Whats the best technique to drive through a flooded road?

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boolie

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Whats the best technique to drive through a flooded road?

Also, how deep is too deep when it comes to driving through?

of course, it depends on the type of vehicle you have... let's just say a typical ford focus family car for this hypothetical scenario
 
Yes, don't.

Alert someone to recover your body later. Put on your wellies, prod with a stick and walk through to see how deep it is, first (unless it is flowing). There may be drain covers and manholes that have blown open and you could fall down. Or hidden ditches or other hazards.

Drive through very slowly in low gear to prevent a bow wave

One of my cars has a 500mm wade depth without preparation.

If it is salt water, I wouldn't put my car in it.
 
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sometimes theyre unavoidable. Think night time, dual carriage way 70MpH, suddenly hit a flooded part

That actually happened to me on Friday Last Week. A17 Lincolnshire. I spotted it just before but obviously couldnt stop, slowed down to maybe about 40-50, stuck hazards on and ploughed through. Positioned myself in the middle of the road (2 lanes)... With hindsight probably should've gone to the highest point (outside lane)

Also, the fact that I had guys behind me pelting it down at 70+ mph really didn't help.. otherwise I may have been able to slow down further

Not a lot of fun but car was OK
 
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Always a good idea to find where the car's air intake is......usually its around bonnet level unless some of the trunking is missing o_O
Whatever you do, don't let any bow wave get that high!
If you really must cross then keep the revs high by slipping the clutch and go at a snails pace.
John :)
 
JohnD said:
If it is salt water, I wouldn't put my car in it.
Click to expand...

Similar effect to driving cars on Scottish roads on a regular basis. Years ago a friend had a Nova that had been bought north of the border. Never seen a car with such widespread surface rust over most of the underside, inc. exhaust, etc. Not experienced this on other cars from England. Would never buy from Scotland myself.
 
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There are many YouTube channels devoted to watching cars through fords - whether winning or failing.

Have a search for Rufford ford, in particular...


Traditional advice, has suggested to go in slowly, and gently accelerate to create a bow wave. This is often attempted on these videos, but usually fails. It doesn't take into account the ramp into the ford - you end up accelerating into the wave and swamping the nose.
Most wins are from going through as slowly as possible.
Reversing through is also an interesting strategy! :)

And just to note, BMWs seem to suffer badly, as they have really low air intakes.
 
RandomGrinch said:
There are many YouTube channels devoted to watching cars through fords - whether winning or failing.

Have a search for Rufford ford, in particular...


Traditional advice, has suggested to go in slowly, and gently accelerate to create a bow wave. This is often attempted on these videos, but usually fails. It doesn't take into account the ramp into the ford - you end up accelerating into the wave and swamping the nose.
Most wins are from going through as slowly as possible.
Reversing through is also an interesting strategy! :)

And just to note, BMWs seem to suffer badly, as they have really low air intakes.
Click to expand...
I thought that 4WD Jeep at 09:54 would have gotten through :LOL:
Water into the air intake by the looks of it
 
RandomGrinch said:
There are many YouTube channels devoted to watching cars through fords - whether winning or failing.

Have a search for Rufford ford, in particular...

Click to expand...

(About the drivers, and especially the passengers), what is that phrase that comes to mind?..........


........oh yeah, "I could have crawled up my own arrishole!"


That's the one :-D
 
boolie said:
Whats the best technique to drive through a flooded road?

Also, how deep is too deep when it comes to driving through?

of course, it depends on the type of vehicle you have... let's just say a typical ford focus family car for this hypothetical scenario
Click to expand...

The handbook often contains a surprising amount of data, so worth checking to see if wade depth is listed. To be honest, in a Focus-sized vehicle, I think about a foot of depth would be as deep as I'd risk. As others have said, going slowly with enough revs to stop water going back up the exhaust, is the key.

Often, however, it's not actually water getting into the engine that's the problem, but in the long term, it's what has happened inside gearboxes and differentials when water has gone down the breathers. Also, depending on where various electronic control units are, you can get problems days or even weeks later, with condensation forming inside them, from tiny amounts of water that have got in.

That guy with the underwater Tesla reckons he got away with it, but it's actually months after the event that he might well find small quantities of water that didn't prevent it from driving at the time, subsequently causing havoc.

 
This was my brother-in-law in Wales in a Freelander 1 some years ago:


And this was the inside of the transfer box (or IRD as Landrovers call them), when I rebuilt it about 5 years ago...
 

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Avocet said:
This was my brother-in-law in Wales in a Freelander 1 some years ago:
Click to expand...

This is what awaits you some months or years from now. Water doesn't only come from flooding. Condensation produces a lot of h2o.
 
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