BMWFan

Well I fell victim, in a small way, last week to all of the storms hitting the east coast. I live in Westchester County NY but work in CT, about 20 minutes away, and on the way to work we were hit with some very, very heavy rains. When I arrived at my office I noticed that the road leading to the parking lot was flooded so I drove around the block to the back entrance. There I saw some standing water but it looked to be only about 4 inches deep or so, and I also saw a couple of other vehicles, not SUV?s, drive through it. So, as I attempted to cross is 1st gear my 545i stalled in the middle!!!!

I was absolutely beside myself at this point?.I started yelling and screaming at the car. Well after I calmed down I contacted BMW Assist and requested a flat-bed to tow my car. BMW Assist was very helpful and responsive, it took almost 2 hours to have my car towed, tow shops were all backed up, luckily my office building was within 100 yds so I simply walked through the water and went to work?.with soaking wet shoes. After of 5 days at the dealership I was charged $800 (US) to repair the damage. When I spoke with the service manager I voiced my concern about how little standing water it took to ?drown? the 545i. He basically told me that one should avoid ?deep? water with the 545i at all costs. It seems the air intake is mounted rather low and what looks ok for many cars is simply too deep for the 545i. I believe I read that the e39 540i also suffered from this, not sure about the 525i or 530i. Anyway, it costs about $250 in parts and the rest in labor to replace my air filter, air box and dry the engine. Since then I?ve driven several hundred miles with no ill effects.

So a word of caution to all of you 545i owners and possibly all e60 owners?. Be very careful it takes very little standing water to drown the car and make it completely inoperable.

Not sure if I should be angry, disappointed or simply lucky that it cost $800 and 5 days at the dealership.

Given the extremely danagerous weather hitting the East Coast I was very lucky that only my car was at risk. Good luck to everyone who has to face much worse.

Al

Flowerfred

Why didn't you take your shoes off?

BMWFan

I thought about doing that but I only took my socks off, my office is located in an industrial park and I wasnt sure what was under the water. I didnt need any more complications that morning

Casper

This problem is common to E39 as well, all engines. I have driven in standing water on E39 and was lucky that it never happened to me, I was aware of it being a problem, I always drove very very slow on water. You must have been in deeper than 4 inches or the problme is worse on the E60, I had two E39's with water all the way up to my doors and the engine never stalled, but I was at idle speed. A cousin of mine had his E39 stalled in a few inches of water but he drove trough it fast, but his insurance covered the repair.

Rudy

Thanks for the warning. It makes sense that your car took a gulp and caused it to die.

I have to say that no matter what car you have, the general rule of thumb is to never drive across an area that is flooded with water.

It's amazing to me how many people don't heed that advice and end up being stalled, stuck, and stranded. They always end up saying "I didn't think it was very deep, etc." Our county just had a record single-day rainfall yesterday (I think over 8 inches) due to the remnants of hurricane Ivan. One thing I noticed was the abundance of SUV's that thought they were invincible and managed to get stranded in the middle of what looked like a shallow puddle. What happened next was the puddle became deeper and deeper and the drivers had to be rescued from the car due to the currents, etc.

Bottom line, don't drive across any flooded road or parking lot. BMW isn't selling boats, they are cars...

amigo525

escuse my ignorance, will the same apply to snow?

Should we avoid driving when there is more than 6-8 inc of snow on the ground?

Thanks for the tip.

My is a tutle 525 but so happy with her that I feel like screaming of joy.

bmwin14rsm

Good to know, thanks for the info. I will make sure my wife knows this also.

BMWFan

Rudy,

I agree with almost everything you've said except I dont believe I was trying to turn a BMW into a boat. I consciously avoid hazards when-ever I can but in this case the road wasnt "truly" flooded. In fact the road wasnt closed by the police until after I got stuck and prior to my trip I saw several other cars (I think a Passat, Camry and A4) cross without an issue. Additionally, I put the car into 1st and tried to drive across very slowly.

In the end I've learned a lesson the hard-way...avoid standing water at all costs. But I am concerned about standing water of a couple of inches at high-way speeds. I havent had issues yet but not sure what I would do if I'm traveling on a highway and see standing water, many times there isnt enough time or space to move over, especially on the major highways in my area. And will this water when hit at 50-70mph be sucked into the engine? Simply concerned at this time.

Casper

If you hit a couple of inches of standing water at 70 mph, do not be concerned with the engine sucking water, be concerned with hydroplaning.

JDN

Don't even worry about hyrdoplaning with the Dunlop 18s, at least while they are new.