Flooded Cars?..

Presumably they were planning to move the car to higher ground after moving the TV etc in the house.

That?s certainly what happened with a mate of mine whose house ended up with water waste deep in it.

On 17/02/2020 15:04, Brian Reay wrote: ....

I saw mention online of somebody try to rescue a drowned Tesla. Apparently, one of the cells exploded when he tried opening the battery pack in order to dry it out. Whether that would have been the case had he been able to drain it first is unclear.

Well I got away with driving through a flood with the water lapping up onto the bonnet like that Audi but it took a lot of throttle and clutch slipping in 1st just to keep the thing moving and not letting the water get further up the bonnet. Water does not want to get out of the way like air...

I suspect that there is an "optimum" speed for going through a flood. Too fast and water is thrown up into the engine compartment soaking distributer or plugs, leads, coil packs or getting injested. Still has to get past the air filter but I guess a soggy air filter won't let enough air through. Too slow water can rise up into the engine compartment with similar effect. "Optimum" the water doesn't get a chance to rise up behind the grill, radiator, oil coolers, aircon condensor etc. So the engine stays dry.

The low down starter motor was never quite the same after my deep flood drive but nothing else suffered.

When seeking car insurance I have never been asked anything other than where the car is *normally* kept overnight. I have never had a policy with a term which would allow them to deny a claim on such grounds. What in your cover makes you think it's possible? And do you worry too that they'll deny cover if you are more than X miles from your car for other reasons?

I am very cautious about driving through flood water, both from the point of damage to the engine and the car being washed away by fast-flowing water.

I notice that this ford

This ford

I wouldn't like to try either ford when they were full. I remember driving down to the second one when there had been heavy rain, with no intention of going through, but just to see how high it could get. You have to reverse a long way to get to a turning-round spot, if the one by the gate in

Cycling through that ford is scary because even when the water is at its normal level and flow (as in the photos) the current tries to move the bike wheels off course as you turn the corner at the far end

I?m not sure.

If the water can get in, the pack can?t be water tight. Perhaps the action of opening it weakened the structure.

I can?t help thinking the battery would be scrap once flooded.

I was wondering whether opening it allowed air to get in, which fuelled the explosion.

IIRC about 80% of the cells were salvageable.

The ford at Ide, in Devon, is similarly long - said to be the second longest in Europe. Basically, it a fairly flat stream, bed that you just drive along. Can't remember how long it is, but I drove along it just for the hell of it and to be able to say I'd done it, back in my student days. You just hope you don't meet someone coming the other way!

In article snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, "Dave Plowman (News)" snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk> writes

Standard practice for any off road driver. Original aim was to avoid the water hitting the fan and being sprayed all over the electrics (petrol engines in those days)

Problem with modern cars I think.

In article snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Dave Liquorice snipped-for-privacy@howhill.com writes

Yup. Enter slowly and go just fast enough to create the bow wave and you get a dip in the water behind it.

In article <r2eicf$eps$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, NY snipped-for-privacy@privacy.invalid writes

water so they don't float and b) they have flat floors without sills so having exited the water just open the door and the water flows out. Best to be wearing wellies though.

In article snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, "Dave Plowman (News)" snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk> writes

Have you ever tried to get a car upstairs?

What makes you think that lithium is present as a metal?

Any 'explosion' with such a battery is very likely to involve a component other than the 'lithium'.

There'll be a wiki article somewhere that you can use to become an expert.

More comprehensive insurance on your car than house?

But I'd be surprised if insurance companies pay out on a flooded car to be able to replace it like for like.

BIL took us round an off road course in Abingdon a few years back in his 2L auto diesel Discovery. It was probably the first (and last) time it had ever been properly off road during his ownership.

At the end of the course was a long trench full of muddy water. The idea is you gunned it though this and saw how high you could spray the water.

Given this was his only / family car and daily driver we assumed he was going to go though it like Ms Marple. No, to our surprise he did give it some (for a 2L auto, 4 up) and I saw the water (just) come up the front windscreen (and no snorkel)!

The Fire Brigade were there hosing the cars off for a charity donation but nephew wanted to leave it as is for the drive home so we just wiped lights and number plates etc. Apparently it had to be left like that for a forthright for all nephews schoolmates to see. ;-)

However, about a month later the alternator failed and whilst it could have been a coincidence, we think it was a side effect of it's muddy dunking. ;-(

I have to say, given the lack of experience of the driver, it only being a 2L diesel, std fit tyres and an auto ... and without any diff locks, it handled the course very well! [1]

Cheers, T i m

About as good as a new FIAT then:)

Todays MATT cartoon in the DT ....

Toyota dealers have a full NBC kit that the technician has to wear when working on the high voltage battery.

I read somewhere that Tesla re-use 2nd hand car battery packs in their domestic battery storage system.