Hello again,

You'll no doubt have noticed the usual monsoon season (it used to be Summer) rain drowning the country at the moment.

In all the madness, I was coming down a winding backroad just now and there was a considerable flood in the way. One woman in an old Audi A6 or some such car was reversing back away from the flood, but me being young and daft, I soldiered through it - no problem for the mighty Felicia... it did pop out of gear but I blame the loose gearstick anyway, which I'm due to replace next payday.

After clearing that flood, I turned the bend to find another, much larger, much deeper looking flood. The Tesco van in front got through it and I'd just seen a Citroen C1 coming the other way, so I should be alright.

I went in with the Felly, slipping the clutch in 1st, keeping up the revs... not bad... until halfway through... oh... the engine's died... erm... LOL!?

I expected water to pour in through the doors or the footwells or somewhere any second. But looking out of the window, the water was about halfway up the wheels.

No phone signal and not willing to get my feet wet just yet, I sat and thought for a while. I to restart it a couple of times, but it would turn over once and give up. After several unsuccesful attempts, I eventually encouraged it into life and cleared the flood. Now I'm back at home comfortable and dry, but:

Is there anything I should check before I start my car for work tomorrow?

The engine seemed as fit as it always does afterwards. When I got home, the air filter tube was all crimped, but I straightened it all out and the air filter was damp, so I'm drying it out now, and I've wiped a few little puddles from the air filter housing. There were a few drops of water in the intake manifold on the engine side, which I'm mildly worried about. Apart from that the electrics are spot on and everything works fine (for now).

Sorry for the overexplaining but a bit of background is surely always nice.

Cheers guys!

JJ

Edited 5 July, 201214 yr by Jonesy92

Hi ya, a few years back the same thing happened to our Favorit and we got it running again with no particular after effects. Sounds like you've checked out the intake side of things and providing there's nothing of particular concern you should be fine. The localised flood we went through was about up to sill' ish level but that was enough for me!

I would change the air filter, a new one is very cheap.

as for the rest.... looks like you're fine. no starter or alternator problems.

what have we learned from that?

- Felicia is not running on water. yet.

- it is better to "reverse back away" from floods.

I've certainly learned to reverse away from floods masster!

However... today when I went to start the car for work early this morning, it started as it always does (like a dream), although the alternator light came on and the tachometer doesn't seem to be working - it kicked into life halfway to work this morning as the alternator light dimmed, but it died again. Could this be a case of letting the alternator dry out (if that's possible given the weather.)

It sounds quite clattery when cold also, but the air filter wasn't bone dry when I put it back lastnight. I'll replace the air filter anyway as you've suggested.

Oh, and I was this morning as there was a terrible scraping sound when I moved. I had to jack the car up and yank away a piece of heat shield thingy from the cat. There was a baby wipe tangled on the ARB... yum!

Edited 6 July, 201214 yr by Jonesy92

Aaaaaaaannnnndddd..... she's died. P*ssing down as usual, just had to bump start to go and see the mother and bump start coming back. On the way back the car went crackers with a complete lack of electrical power - ABS light, glowplug light, the lot. Indicators? No chance. It's a good thing I cleaned the windscreen with rain repellent lastnight cause the wipers didn't want to work. I was quite lucky really - only when I was pulling into my village did the engine die and I coasted into a pub car park, fighting with the now heavy steering and lack of power assistance from the brakes.

Guess a new alternator and battery are in order? idk?

The joys of motoring! And the tax is due at the end of this month - 121 smackeroons. No work for me in the morning though as I've no means to get there at 5.30 in the morning I suppose :think:

bummer. so muddy water eventually got splashed into alternator, perhaps starter too. both need at least a dry out, if not a cleaning too. you might find some ringworms or baby diapers inside

but I wouldn't throw away the whole alternator. it could be just a case of changing the voltage regulator or bridge rectifier.

the battery needs a recharge, don't throw it away yet.

here is how to test the alternator:

Took the battery out, took it home and put it on charge overnight which hopefully will give me enough juice to drive it just up the road to home, which is more convenient to work on of course.

Thanks alot for those diagrams masster, I'll have a look this Sunday and see if I can reach some sort of diagnosis.

Cheers

Charged the battery and drove to the next village to my wisdomful Uncle, who tested it all with a multimeter. Anyhoo, the battery ain't getting charge, so I had immense fun taking out the alternator today. What a feck on.

By my uncle's usually watertight logic, the rectifier was at fault because the alternator light was only on very dim which meant that... well he explained what it meant, but I didn't get it.

Getting a new alternator tomorrow and indeed the aux belt as it was cracked and frayed to within an inch of it's sorry life. Surprised it even lasted as long as it has! Hopefully all should be well in Feliciaville shortly.

is your uncle's first name Bob?

keep us posted and don't forget:

- Felicia is not running on water (does not float)

- Felicia is not running on water (gasoline and water or water alone) at least yet.

Well, it was a two-man job to get on the auxiliary belt yesterday, but nonetheless, the job is done. I had to take out the radiator and various pipes as well as the power steering reservoir to actually get the alternator out at all. Good excuse for a coolant change, however.

The belt slipped off fine, but to get it back on, I had to have my Dad take the tension off the tensioner with a ring spanner as I slipped the belt of the smooth water pump pulley.

Alas, it's done! Probably a psychological thing, but I swear the brakes better...

For the benefit of anyone in the future searching in the forums for tips on doing this repair and hasn't come across this yet, I used this: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/115040-felicia-19d-diesel-auxiliary-belt-pulley-alternator-repair-guide/