So how easy is it to hydrolock a BMW?
Discussion
I was heading down North Circular when heavens opened and about 30 secs later I drove past a BMW 3 series stuck in the middle lane with their hazards on. Presumably it did what every performance 320d with M performance pack does when it sees rain, it hydrolocked. What a great design indeed! I'm glad I never experienced serious rain when I owned the M135i although that might have been a great way to get my money back in full thanks to the magic of GAP insurance 
Alright, that's interesting. Not sure if the gent (TwistingMyMelon) above is a BMW employee or just hates seeing BMW being put down like that but it's popular knowledge these days that the intakes on these are low and it doesn't take much to kill a modern, beautifully designed performance diesel (or otherwise) car made by the BMW brand. Vorsprung durch brainwashing?
Sam993 said:
Alright, that's interesting. Not sure if the gent (TwistingMyMelon) above is a BMW employee or just hates seeing BMW being put down like that but it's popular knowledge these days that the intakes on these are low and it doesn't take much to kill a modern, beautifully designed performance diesel (or otherwise) car made by the BMW brand. Vorsprung durch brainwashing?
Maybe, but to hydrolock an engine it needs to ingest copious amounts of water and not just spray.Sam993 said:
I was heading down North Circular when heavens opened and about 30 secs later I drove past a BMW 3 series stuck in the middle lane with their hazards on. Presumably it did what every performance 320d with M performance pack does when it sees rain, it hydrolocked. What a great design indeed! I'm glad I never experienced serious rain when I owned the M135i although that might have been a great way to get my money back in full thanks to the magic of GAP insurance
The answer to your thread title is. "Much harder than you think it is".By what mechanism does 'hydrolocking' an engine ruin it?
How does some rain cause this mechanism to arise?
I'm not being flippant. I'm genuinely interested in the thought pattern behind your proposed scenario.
xxChrisxx said:
Sam993 said:
I was heading down North Circular when heavens opened and about 30 secs later I drove past a BMW 3 series stuck in the middle lane with their hazards on. Presumably it did what every performance 320d with M performance pack does when it sees rain, it hydrolocked. What a great design indeed! I'm glad I never experienced serious rain when I owned the M135i although that might have been a great way to get my money back in full thanks to the magic of GAP insurance
The answer to your thread title is. "Much harder than you think it is".By what mechanism does 'hydrolocking' an engine ruin it?
By locking it with da hydro.
How does some rain cause this mechanism to arise?
xxChrisxx said:
I'm not being flippant. I'm genuinely interested in the thought pattern behind your proposed scenario.
Simple,1) BMW's have low intakes, it's a fact. They were designed this way so that the engine is able to suck cold dense air from above the ground, because this increases performance and that's what BMW owners want beyond everything else (like for example being able to drive through heavy rain without having to write off their car)
2) Many BMW's died while driving through puddles that didn't phase other cars, that's a fact.
3) This BMW went through heavy (and I mean heavy) rain and it died, unlike other cars around it. Based on facts 1 and 2 and fact that it was pissing down, the chances of it dying because of hydrolocking are pretty big. It might been hit by spray from another car for example.
Obviously this thread is tongue in cheek (apart from facts 1 and 2) so please don't get upset everybody. But also please don't come here saying that BMW's don't hydrolock easily.
Sam993 said:
Simple,
1) BMW's have low intakes, it's a fact. They were designed this way so that the engine is able to suck cold dense air from above the ground, because this increases performance and that's what BMW owners want beyond everything else (like for example being able to drive through heavy rain without having to write off their car)
2) Many BMW's died while driving through puddles that didn't phase other cars, that's a fact.
3) This BMW went through heavy (and I mean heavy) rain and it died, unlike other cars around it. Based on facts 1 and 2 and fact that it was pissing down, the chances of it dying because of hydrolocking are pretty big. It might been hit by spray from another car for example.
Obviously this thread is tongue in cheek (apart from facts 1 and 2) so please don't get upset everybody. But also please don't come here saying that BMW's don't hydrolock easily.
The make of car has nothing to do with it. To hydrolock, you need to a large enough volume of water into the cylinder (in one go) for it to try and compress it. You aren't going to do that by rain alone. You won't get the volume of water required into the cylinder in one stroke.1) BMW's have low intakes, it's a fact. They were designed this way so that the engine is able to suck cold dense air from above the ground, because this increases performance and that's what BMW owners want beyond everything else (like for example being able to drive through heavy rain without having to write off their car)
2) Many BMW's died while driving through puddles that didn't phase other cars, that's a fact.
3) This BMW went through heavy (and I mean heavy) rain and it died, unlike other cars around it. Based on facts 1 and 2 and fact that it was pissing down, the chances of it dying because of hydrolocking are pretty big. It might been hit by spray from another car for example.
Obviously this thread is tongue in cheek (apart from facts 1 and 2) so please don't get upset everybody. But also please don't come here saying that BMW's don't hydrolock easily.
Driving though a flood (water level above intake level); yes absolutely. Driving through a deep puddle (water level below intake level); I seriously doubt it. Driving through even very heavy rain... nah.
I can absolutely buy into the rain getting in and frying the ECU though.
Edited by xxChrisxx on Friday 10th August 16:18
stupidity in my opinion is always to blame not the car design, buy a canoe for wading through water Sam993 said:
Alright, that's interesting. Not sure if the gent (TwistingMyMelon) above is a BMW employee or just hates seeing BMW being put down like that but it's popular knowledge these days that the intakes on these are low and it doesn't take much to kill a modern, beautifully designed performance diesel (or otherwise) car made by the BMW brand. Vorsprung durch brainwashing?
Hydrolocked from driving in the rain?Oh, I se this is a wind-up thread.
Sam993 said:
Simple,
1) BMW's have low intakes, it's a fact. They were designed this way so that the engine is able to suck cold dense air from above the ground, because this increases performance and that's what BMW owners want beyond everything else (like for example being able to drive through heavy rain without having to write off their car)
2) Many BMW's died while driving through puddles that didn't phase other cars, that's a fact.
3) This BMW went through heavy (and I mean heavy) rain and it died, unlike other cars around it. Based on facts 1 and 2 and fact that it was pissing down, the chances of it dying because of hydrolocking are pretty big. It might been hit by spray from another car for example.
Obviously this thread is tongue in cheek (apart from facts 1 and 2) so please don't get upset everybody. But also please don't come here saying that BMW's don't hydrolock easily.
Intakes are usually at top of front air dam pointing backwards behind kidney grilles.1) BMW's have low intakes, it's a fact. They were designed this way so that the engine is able to suck cold dense air from above the ground, because this increases performance and that's what BMW owners want beyond everything else (like for example being able to drive through heavy rain without having to write off their car)
2) Many BMW's died while driving through puddles that didn't phase other cars, that's a fact.
3) This BMW went through heavy (and I mean heavy) rain and it died, unlike other cars around it. Based on facts 1 and 2 and fact that it was pissing down, the chances of it dying because of hydrolocking are pretty big. It might been hit by spray from another car for example.
Obviously this thread is tongue in cheek (apart from facts 1 and 2) so please don't get upset everybody. But also please don't come here saying that BMW's don't hydrolock easily.
Where are they on 320d?
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