Hi guys, owned an Evo for about a year now and never knew about this site until a friend put me onto it yesterday after my 'incident'. He said if anyone would have an answer for me it would probably be you guys. So here goes...

As most people know the entire East Coast here got hit by Irene that caused quite a bit of flooding. I was driving home (Brooklyn, NYC) on the highway when I came across a spot on the highway that was quite flooded. Both lanes were covered and backing up was not an option, both for logistic and safety reasons. I slowed the car to a halt right before what can only be described as a small lake, took a deep breath, and attempted to ford my way through slowly. I made it most of the way and thought I was in the clear when near the end, my car stuttered a little and died. I was afraid I had hydrolocked it and I knew the last thing you want to do is try to start a hydrolocked car, but being where I was and for safety concerns I could not leave the car there and wait for a tow. I gave it a min, cranked it over and tried to drive out. It started up, I got a little bit farther and it died again. I repeated this one more time and finally got out of the pool of water.

I knew staying on the highway was a bad idea so I exited the first chance I got. As I was heading toward the exit, my car started acting up. Bogging, misfire, etc. I thought I was screwed but I was able to get off the exit and pull over. I figured I had already tried to start it so if there's damage, it's already been done. There's a friggin' hurricane going on and the weather is getting worse, let's try to limp it home. So I start her up again, she's idling like crap (had to give it some gas to keep from stalling out) and the CEL kicks on. I pull it over a second time, plug in my bluetooth OBDII and pull the codes.

-TPS sensor faulty
-Misfire cylinder 4
-Turbocharger overboost conditions

Wonderful, probably need a new motor. But whatever, it's still willing to limp along and there are tons of trees around. Going to try to get home before one of them falls over on me.

Here's where things get interesting. On the drive home, I got some misfiring and stalled out maybe another 2 or 3 times. But, the car eventually started to 'normalize' itself. I was a good 15 miles from home when it all happened and by the time I got within about 5 miles the car was running perfect again. I was amazed. After I got home, I cleared the codes and caught a slight break in the weather so I drove around my neighborhood some. CELs never came back, car pulled hard through the gears, idle was normal.

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up, started the car and it's fine. Filled up my gas tank and drove a good 35 miles of both highway and local, NO ISSUES. This afternoon I did the same thing, 35-40 miles of mixed driving going through every gear, redlining 1st to 4th and again no issues. I did a few searches and one of the potential hazards of hydrolock is bending your connecting rod. But, I do not have any rod knock whatsoever.

So did I just get ridiculously lucky because I can't explain how it can go from CEL codes + stalling, misfiring, bogging to running like new all by itself? Most of my search results with people that have gone through similar situations usually have a fully locked up motor, or their car runs like complete crap indefinitely. I didn't find any cases where the car/problems corrected themselves. Also, I apologize for being so long winded and thank anyone who actually took the time to read all this!

EDIT: I'd like to add that the car has no mods whatsoever except the Ralliart drop in filter.

 

I believe that you are incredibly lucky. Glad you made it out of the craziness going on over there.

 

If I were you, I would get a snorkle and install it, cuz winter is coming soon. But I live in cali and I havnt seen crazy flooding ever.

 

Yeah... you have to worry about mudslides and earthquakes lol.

If it gets that flooded there, the car will probably suffer some bad water damage interior wise lol

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm hoping someone with enough technical knowledge might be able to chime in and explain how what happened to me was possible or whether or not I should be looking out for a potential catastrophic failure.

Also, here in NYC flooding for the most part isn't that big of an issue as we don't get Irene type storms that often.

 

Honestly, if I were you I wouldnt worry too much about the engine Ive seen a video of people abusing a honda engine by pouring water directly into the intake and it kept running amazingly didnt break for like 15 minutes or something they had to pour unbelievable amounts of water, but I would of went through the electrical system with a blow dryer right after if I were you. If you don't see any engine codes though, you might be okay, for now. MAybe change your oil, water might of got in the crank, dunno.

 

One question. How could reversing and finding an alternate route not be safer than forgingg your way through? That's how people die in flash flooding trying to drive through an unknown depth of water stalling. The car and then being swept away and drowning. So ya you are lucky in numerous ways. If this situation ever occurs again please don't try and drive through for your cars sake and more importantly your own sake.

 

How deep was the water? What gear were you in? My vote's on the water causing the alternator belt to slip, causing the charging system to go low voltage, and it dies, repeatedly. While in that condition, you get some weird *** codes, which were really false positives. Once it starts to dry out, things start returning to normal for the ECU, which had compensated, but is now relearning it's way back to normal.

Do a compression check, and assuming its normal, than yes, count your blessings, as you were very lucky. By a lotto while you're at it, once the subway re-opens.

Oh and +1000 for never driving into water that you don't know how deep it is.

 

Wow your very lucky actually. It wasn't the cars time.

 

To some it up you are very lucky.

Reason you car was running so bad during and stalled is the water that you were in blocked the exhaust from coming out thus stall. Most likely you still had a lot of water.

You are very lucky it all worked out.

 

Having been through a flood and seen what water can do to a road, I'll never again drive through water that is flowing across a road, even if it is only inches deep. Water eats a road in the opposite direction to what it is flowing. In other words, on the downstream side of the road. First the shoulder is washed away, then the water undercuts the pavement. Next a lane is missing. Drive along in what you think is inches of water and drop into a six foot hole.

 

How high up was the water on the car?

I would say that some of the electrics may have gone a bit kittywampus, and the exhaust being blocked up is probably what stopped you.

I mean, was the water over your hood? Half way up the door? What?

 

It was a point on the highway where two parts of the highway merge into one after a semi blind corner. The exit after the puddle was about 150 feet away, so the previous exit was (ball parking) 1.5-2 miles back. So, if I had tried to back up, I would have had to do it past a blind corner where oncoming cars might not have enough time to stop or swerve around me. Then, keep backing up until I could pull off at an earlier exit. This is the same reason why just sitting in the puddle and waiting for a tow would have been a bad idea. If we're in similar conditions ever again, I'm going to just stick to local roads. Ironically after I pulled off the highway, the last stretch I took all local and not one bit of flooding (quite a few downed trees though).

I actually did not get out check, but at one point the beam pattern from my headlights seemed to disappear for a quick second which would lead me to think the nose dipped in and out of water. I know the intake is right at the top of the bumper/headlights so if this were to have happened it's possible the car ingested a little bit of water. I do know for a fact that at no point did the water ever go above the hood. I do have my undertray fully intact, but it's possible the alternator might have been submerged given that it's mounted quite low in the engine bay. But there were no squealing sounds typical of a slipping belt through the whole ordeal.


Again, I did not get out to stand in it, but I suspect at one point it may have gotten to the height of the headlight (see above). But I only ever observed from the driver's seat perspective so I can't be sure. Seeing the light pattern flicker/disappear momentarily could have been electrical or even my own imagination for all I know. I've been told and search results show that the exhaust being submerged really has no ill effects. Any explanations regarding the exhaust 'being choked' or 'sucking in water' are just myths.

My friend suggested it's possible I got a little bit of water through the intake track, not enough to get into the engine but enough to throw off the MAF. I don't have much experience dealing with MAFs, but anyone care to explain if that's possible?

Thanks again for all the replies, guys! This really is a great community. I can't believe I've never heard of it until now.

 

It was a point on the highway where two parts of the highway merge into one after a semi blind corner. The exit after the puddle was about 150 feet away, so the previous exit was (ball parking) 1.5-2 miles back. So, if I had tried to back up, I would have had to do it past a blind corner where oncoming cars might not have enough time to stop or swerve around me. Then, keep backing up until I could pull off at an earlier exit. This is the same reason why just sitting in the puddle and waiting for a tow would have been a bad idea. If we're in similar conditions ever again, I'm going to just stick to local roads. Ironically after I pulled off the highway, the last stretch I took all local and not one bit of flooding (quite a few downed trees though).

I actually did not get out check, but at one point the beam pattern from my headlights seemed to disappear for a quick second which would lead me to think the nose dipped in and out of water. I know the intake is right at the top of the bumper/headlights so if this were to have happened it's possible the car ingested a little bit of water. I do know for a fact that at no point did the water ever go above the hood. I do have my undertray fully intact, but it's possible the alternator might have been submerged for a short bit. But there were no squealing sounds typical of a slipping belt through the whole ordeal.


Again, I did not get out to stand in it, but I suspect at one point it may have gotten to the height of the headlight (see above). But I only ever observed from the driver's seat perspective so I can't be sure. Seeing the light pattern flicker/disappear momentarily could have been electrical or even my own imagination for all I know. I've been told and search results show that the exhaust being submerged really has no ill effects. Any explanations regarding the exhaust 'being choked' or 'sucking in water' are just myths.

My friend suggested it's possible I got a little bit of water through the intake track, not enough to get into the engine but enough to throw off the MAF. I don't have much experience dealing with MAFs, but anyone care to explain if that's possible?

Thanks again for all the replies, guys! This really is a great community. I can't believe I've never heard of it until now.

 

+1 for electrical gremlins. You could have been shorting all kinds of things that could cause codes for issues that aren't really there to be thrown. It's also possible (but not super likely) you have tiny leaks in the lower areas of the intake system (pin hole in your intercooler, leaking intercooler pipe elbows) that were submerged and sucked in enough water to make your car run like crap, but not hydrolock it. If it's fine now, it probably means nothing was fried in the shorts and you're ok