jnocerino

Hi all;

This past Saturday (yes, during a storm) I picked up my new, fully loaded 535xi. Within 15 minutes of the showroom and in a few inches of water, the car stalled. As I sat there waiting for a tow at least two dozen cars passed me. The inside of the car remained dry as the water never rose above the bottom of the door (I opened the door to talk to the tow truck operator), although there was lots of displaced water as cars passed by.

BMW service just called to tell me that they don't have an answer for me yet. It seems that they got in ten cars with a hydrolock problem on Monday...TEN CARS !!!! They told me that two of the cars will require new engines and the rest will get by with new starters and fluid replacement. They ran out of starters so I'll have to wait until tomorrow for the verdict on my car.

It seems to me that a car that knows exactly where it is on the planet at all times and that can react to a collision in a millisecond should be able to keep some water out of it's intake and not require an engine replacement!

So, I have a few questions for the group:
- Is this a BMW flaw?
- Although I'm fully insured am I really responsible?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Dandle

Any engine can hydrolock if it sucks water up the air intake. If the water was up to just below the doors that is pretty deep and only very slow driving will stop water being sucked in, the wave off the wheels can increase the height a fair amount hence driving slowly. I dont think its a design issue as i've heard of a fair few people that have locked engines on their cars(only 1 other BMW) but normally its from not driving according to the conditions(not saying that is your case)or hitting a deep puddle at speed without seeing it. Citroen did have a spate of claims a few years ago on one of their models because the intake was mounted so low and had loads of hydrolocked engine replacement claims, that's the only design issue I've ever heard of though.

I don't know why BMW have told you they can fix a hydrolock with a new starter and fluid change as that wont help at all. The water sucked into the engine doesn't compress as the pistons come up on the compression stroke and that always breaks things, either broken pistons, bent rods, cracked head etc. The damage is worse the harder the engine was revving at the time.

kscarrol

Unfortunately this will likely be ruled your fault. The manual states that the car should never be run through more than a foot of water and then only at "walking speed". I'll have to look up the exact language but it's there. You may also have a hard time proving a "couple of inches". Yes, the air intake is low and others have had this happen. I had the same thing happen on my Acura Integra back in '95. It sucks, especially having just bought the car as you had, sorry to hear and hopefully you get by with the starter and fluid replacement to get back up and running...

Edit: Page 126 in the 2010 manual...

turboawd

its called "job security" leave some flaws out there, for future work. :thumbsdown:

jnocerino

Follow-up to my original post:

I didn't require a new engine. They removed and replaced the spark plugs, changing one of them, and replaced the air filter, oil, oil filter, 4 fuses and starter. Total parts: $400-, total labor: $2,800-. Insurance paid less my deductible. I was lucky by comparison to those people who needed new engines.

I still think it's a design flaw. You can comment on the veracity my statement of water depth, or on the soundness of my judgment for deciding to go thru the puddle, however if I could have driven a $20- tricycle thru that water with no problem and without getting my butt wet, my $60k BMW should have made it. The parade of cars that drove past me (and thru that same puddle) while I was sitting there in my hydrolocked "Ultimate Driving Machine" reinforces my opinion.

pjinca

All these stories amuse me, there is NO WAY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH to hydrolock an E60 in "a few inches of water".
The air intake for our cars sits behind the kidney grilles - at least 14 inches off the road surface. There are many other modern cars where the intakes are located low and inside the fenders - Honda Accord, Toyota Camry are examples.
The only story I have heard that was plausible was the gentleman that described an idiot coming in the OPPOSITE direction in a pickup driving way too fast and creating a wave big enough for his car to hydrolock.

e6t

im willing to argue that the design/location of the intake doesn't help. a little water into the intake via a splash or anything else and it easily moves to the top of the motor and gets sucked right in.

talk about the new version of "sugar in the gas tank"... how about a squirt bottle into the intake...

bigbadbull

Treat you car like a Car and not a Wave runner...

I have been in horrid flash floods and Hurricanes , in both my R32 ( intake was low in front of the front left tire 3" off the ground with no water separator , basically a 3" diameter straw directly in to the heads, at High rpms It would suck a 5 gallon bucket dry...)and both E6x's ...

If you drive slow keep the revs low, near idle the car will not suck up , intake water.
Floor it threw 3-4 inches of water the wake will enter the engine bay do who knows what to the electronics and god forbid enter the air system if there is a bypass or the normal intake. Also, if your motor is very hot and cold water hits the block and headers what do you think will happen?

Processable a cracked block?

If you can't see the road surface threw the water don't drive in it. Don't go fast threw standing water/ or deep puddles. The bow wave/wake will enter the engine area. This will happen even with the Air management tray under the E60..

I also love how you very seldomly here about people on the coasts and South east USA where Hurricanes and flash flooding t-storms frequently happen every bitch about this, where as with the recent large amounts of rain in the North east one would think that this problem is indemic to all cars, every where.