What to do to "save" a flooded car?

When driving through flooded areas, you should turn off the air conditioner (AC button), use 1st gear, use a steady throttle at a moderate level, keep the engine running smoothly, and drive calmly...

Flooded cars are very harmful to the bearings under the car, affecting the starter, generator, fan blades, electrical components, sensors, control boxes which are easily damaged, water seeping in reduces the effectiveness of the clutch, brakes...

Most of the causes were water overflowing through the engine's air intake pipe, some were electrical short circuits, some were parked in low places and water flooded the car, and one was damaged because the gas tank was full of water.

If the water level is high, it will be sucked into the air intake (intake) of the engine and damage the engine, lightly bending the connecting rod, severely damaging the mechanical shaft, breaking the engine block. This is the phenomenon of "water hammer", when the engine is operating normally, the pistons are rushing up to squeeze the intake mixture at a speed of about 1000 rpm, because the intake mixture has been displaced by water and because the water is not compressed, this pressure creates a reaction that deforms the connecting rods and pistons, when the connecting rod is too bent, it will break, this broken part will puncture the engine wall, destroying your car.

Principles of driving in flooded areas

When forced to go through flooded areas, you should remove the engine air filter to take air directly from the engine compartment because this is the highest position, avoid taking air through the vehicle's air intake because this is a lower position. After passing through the flooded area, you can reinstall the engine air filter as before.

Turning off the air conditioning switch (AC button) is the first thing to do when the car is forced to go through a flooded area.

The safe water level warning is below 25 cm, not exceeding the center of the wheel, above that level you should not go through. In addition, pay special attention when there are vehicles going in the same direction and in the opposite direction because the phenomenon of creating waves can occur, causing the water to rise higher and increasing the risk of water overflowing into the air intake and engine air filter.

When going through flooded areas, you should turn off the air conditioner switch (AC button), go to 1st gear, run the throttle at a moderate level, keep the engine running smoothly, and drive calmly. For automatic transmission vehicles, switch to semi-automatic mode and leave it in 1st gear. If left as is, the vehicle will automatically shift to 2nd gear, causing the throttle to be weak, leading to water entering the engine through the exhaust pipe. Be careful not to press the clutch of a manual transmission vehicle when going through flooded areas to avoid stalling the engine.

Avoid accelerating too hard because accelerating too hard will cause water to overflow the radiator grille and into the intake pipe. In addition, when accelerating too quickly, the engine speed will increase, and if water enters, the hydrostatic phenomenon will become stronger, leading to a bent connecting rod.

Once you have passed the flooded area, you need to continue a bit, apply the brakes to remove water from the discs. Then get out and check the engine and undercarriage again.

If your car suddenly shuts down in a flooded area, do not attempt to restart it. Remove the key, move the car to a higher place and call for help. Each car is different, so do not attempt to fix it yourself if you do not have technical expertise.

When calling for help, drivers should also note that if the vehicle is equipped with an automatic transmission, automatic anti-slip system, automatic bridge installation, automatic anti-roll stabilization or full-time 4-wheel drive, the vehicle should only be towed with a flatbed truck (4 wheels do not rotate).

In addition, do not open the door immediately when the car stalls, but pay attention to the water level. If the water is higher than the lowest part of the door, absolutely do not open the door, because it will cause water from the outside to flood in and damage the electronic systems. In this case, open the window to get in and out of the car.

Interior cleaning and maintenance

According to the advice of technicians and repairmen, when you discover that your car's interior is soaked with water, it is best to quickly find a familiar garage to clean it, before the interior has time to smell, especially with fabric-covered cars. Depending on whether the car has fabric or leather interior, the interior cleaning is done with a little difference.

The felt material itself is very “sensitive” to dirt and the car compartment is quite limited in space, so the entire interior must be thoroughly cleaned. The plastic panels will be thoroughly scrubbed with a brush, alcohol and special detergent. The seats and floor brushes as well as the soundproof cotton pads under the floor are all removed and washed.

The car seats must be machine washed to ensure they are as clean as new. The repairman will use a machine to pump water and chemicals into the fabric and foam of the car, then use a machine to suck up all the dirty water. This operation is repeated many times. Once clean, the seats, mattresses and floor mats will be dried by drying or steaming. Next, the worker will remove the drain holes in the car floor, use water to wash and blow dry the floor. After the interior has been reassembled as before, the last thing to do is to use a cleaning solution with fragrance to brush the interior surface.

The bottom support of the car floor is made of metal and treated with soundproofing materials, so it is very tight. When water flows in through the door and seeps down, it creates large water tanks that cannot drain out by itself. The air conditioning duct gets dirty and can even be blocked when dirty water flows in.

After you have sucked out all the water, dry it completely with a hair dryer. Bolts and screws that have been exposed to rainwater can rust quickly, so it is important to use anti-rust oil and grease when cleaning the car floor.

The wiring system and plugs running around the body of the car, in the center console area, are very susceptible to short circuits and fires when there is water inside. The connections need to be checked and sprayed dry to ensure contact. A deeply flooded car door will accumulate a lot of water inside, affecting the operation of the speakers and wires, so the process of cleaning and restoring the car's interior cannot ignore this area.

Scan for control system errors

On many cars, especially Japanese cars, the airbag control system is located right under the floor in the center console area. Water can paralyze the operation of this system. Cleaning and inspection must be done very carefully because otherwise it will affect the entire airbag system.

On high-end cars, the center console is the area that contains many complex control systems such as the gearbox, intelligent multi-function control system, communication... The cleaning process must be handled by experienced experts. The most vulnerable control parts are the seat control switches and a series of motors/engines inside the seat. Water burns the motors and paralyzes the seat control.

Maintaining the electrical and lighting system components is not simply a matter of draining water and drying them normally, but also considering their operating status, the possibility of risks when the wires are short-circuited, exposed or corroded at the contacts, an indispensable operation for high-end cars is to reset the system with an error scanner./.

According to Vov.vn