Not in a vRS, in a Bora, but still the same engine...

Dont quite know what happened (mates car)

Said he was driving along in the rain, big puddle at the passenger side of the road, cars in front of him so they all slowed down. Got through it OK, changed down a gear and tried to accelerate, started juddering and cut out.

Dont know if it has been hyraulic'ed but he swears blind he didnt go through the water too fast or too slow. Took the air filter out, and it was wet, but the bottom of the airbox wasnt soaking wet. Took the turbo intake hose off, was a bit of water in there, but not a massive amount....

So, we dont know exactly what happened, but heres some pics of the damage anyway...

Split the gearbox bellhousing open, the oil filter/cooler housing was as good as torn off the block.

New engine and gearbox time....

Thats hydraulic damage alright.

Number four rod I would say has come off.

Unless the DMF has come apart but I cant see that damaging the block like that.

Sounds like water in the engine dosent it.

Doon't know where the air intake is in the bora but a couple of years back up here in cumbria when we had heavy rain and some flooding the bmw garage had about 7 5 series diesels in requiring new engines as the air intake is very low on them.

Thats hydraulic damage alright.

Number four rod I would say has come off.

Was kinda what i was thinking, but hoping it wasnt! :(

Doubt its the DMF as it still looks in one piece, but the bellhousing has been pulled away and the starter doesnt even engage on the ring gear anymore...

Time to push it into a field and get the insurance company to pay for it now...

The intake is fairly low, also if the engine capacity is 1.9 litres divide that by four and thats how much water you need to knacker and engine, not a lot really when you consider basically an engine is a big hoover.

We have had loads in at work since the floods recently and some insurance companies have said shove off as it could have been prevented by not driving through the water, hardly an accident more of a purpose.

The intake is in behind the n/s headlight. Seems to be reasonably well protected, but obviously isnt....

Its got to have a clear path into it or the engine wouldnt run. When you hit a volume of water you get a bow wave come up over the front before the water is pushed away, these easily doubles the depth of the water due to motion and displacement.

ouch , that doesn't look good

i've seen a few bent rods on the Ford engines through water ingress but never a block blown apart like that

Quite a lot of the time it seems No2 breaks out of the back of the block behind the turbo. Seen em drive in like that as well.

The intake is fairly low, also if the engine capacity is 1.9 litres divide that by four and thats how much water you need to knacker and engine, not a lot really when you consider basically an engine is a big hoover.

Thinking about it, it's not 1.9/4 because you'd have to consider the compression ratio ... if there's enough water to fill the combustion chamber at TDC your piston's going nowhere.

PD130 CR is 18.5:1 IIRC

So maybe 1.9 / 4 / 18.5 ? Only 25cc required !!

The water would only be drawn in on the induction stroke though would it? So basically it would act like a syringe and fill that cylinder with water then as the piston comes back up on compression....oopps

I think this is why diesels tend to suffer more than petrol motors when they flood - the combustion space at TDC is soooo small. Water is virtually incompressible and it literally has nowhere to go once it's sucked in and the compression stroke starts.

Look at it this way - at 18:1 compression ratio these should be a pressure of roughly 18 atmospheres at TDC (actually it'll be more if the turbo is running).

Add 12.5cc of water and the pressure doubles to 36 atmospheres cos there's only half the space. I bet that'd be enough to wreck it.

I know several people who exploded motors this way - it's more common than you think.

We have got a Touraeg in at the moment having a new 3.0 TDI engine and turbo, bill was over

My Golf took on water in a rain storm on the A34 and thank the lord it only got as far as the MAF. Just goes to show how easy it can happen.

We have got a Touraeg in at the moment having a new 3.0 TDI engine and turbo, bill was over

jeez... you'd have thought the toerag being a big 4*4 would be able to handle a bit of water! how you supposed to go off road through streams ect?!

Same goes for Land Rovers. You need a snorkie

Chris

Hmmn, interesting.

Makes something of a case for not opening out the front hole of the intake when fitting the Cupra intake pipe. I stared at mine for a long time contemplating the deflection of water that the standard design creates. Glad I didn't open mine out now

Hmmn, interesting.

Makes something of a case for not opening out the front hole of the intake when fitting the Cupra intake pipe. I stared at mine for a long time contemplating the deflection of water that the standard design creates. Glad I didn't open mine out now

i've done mine , not had a problem , and i've driven through some rain storms since both in this country and on the continent , you just have to watch for large amounts of standing water , but i have to admit it is a worry sometimes :(

jeez... you'd have thought the toerag being a big 4*4 would be able to handle a bit of water! how you supposed to go off road through streams ect?!

If I had a toerag and that happened, I'd say it wasn't fit for purpose and ask for it to be done under warrenty!

Slight difference in a bit of water and a 4 ft deep flood.