Have I drowned it to death?!

[Animal]

Hi All,

I drove through a deep puddle this morning and got completely drowned by the wave from a van coming the other way. The car cut out and wouldn't re-start. I tried a couple of times to start it without success and had to push it out of the puddle/lake to wait for the breakdown truck to tow me to safety.

On inspection some water has gone through the filter (which had collected lots of leaves and other crap) and the breakdown guy's opinion was that there may be some conrod damage which would result it me needing a new engine.

Is this just a worst case scenario or is it more probable than possible. Insurance co. are on the case and are having it recovered in the next few days for investigation but given the value of the car and cost of a replacement engine I'm thinking it might be a write-off, which would be a real shame because I'm very fond of it!

Car in question is a '54-plate BMW 545i Auto.

[one eyed mick]

It has probably bent a conrod or two and will probably write the car off [non economical repair ] I had this happen with a citroen Zantia deisel awhile ago car was worh far less than even a s/h engine HTH

[stevieturbo]

It probably is fked.

But exactly what do you mean by it wont start ?

Does it turn over, does it do anything, etc etc etc ?

[Animal]

stevieturbo said:

It probably is fked.

But exactly what do you mean by it wont start ?

Does it turn over, does it do anything, etc etc etc ?

Well the battery's dead now, but the starter would try to turn once before dying. Obviously I didn't keep trying it!

[sunbeam alpine]

Maybe take the spark plugs out and try to spin the engine over?

[Animal]

Probably the first thing my insurer's garage will do (and what the RAC man suggested).

I hope it's fixable, I've done a quick AutoTrader check and there aren't really any other comparables for sale at the minute!

[dom9]

Same principles apply: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Be glad you posted in a quieter part of the forum, judging by some of the less helpful replies on that thread!

Pray you haven't bent a rod, get the plugs out and turn it over.... If it spits a load of water out and starts and runs with the plugs back in, get your fluids changed etc and make sure everything is clean and dry!

[stevieturbo]

dom9 said:

Same principles apply: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Be glad you posted in a quieter part of the forum, judging by some of the less helpful replies on that thread!

Pray you haven't bent a rod, get the plugs out and turn it over.... If it spits a load of water out and starts and runs with the plugs back in, get your fluids changed etc and make sure everything is clean and dry!

Well judging by the pictures posted in that thread...I'd say some harsh replies are justified.

Like seriously...what goes through some of their heads to even attempt driving into water that deep ?
Well...it's obvious, what goes through their heads...fresh air first then water ! lol

[crossy67]

If there is water in the engine when you remove the plugs do a compression check, this will tell you if you have bent a rod. If compression looks good then change the oil and filters.

[Animal]

To update/end this thread the official answer is yes!

Car was taken away yesterday afternoon and I've confirmation this morning from insurers that it's uneconomical to repair. A quick call to the engineers confirms after a brief inspection that the only surefire way to repair (assuming the engine is the only damaged area) is to replace the engine, which is £11,500 to buy from BMW.