Does anyone know what the likelihood of water entering the engine is from driving in incredibly wet conditions?

 

The reason I ask is that I did a long journey in atrociously wet conditions today - torrential rain, and a lot of standing water on the roads. While I didn't of course drive along any roads I would consider 'flooded' it was one of those days when there were huge pools of water at the edge of rural A-roads, and with traffic coming the other way all vehicles were forced to drive through it continually. Nothing unusual about that, but a couple of miles from home I came around a corner and was forced through a particularly large one as there was a lorry coming the other way. Nothing dramatic happened, but I did feel a noticeable lag and reduction in power for the last mile or so of the journey.

 

What's the likelihood of this being caused by water being sucked into the engine or similar? Anything I can do other than hope and pray it starts up and runs normally tomorrow? It would seem odd if some sort of serious damage has occurred, as while it was particularly bad today, I've seen it like this a few times over the years and never heard of an engine being damaged by it - only by consciously trying to wade through a flooded section of road.

 

 

It is possible you could get a slug of water into the filter housing but as the air is drawn from the top I would say you would need more than just a few splashes to cause some real damage. The filter would stop any large amounts going straight in to some extent anyway

 

Worst case scenario I think you may have sucked some water in and wet the filter which is why performance may have dropped slightly as i'm pretty sure wetting a paper element would make it very hard to pass air through. You may have even got some moisture on the MAF sensor

 

If I was you the first thing I would have done is to inspect the airbox/filter, I wouldn't drive the car again before I was sure. Its not much of a job if you have some basic tools

Edited 28 July, 20196 yr by SuperbTWM

13 minutes ago, SuperbTWM said:

It is possible you could get a slug of water into the filter housing but as the air is drawn from the top I would say you would need more than just a few splashes to cause some real damage. The filter would stop any large amounts going straight in to some extent anyway

 

Worst case scenario I think you may have sucked some water in and wet the filter which is why performance may have dropped slightly as i'm pretty sure wetting a paper element would make it very hard to pass air through. You may have even got some moisture on the MAF sensor

 

If I was you the first thing I would have done is to inspect the airbox/filter, I wouldn't drive the car again before I was sure. Its not much of a job if you have some basic tools

 

Thanks. My plan is to pop the filter lid off and check if it's damp. Considering calling Skoda Assist to come and take a look before I start it, just to be sure. The last thing I want to do is risk massive damage by assuming all's well and then regretting it...

Skoda Assist have been out - thankfully there doesn't seem to have been any water sucked in, and on test drive it felt absolutely fine.

 

Never been so relieved.... 😀