View Single Post
      01-28-2022, 06:15 PM   #13
Remonster
Lieutenant Colonel
United_States
821
Rep
1,583
Posts

Drives: E90 M3
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: San Diego

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kwajtrader View Post
I never realized that sucking in water could cause hydro-lock and basically destroy your engine. Not that I plan on taking my Z4 for a swim, but good to keep in mind for those torrential rain periods.
You only need to worry when driving through a huge puddle of water, all cars are designed to drive through any type of rain without getting any liquid water into the engine. The air intake path takes turns, has low points with drains, etc. to prevent this. Aftermarket intake systems will hopefully also have similar considerations but not always, I remember installing a C7 Corvette Z06 intake system which had an optional ram air component that came with a warning to never drive in rain while that was installed.

Driving your car through a deep puddle can easily overwhelm the drains or other design features of any car's intake system, though. I have a 2015 S63 AMG at my shop right now that was just totalled by insurance after it drove through a puddle, hydrolocked the motor, bent a rod, etc. The cost of the engine is high enough to declare the car a total loss.

Liquids are typically not compressible so a surprisingly small amount of liquid water in your engine combustion chamber will be squeezed by the piston until it cannot be compressed any further and will usually bend the connecting rod at a minimum.
Appreciate 2