beauphus

Last night on way back from business meeting in Broward streets were flooded from heavy rain. I hit a patch of water approx 1 to 1.5 feet deep. No water came inside the car that I am aware of, but the car shut off and wouldnt re-start. I had it towed to the dealership and waiting to hear the diagnosis. I sure hope I didnt get water in the engine. Anybody ever have this happen to them before???

V12Godspeed

Tough to say...is you car lowered? I don't see how it could hydrolock the engine since intakes are very high. Hmm....

DucatiGuy

Sounds electrical... Having your engine undergo H-Lock is not a quite, instant thing, unless you've got your foot mashed on the pedal and going through a water source high enough to access and fully immerse the intake track of the engine.

You would hear and feel missing, even knocking, and your engine would feel as it was running on 3 cylinders prior the engine going into full thermal lock.

If you were driving slow, and you didn't feel or hear anything and it just shut down on you, it's most likely something electrical (a short perhaps)...

beauphus

car is lowered via renntech with remote. i raised the car up using remote AND had car in vehicle raised position so i was riding high. was driving slow when happened (maybe 3 or 4 mph)

TheWorkshopMB

Not trying to scare you, but an 06' SLK 350 came into our shop, did the same thing, we found water in the secondary air pump, air fliters were soaked and the air mass sensor was soaked. Ultimate result, hydro-locked cylinder 6.

Not saying this is your case, but... be ready...

Happy Benzing!!!

beauphus

okay...just got a call fromt he mechanic at MB who is a long-time friend of mine. He said my engine is hydro-locked. Water in the air filters and couldnt move the crank. Now we have to wait for the insurance adjuster to see what they want to do...is hydro-lock a bad thing? doesnt sound good

Yacht Master

What dealership? Hydro-lock=new motor

beauphus

MB of Palm Beach

beauphus

how much is a new engine?

Yacht Master

That will depend, but I think a new Mercedes Benz (at dealer) long block is north of $40K. Members here have found used engines from $12K to $18K.
First they need to determine the extent of the damage. You need to determine if you are covered for this.

azncarjunkie

suck dude. if it's a true hydrolock then you will surely need to rebuilt the engine. not moving the crank is a clear sign of that since water doesn't compress like air. so it's like your piston trying to turn over and just hits a wall.

For anyone else that ever goes through water. If you go through water and your call stalls midway through, just get out, call the towtruck, and get the car to a shop. if you crank the motor, you're going to likely bend some rods. The starter motor is quite powerful.

Typical shops will remove the manifolds, remove the spark plugs, then turn the car over by cranking. with the plugs out it won't overcompress and kablooey.

as for motor cost, you're looking at way less than 12-18 if you just do a rebuild or motorswap. the 55 motor is much easier to find these days.

good luck.

beauphus

thanks for explaining. that exactly the way my MB mechanic explained it. only problem now is waiting for the insurance adjuster to decide whether or not they want to pay for rebuild (or new engine) or total the car out. I hope they agree to rebuild/replace because i LOVE my car and the color combo is hard to find with such low miles. i hard to total the car the repair cost would have to exceed 75 to 80% of the value. anybody know this to be true?

ssonss1

Sorry to hear, hope everything works out for you. I know how hard it is to find a CLS in white in good condtion

shardul

iTrader: (1)

where did the water get in from? if it came in from the intake tract then clearly a wave of water hit your car because if the water in 1-1.5 deep that is too shallow for the intake to suck up the air.

jcrack_corn

please keep in mind that with the exception of a possible rate increase, the insurance company totaling your car would be a WONDERFUL thing.

you will get the FMV of the car, and you can negotiate in the settlement that you want to buy the car as scrap/salvage (they will be more than happy).

then you can have the engine rebuilt or get a used 55....you are almost certain to pocket server thousand (maybe 10k?), BUT BUT BUT
you will have a salvage title on the car....not a big deal if you love it because you wont be selling soon...

Gondon

LOL the best thing always is the insurance company declaring your car a total LOSS.

beauphus

will know shortly. i wonder what fair market value is on a cls55 amg with ALL the features and 34k miles in MINT condition. i like the idea of owning it for much less BUT wont it be harder to insure?

beauphus

Just got a call from the dealership. Insurance adjuster granted them 18 billable hours to determine what all is wrong and what its going to take to fix it. I hope it isnt major - I love my car

mercwhip

It would seem since a replacement AMG engine is more than $40,000, it would seem that the insurance adjuster would chose to total. I am impressed that 18 billable hours was granted to try to repair the vehicle. Best of luck to you and thank you for sharing. Please keep us posted. This is a very interesting conversation.

benz_addict

Sorry to hear about this situation that your in. I'm just trying to figure out how on earth the water got into your intake. If you were driving 4mph through 1.5f deep water + on raise mode it should of cleared it easily. Plus I hope your insurance company or the dealership doesn't blame any of the aftermarket products ie. your lowering module for this mishap. Best of luck keep is posted

bigben320e

Damn, what a way to bring the new year in. Hope you get this fixed, or a favorable resolve.

beauphus

checking for interior water damage...

beauphus

they dont know about the ELM and i didnt notify them i have it. i think the reason i got water in is becuase the WHOLE city was flooded so i drove in between 6 inches and at some points mustve been 2ft+ of water for miles. literally the entire city flooded that day. i even saw a firetruck stop running and have to be towed.

softball3

Drove slowly through flood water did great until I turned the corner and could not see the curb, hit curb and took my foot off the gas. SUV stalled out now it will not start. Makes a click noise when I try to start....all lights come on, headlights, dashboard lights, seats move, locks work even with remote key. I unhooked battery cable and left of for 30 minutes but car still not starting. What needs to be done now?

vdubpower

new engine, did it to my c320, water in engine, sorry but you are ****ed also, call yuor insurance.....