[saobh_ie]

You have to be kidding, surely he would have just filled the airbox with water as a worst case.

Never would have thought cars would be so vunerable to a little water. I think I'll stick to the bike when the country starts flooding again.

[Hagar]

Get yourself one of these babies http://www.mantec.co.uk/index.cfm?pa...cfm&category=1

[Rovi]

With a bit of luck, it could be just that the engine management stuff got wet and has shut itself down to protect everything, or a small splash got into the air intake and has messed up the air filter and/or whatever electrical gubbins are in there.

On the other hand, if it sucked water into the engine itself, there could be terminal damage done
If the starter is able to spin it and it's not making any unusual noises, things are looking hopeful, but it'll still need to be looked at by a mechanic (or similar).

Pull the dipstick and see if there is water in the sump, you'll know by it being overfull and the fact that water and oil don't easily mix. It doesn't sound like the engine ran for long enough to emulsify the oil/water mix into thick grey sludge.

The best case scenario is that something just needs to be dried out or at worst, replaced.
Worst case is if the engine got hydraulically locked (water in the cylinders) and trashed itself.

[Enygma]

Well I spoke to my mechanic this morning and he reckons there shouldn't be too much damage, he thinks it should be able to start with jump leads.

Is the air intake the funnel from the turbo into the engine? If so then that's at the top of the engine. It really was no more than a big puddle.

I'll let ye know what the story is after lunch anyway. Fingers crossed.

[Rabies]

Originally Posted by Hagar

Get yourself one of these babies http://www.mantec.co.uk/index.cfm?pa...cfm&category=1

Snip that link before the boy racers see it, could make them go faster and with more noise.... Vrooooom

[Rovi]

Originally Posted by Enygma

Is the air intake the funnel from the turbo into the engine?

No.
The air intake is the place where air begins its journey into the innards of the machinery.
Follow the pipes away from the engine/turbo back through the air filter and various other things (air mass meter, etc) to where you come to an open end exposed to the open air. That's the air intake.
That's where water can get sucked in, if it's low enough and the water's deep enough.

[ciarsd]

Fingers crossed Enygma.

With regards to previous posts about engines standing up to a simple puddle, from reading your descriptiong of how it happened, I suspect that the actual damage was caused not by 'the simple puddle' but more than likely by the wave effect created by oncoming car through the same flood - filling your air intake in the process.

Some motorists have no courtesy when it comes to floods...

[mloc123]

Originally Posted by layke

Well this thread is very negative.

Look mate i've seen Petrol cars filled with diesel and still ran ok.

You may be lucky.

Completely different situation. The reason water will destroy an engine is....

The water is sucked in the chambers and is then compressed, unlike air it can not be compressed to the same extent and will stop the piston from moving all the way up. As the piston tries to complete its cycle something has to give and it's usually the conrod that will break or the chamber wall will crack.

[MercMad]

.........I doubt you will get good news, I'd be very surprised.

Petrol cars have lower compression engines, so there is less of a "vacuum" effect in the intake manifold. You could put your hand over the air intake on a petrol car and stall the engine, whereas with a diesel you could say goodbye to your arm !!

The ignitions ystem on a petrol car tends to drown out if hit with a quantity of water whereas witha diesel there is not ignition system so it will keep running !

The only thing positive I can add is that I am not familiar with this particular engine, but as with most modern diesels there is a certain amount of electrics/ecu's and hopefully it was this that was drowned before water was consumed!

Best of luck !

[SouperComputer]

Look mate i've seen Petrol cars filled with diesel and still ran ok.

This comment has no bearing on the situation of the OP.

If diesel is put in a petrol cars tank, it comes in, metered carefully through the injection system or carburation system.

Not in a gush of high pressure past the turbo, the inlet manifold, past the valves, fills the cylinders , then try to compress it and BANG! Bent conrods, damaged valves and cams, blown headsaskets and warped heads. In short, not good.

If the engine swallowed the same amount of diesel through the intake, the same damage would result.

At the OP, hopfully the engine stalled and there is no damage, fingers crossed.

[Enygma]

Well the jump leads didn't work but I wasn't holding out too much hope for that. The mechanic can't make it until friday night so I'll have to wait till then for any news. He seems to think it should be ok though.

is there any way I can tell if the engine is totalled? Wouldn't there have been a loud noise or anything? There wasn't any noise. Is there anything I can look at to check it out myself?

Thanks!

[Rovi]

Originally Posted by Enygma

Well the jump leads didn't work but I wasn't holding out too much hope for that. The mechanic can't make it until friday night so I'll have to wait till then for any news. He seems to think it should be ok though.

is there any way I can tell if the engine is totalled? Wouldn't there have been a loud noise or anything? There wasn't any noise. Is there anything I can look at to check it out myself?

Thanks!

Have you pulled the dipstick to see if there's water in the sump?
If you can get into the air filter, to see if there's water in there too.
These are both bad things

Does the engine spin on the starter?

[Enygma]

I've checked the dipstick and it didn't look like there was any water.

The engine doesn't spin on the starter, there's a clunk sound and then nothing.

any ideas where the air filter is on the TDI?

Thanks

[Rovi]

Originally Posted by Enygma

I've checked the dipstick and it didn't look like there was any water.

The engine doesn't spin on the starter, there's a clunk sound and then nothing.

any ideas where the air filter is on the TDI?

Thanks

Assuming a good battery and starter motor and the 'clunk' isn't just the starter making a feeble attempt to engage (check starter motor electrical conections too), it sounds like water got into the cylinders all right.

All may not be lost though.
If the engine wasn't revving too hard at the time (ie. ticking over or thereabouts), it might have gotten away with just stalling out without doing any mechanical damage.
The first thing I'd do is pull the injectors (or the heater plugs if fitted, possibly) and spin the engine on the starter to blow the water out of the cylinders.
If water comes out, it had to get in there through the turbo and intercooler (if fitted), so they'll want to be looked at too.
If it all looks okay, great. Button it up and try starting it again, it's probably fine. Then change the oil and fit a fresh air filter of course.


If it still won't spin with the cylinders open to the atmosphere, and assuming (again!) that the battery and starter motor are in good order, it'd be looking more and more like there's something broken/bent in there.

With a bit of luck, it won't be that bad. Fingers crossed.

[Enygma]

Thanks for the advice, is it possible to get a second hand engine for these? any idea what kind of price you're talking about?