Coming home tonight in torrential rain I'd done 5 hours in the car and half an hour from home I hit flood water. I feel so stupid. It was really dark, an oncoming car dazzled me with main beams and I just didn't see the huge flood in front of me. Now partially in I tried to keep going but the car conked out before it reached the other side. Stupidly I tried to restart. I don't think it turned over at all but can't be sure. We towed it 10 miles on a rope with a battery that's now failed/flat completely. Can someone talk me through the best way forwards? I'm thinking air filter out to check how wet it is, glow plugs out to see if it will turn over first on the crank and then on the starter? If it did try to turn when I hastily pressed the button or has sucked in water I suspect it may be hydrolocked and may have bent a rod. What's the process? I'm gutted.
Glow plugs out and turn it over to get any water out first. Air filter off before trying to start it.
As Alan says, air filter out to check for water in there, then release the compression so you can try to turn it over. If you are lucky it will have been an electrical cut out, even then you may be chasing issues for a while. Good luck, it must be incredibly frustrating for you.
It very much felt like electrics. There was no juddering or knocking, it just stalled unresponsive and rolled to a stop. I feel so stupid tbh. I'd have never driven through that flood on purpose. But I was in it before I knew it.
When turning the engine over, the guidance is to do it by hand first, checking it is free before putting any pressure through the crank. I’d also be looking at the fuse board, possible blown fuses in there, if you have luck on your side.
My wife drove my old E46 330d touring through a large deep puddle and it immediately conked out. Think the air intake was really low down on those. Recovered to BMW but luckily it stopped before doing any damage to the engine. Sorry to hear and hope it's a quick fix.
I’d have the intake manifold off rather than just air filter otherwise you will have an intercooler full of water to drag in if you do start it, I think you’ll need it off for the glow plugs anyway if I remember right.
I may not be thinking straight, but if you find the air cleaner is dry, then the engine should be OK . then it would be down to electrics - hopefully.
Thanks everyone. Not had chance to look today. Had to dig in 60m of water pipe. Tomorrow the car will get some attention.
Just one more question for now - if I get as far as glowplugs, any tips for getting them out? Do they have a tendency to snap? I obviously can't run the engine up to temp .
Rock and hard place comes to mind with glow-plug removal as it is best to get the engine hot before you start. May pull the injectors instead ????.
Air filter was pretty wet. Got a bit of water out of the intercooler. Say 500ml but I couldn't measure it. Working to expose the glow plugs now.
Careful removing the glow plugs - use a torque wrench for removal. The plugs have a shear strength of something like 25Nm, then they just twist and snap off half in the head. Personally I'd try just turning it over by hand now that you've checked the air filter and intercooler. If it turns over then you'll save yourself a lot of work.
Update. So I pulled the inlet manifold. Inlet ports to 2,3 and 4 were full of water. I opted to remove the injectors rather than glow plugs. Glad I did as they came out easy. Sucked the water out of the inlet manifold. Turned on a 1/2" wrench on the crank. Cylinder 2 squirted a lot of water out. 4 a little. BUT... everything is turning very freely which is a good sign. What next??
Crank it over using the starter with the injectors removed (and unplugged). That should pump out the remaining water. Then all back together and fire it up. A bent con rod will most likely give an odd noise when running.
Ive had enough for today so shut it away. Last update for today. It's turning really freely. By hand. I've spun it on the starter and all seemed OK. Bit of a mist out of each injector hole. I suck my hoover over each inj3ctor hole. Nozzle just right to hold itself sealed there. Then turned on crank till inlet valve was open then also blew hot air in from my heat gun. 5 mins like this per cylinder. Tomorrow will dry out intercooler and turbo - my wet n dry is quite powerful and should hopefully dry out by drawing air theough the intercooler and will suck out of turbo inlet. Then reassemble and see if it will start and listen for knocking. I wish I could tell if I had a bent conrod at this point. Might try starting it without intercooler connected initially.
I did find myself looking at the few e39 530d tourings around on various sites earlier though. If I got a late one it's not much of a step back in age but I loved my 528i e39 touring...
I really hope so. Tbh, if it's bent a rod, I may well change it (in time)... I know it's head and bottom off but have been told it can be done on a ramp (which I have) with the engine in. I guess at nearly 160k it would be worth changing the timing chain anyway so I could do that at the same time. In the meantime I will get my D2 mot'd as a backup... it should pass....
