BMW's in floods, WARNING!!!

[surveyor]

had a 518d through I think at most 4" in Ireland a couple of weeks ago.

I did regret not iring my normal Discovery. although the BMW survived.

The 4 foot flood, I decided not to try!

[Condi]

Unless Ive missed something why would you put the air intake down low? Surely to anyone with half a brain if you put it up higher it keeps more of the dust, crap and water our the system? Any car which cant ford 8 to 10 inches of water is not particularly great anywhere other than in a city.

[Osinjak]

popeyewhite said:

Don't be stupid, I wasn't talking about a fking Ferrari FFS.

I wasn't being stupid you bell end, you were the one that came out with the crap thinking. Poke off.

[kambites]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Here's One today from up my way. (Walkworth-Alnwick)

Surely I'm not the only person who would take one look at that and think "there's no bloody way I'm trying to drive through that"?

[Hooli]

kambites said:

Hooli said:

It was normal enough for cars to manage it 20-30years ago without issue. So new cars should still be able too, they run on the same roads in the same weather after all.

My MGB wouldn't be able to cope with 8 inches of water if anyone came the other way. The air intake is about half way up the radiator.

My old MG Midget was the same. Not hard to pop the pipes off the air filter & gain a load of wading depth if needed though. Especially as that moved the intake far enough back to be in the lower water level behind the bow wave.

Off the top of my head my 1990 E Class & Mk1 Orion both had intakes right at the top of the rad on the slam panel, much more where I'd expect it if there was no room in the wheel arch.

[mondeoman]

Condi said:

Unless Ive missed something why would you put the air intake down low? Surely to anyone with half a brain if you put it up higher it keeps more of the dust, crap and water our the system? Any car which cant ford 8 to 10 inches of water is not particularly great anywhere other than in a city.

In the past 32 years I've driven something close to 500,000 miles... Cant think of a single occasion when I've had to go through 8-10" of water. its just not something that you normally come across, so having the air intake in "clean" air below the bumper line (see previous post re design rules / packaging space etc...) is as good a place as any to put it.

Problem is that people feel impervious when they are in their car

[kambites]

Hooli said:

Off the top of my head my 1990 E Class & Mk1 Orion both had intakes right at the top of the rad on the slam panel, much more where I'd expect it if there was no room in the wheel arch.

Our (2006) Octavia has it there. I'm not convinced it's an old vs new thing. I think it's largely just down to where the manufacturer found it easiest to put the intake.

I think the Octavia will still flood in 8 inches of water if you try to drive faster than about 10mph (or if someone coming the other way does).

Edited by kambites on Saturday 26th December 18:53

[Hooli]

mondeoman said:

Condi said:

Unless Ive missed something why would you put the air intake down low? Surely to anyone with half a brain if you put it up higher it keeps more of the dust, crap and water our the system? Any car which cant ford 8 to 10 inches of water is not particularly great anywhere other than in a city.

In the past 32 years I've driven something close to 500,000 miles... Cant think of a single occasion when I've had to go through 8-10" of water. its just not something that you normally come across, so having the air intake in "clean" air below the bumper line (see previous post re design rules / packaging space etc...) is as good a place as any to put it.

Problem is that people feel impervious when they are in their car

I've had to do it about once every two years I'd say. Often enough for the car to be designed to do it I'd have thought.

BTW, that doesn't include all the times when I had 4x4s I'd go looking for puddles/lakes/etc to drive though. It's quite odd to be floating downsteam in a Disco waiting for it to sink to the bottom so you can drive out.

[Condi]

mondeoman said:

Condi said:

Unless Ive missed something why would you put the air intake down low? Surely to anyone with half a brain if you put it up higher it keeps more of the dust, crap and water our the system? Any car which cant ford 8 to 10 inches of water is not particularly great anywhere other than in a city.

In the past 32 years I've driven something close to 500,000 miles... Cant think of a single occasion when I've had to go through 8-10" of water. its just not something that you normally come across, so having the air intake in "clean" air below the bumper line (see previous post re design rules / packaging space etc...) is as good a place as any to put it.

Problem is that people feel impervious when they are in their car

Maybe so, but I live and work in the countryside and its certainly not uncommon to find rivers flowing across the road or puddles at the bottom of a hill. Have probably had 2 or 3 times today where there was more than 6 inches of water on the road.

[popeyewhite]

kambites said:

But why would you expect an ordinary saloon car to be capable of fording?

Is 'fording' really driving through 6/7" of road water? I thought it meant crossing rivers/streams etc

I can quite understand everyday cars not being designed for that type of abuse...but crossing flooded roads?

[David87]

I just don't think people really think about what they're doing or have any idea how their car's engine works. I can remember having driven through a stretch of flooded country road that was at least 500m long (I was driving a Range Rover Evoque, a car with 20" of approved wading depth and ultrasonic sensors to tell you how deep the water is).

Just as I was coming to the end, someone coming the other way in a Mercedes C-Class was contemplating going for it. I stopped and told him I wouldn't attempt it, but he ignored me and didn't get further than about 30 feet before the car stopped moving. Crazy. At times, the water was on the 20" limit of the Land Rover.

Edited by David87 on Saturday 26th December 20:46

[Blue32]

Not a BMW but still German,

I got very lucky a few years ago, due to the air intake living here:


Resulted in this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRnTJwjs9g

To stop it happening again I built this:


Due to some changes I made to the car the box doesn’t fit anymore, so I’m back to having to be really careful when it rains.

[popeyewhite]

Blue32 said:

To stop it happening again I built this...

Had a quick Google and it seems Volvo produce/d a regular vehicle which had a spring loaded valve over the air intake which closed to prevent water ingress. I suppose that solution is a bit too prosaic for today's manufacturers.

Edited by popeyewhite on Sunday 27th December 11:20

[anonymous-user]

Gafferjim said:

One vehicle that the dealer mentioned, a lady stopped her car as she entered the water, it wasn't even above the bottom of the tyres, but a vehicle coming the other way made a bow-wave that splashed up against the front of her car, subsequently stopping her engine due to water ingress.

As I've also said, it's an idea for everyone to check just where-abouts the air intake is. I also didn't say that it effected every BMW.

That deep, huh?

[fathomfive]

280E said:

Gafferjim said:

One vehicle that the dealer mentioned, a lady stopped her car as she entered the water, it wasn't even above the bottom of the tyres, but a vehicle coming the other way made a bow-wave that splashed up against the front of her car, subsequently stopping her engine due to water ingress.

As I've also said, it's an idea for everyone to check just where-abouts the air intake is. I also didn't say that it effected every BMW.

That deep, huh?

Tread carefully.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Had my little 205 diesel through some fairly uncomfortable levels today and it hasn't blinked. Then again it was £370 and the intake sits parallel to the top of the grill. Things like a cockroach mind, will still be running after the Apocalypse.

[helix402]

I've fixed a few flood damaged BMWs, one customer said "I was only going slowly". Part of the repair was a new front no plate from the impact of hitting the water.

[MitchT]

I just stay away from flood water, full stop. Frankly it doesn't matter how sensibly you tackle it if some prick in an SUV comes the other way at 50 in the frame of mind that because they can do it they will and fk everyone else.

[stevie99s]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Here's One today from up my way. (Walkworth-Alnwick)

Ahh yes warkworth, travelled from Brigham to Alnwick via Embleton tonight and some Northumberland roads were nigh on impassable and I did have to find alternative routes a few times, was very touch and go tbh in a Fabia vrs, glad to be home!

[CarsOrBikes]

If people knew what was likely to happen to their engines they wouldn't try to make a passenger car go through water like they do. It isn't an issue just affecting BMW's but many other cars. Most diesels in particular have low intakes and have had for years. Yes it is unlucky if some idiot comes the other way while you're in water, but it is as much to do with any attempt to get through in the first place, and how it is done.