Driven into a flood... Superb dead (?)

[irc]

58 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

I had to use a back road on Friday night and had to negotiate a couple of deep puddles. The last of which was deeper than I thought and came up to the the level of the door handles so just a bit higher than recommended. 🤔

 

 

You lucky. lucky B******

[Kenny R]

53 minutes ago, irc said:

 

You lucky. lucky B******

 

I would change the lucky to stupid

 

[Ootohere]

When you get away with it and the car is still running best not leave it there.

 

Check that the air filter is not damp / wet, especially if the weather might be turning colder and that H2O can freeze.

 

Dip your Oil, it should be OK but it is surprising how H2O can get in the oil as the engine cools and draws it in.

People forget that there can be dirt / grit in the flood water and on and in the alternator etc.

[TransportPlanner]

8 hours ago, Delberthot said:

I had to use a back road on Friday night and had to negotiate a couple of deep puddles. The last of which was deeper than I thought and came up to the the level of the door handles so just a bit higher than recommended. 🤔

 

The car went through it no problem at all, although I wouldn't like to repeat this as it was, quite frankly, terrifying when I realised how deep the water was and couldn't go back at that point. No water ingress into the cabin. The only thing I noticed was that the oil temperature dropped when I went through the puddle but slowly rose again once I was moving at normal speed.

 

Seriously?!?! That's not a puddle, that's a lake! How did it not stall with the water coming up above the level of the air intake, if it really was that high?

[TransportPlanner]

UPDATE:

 

It's [almost] official, our Superb is dead (at least as far as the insurers are concerned).

So, to rectify my original account - apparently the electrics were still working, it was only the engine that had died.

 

Unfortunately, when the injectors and glow plugs were removed, grit-filled water came out at pressure, so I'm sure all sorts of damage was done to the engine. When asked about a replacement engine, they expressed doubt at that being a good idea, as they suggested that the same dirty water could have entered the clutch or transmission, risking further issues down the line. Given the car is worth about £14k, it's almost certainly a write-off therefore... hopefully a good mechanic will rescue it rather than let it go to the scrap-heap though!

 

Thanks again for the comments here... I'll update again if I hear more, and possibly with whatever Superb we find next (I've found some nice 16-plate L&Ks with similar mileage and drivetrain for about £15k at least...)

[J.R.]

Are the insurers going to pay out for self inflicted destruction?

 

13 minutes ago, TransportPlanner said:

 

Seriously?!?! That's not a puddle, that's a lake! How did it not stall with the water coming up above the level of the air intake, if it really was that high?

 

And no water ingress to the cabin either 🙄

 

Forum merged my two seperate postings, not sure why but I think it still reads OK.

Edited 24 February, 2020 by J.R.

[TransportPlanner]

So far they've indicated that they will... Why wouldn't they? Is accidentally driving into a foot of water so different than skidding on a patch of black ice into a tree? (Country lanes regularly get large puddles, but you don't expect them to be a foot deep...) 

[J.R.]

I dont know and I am not making any judgements on the subject, your original posting did not describe it as an accident, more an error of judgement although not in the same league as water up to the door handles, I suppose it all depends on how the incident is described on the claim form, it would be worth checking first before choosing the words.

 

 I only pay for the equivalent of Act Only insurance here in France, a deliberate choice influenced by the way many see it as their aim in life to get out more than they pay in, and to be fair the insurers encourage it because like casinos they know that they will be the winners in the end because they set the odds.

[J.R.]

And not wanting to be contrary but having driven through loads of floods that fatefull day last November or December I would expect a flood in a dip before a stream to be deep and would, as I indeed did, proceed slowly with caution looking out the window at the depth, driving on the crown of the road, waiting to be sure there were no cars behind in case I had to reverse.

 

Mind you having done all that when a kittens like the one in the video drove through the other way kicking up a huge bow wave the depth increased significantly.

[mandp]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

And not wanting to be contrary but having driven through loads of floods that fatefull day last November or December I would expect a flood in a dip before a stream to be deep and would, as I indeed did, proceed slowly with caution looking out the window at the depth, driving on the crown of the road, waiting to be sure there were no cars behind in case I had to reverse.

 

Mind you having done all that when a kittens like the one in the video drove through the other way kicking up a huge bow wave the depth increased significantly.

`Kittens`...I think my word would be a little stronger!

[TransportPlanner]

Accident... Error of judgement... much the same thing, really. And, different than deliberately causing damage with intent (fraud or destructiveness). 

 

Consider the other things that cause crashes... inattentiveness, speeding, distraction... all generally covered by insurance as well. So unless water damage is specifically covered by the policy, I would hope that it's also covered (and so far that's what the insurer seems to indicate). 

[TransportPlanner]

...at any rate, he feels quite bad about it. It's the first (and hopefully last) time he's written off a car in about 50 years of driving, and he wasn't planning on ever buying another car. Hopefully I'll be able to find him a nice example to replace it with at least 😁 

[J.R.]

I hope so too, worth a look at the T&C's, I get what you say about all the other causes of accidents.

 

Re "kittens", that was not what i typed but what the swear filter changed Richard-Heads to 🙄

[NJRJ]

On 24/02/2020 at 13:42, Delberthot said:

I had to use a back road on Friday night and had to negotiate a couple of deep puddles. The last of which was deeper than I thought and came up to the the level of the door handles so just a bit higher than recommended. 🤔

 

The car went through it no problem at all, although I wouldn't like to repeat this as it was, quite frankly, terrifying when I realised how deep the water was and couldn't go back at that point. No water ingress into the cabin. The only thing I noticed was that the oil temperature dropped when I went through the puddle but slowly rose again once I was moving at normal speed.

Nah you'd be floating before that depth, and not have traction to drive out - bow wave may have been door handle height but even so you somehow you survived that.

[J.R.]

Good point, if no water came in it would definitely be floating at door handle height.

 

Exaggeration and implausible that there would be no water ingress.

[Delberthot]

Ah right I must have imagined it then, either that or you were obviously there to witness it for yourself

[J.R.]

No but even a guestimate in my head of the volume of air in the cabin & boot under the waterline and an appreciation of Archimedes theorem tells me that your car would become a boat while driving through said "deep puddle"

 

Unless you had just done a bank job and the boot was full of gold bullion, I would not want to stop in those circumstances 😀

 

I dont doubt that it was very deep, I am really pleased you got away scot free and it gives me faith for all our vehicles to know how well sealed they are, VW's even from the days of the Beetle always had a good reputation for that.

 

Most of our vehicles have air vents behind the rear bumpers which are well below the door handle line and well above the door cills, they have a little flap over them to stop rainwater entering but doubt that they would seal while moving forward through a flood.

Edited 25 February, 2020 by J.R.

[IJWS15]

On 24/02/2020 at 23:04, TransportPlanner said:

Accident... Error of judgement... much the same thing, really. And, different than deliberately causing damage with intent (fraud or destructiveness). 

 

Consider the other things that cause crashes... inattentiveness, speeding, distraction... all generally covered by insurance as well. So unless water damage is specifically covered by the policy, I would hope that it's also covered (and so far that's what the insurer seems to indicate). 

 

There is a difference between the momentary lack of judgement that causes an accident collision and the considered decision over several seconds to drive through a flood, and even to keep going as it gets deeper.

[2wheelsgood]

MOST people will already know this but it only takes 300mm or 1 ft of flowing water ie crossing a  ford etc to wash your car down stream ,people have died ignoring this .Just saying .

[Ootohere]

See the damage done to a Kodiaq.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/471291-snorkle-for-skoda-kodiaq