouldn't have ingested much water.....................and it has to pass the turbo and intercooler. as said above I think you would have known immediately if serious damage had been done.

Friend of mine wrote a Renault engine off by attacking a ford (no, not a Ford!) too briskly

[THE_EGG]

Easy solution - Drive the THP like it's meant to be driven. ESP always off.

No idea what could have caused the engine to cut out though I'm afraid.

LOL, well I must admit I do turn it off occasionally when I want to have some fun. Gotta love the lift-off oversteer

The bad thing about water in your engine is hydraulic lock. Where there is water in the cylinder and as the piston goes up it tries to compress it and we all know you cant soooooo bamm broken pistons, rings, bent rods, etc. If you had done any damage you would know it. Also the water has a good way to travel back up the exhaust and the cat would slow the flow down quite a bit also do not think any got in there. How deep was this "puddle" we talking Pacific size? Maybe the water just splashed up in the engine bay and got some of the electronics wet

Yeh, I'm familiar with water entering the engine being catastrophic. I was with the old man in his old Freelander 2 TD4 and went through a small puddle and water went into the air intake.....you can guess what happened then (especially bad for a diesel engine). The deepness of the puddle I'd estimate to be around half to 3/4 the diameter of the wheel but I hit it at around ~60km/h in an 80 zone. It was a bit hard to see it in the dark to say definately how deep it was though. I'm thinking what you said about water just splashing onto the electrics in the engine bay and I'd say the engine cut out for a safety measure or something like that.