307SW 136 won['t start after going through big puddle ?

My fathers 307SW 136 went through a big puddle on the side of the road
last night and the engine stopped. He tried to restart it but there is
just a clonk from under the car and it doesn't seem to turn the
engine.

This morning he tried again and the same thing. The lights come on but
when he attempted to turn the engine over it looks like they go dim,
as if the battery has gone flat.

Any idea's ?

I won't have though it has sucked up water as I think its like my 110
307 and has the airfilter and such like high up in the engine bay.

Steve

 

The air filter may be high up but often on a Peugeot the actual air intake
pipe is at the bottom of the radiator a no no for going through floods.
Mike

 

Yes the RAC picked him up and said the same. The guy said he could
hear water in some of the air pipes when he squeezed the. He also said
that the car doesn't turn over because water is probably locked in one
of the cylinders ! The garage will need to remove the injectors to
release the water and check for damage.

Any idea's what the likely damage is going to be. RAC guy said they
are usually ok once the water is drained out of them. Not sure what it
does to the particulate filter though !

Steve

 

Conrod damage is quite likely when water gets in the cylinders. Hope
for the best!

 

Is this a diesel? They suffer more with water in the cylinders because
there is less free space in the cylinder due to higher compression.
Water won't compress so the con rod has to bend.

 

Yes but he was only going walking pace so I'd expect that the conrods
will be ok.

He phoned the insurance today just to check if they would pay if its
expensive. They said that over the last few weeks they have had
hundreds of people with the same problem. All French and German cars
seem to have the problem. All caused by the air pipe being so low and
the airfilter being on the passenger side of the car and hence sucking
up the deeper bit of a puddle. Obviously abroad the filter would be
sucking up air from the middle part of the road !

 

Is it possible to move the air intake pipe higher up ?had a look at my
405 and the air intake is up high by the pass headlight, also its got
hole in the pipe so if any water went up the pipe it would be able to
run out the holes.(well lets hope it never happens to any of us as we
all learn by are misstakes)

 

Well he is going to ask the garage if there is a mod and if there
isn't he is going to chop the pipe off and make his own.

 

send it up and over the roof.just like the new landrovers.and do a
patten on it and sale it.

 

Even better, turn it into a snorkel.

 

Or put it in a rubber suite and lets go diving in it hahahahaha

 

I've heard about these rubber fetishes................

 

Have you where? i dont get to hear much when i am working hard lol

 

Well the garage haven't took the head off yet but they have mentioned
that they think the engine is wreaked which I think is crazy as he was
only going walking pace. £5000 for a new engine !!!!!!

They have said that the sudden rush of water into the engine had
probably warped the block and not done the pistons any good. This
sounds crazy to me, things like land rover which I've driven into deep
water don't complain about cold water hitting the block.

I've told him to ask for a full break down of what they think is wrong
because it sounds like they are taking the easy option to me.

 

£5000 for a new engine . what is it gold ?never heard of a warped block
maybe head, but cant see that if it was only doing about 2mph.i think i
would get some one else to take a look then find out price for diff
things that might need to be replaced.

 

The car may only have been going walking pace but the engine will
still have been doing at least 1000 rpm and suddenly chucking in water
inside a cylinder will have bent it badly. It's not the sudden cooling
that has warped the block but the coming to a dead stop with
incompressible water in a cylinder.

 

The garage said they had replaced 5 engines last week with the same
problem. Strikes me its a damn design fault to stick the air intake
that low. I was having a look at mine and its just at the base of the
bumper, how cr*p is that ! My old rovers could go though the local
ford above the bottom of the door with no problem at all.

 

The simple answer is don`t try to suck up lake Windermere next time
you go for a drive !
You may have learned the hard way this time and i feel sorry for you
but most manufacturers are putting the air intakes low down now.
I am a Ford Technician an we get this every now and then - one of the
reasons the air intake is low down is so that it is at the furthest
point from the occupants in the car to reduce induction noise and
increase driver comfort + the engine gets a nice cool supply of air !

 

----- and additional water.cooling ;o)

 

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