Going through deep fords

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drholmes1003's picture
drholmes1003
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Joined: 2015-12-14T10:03:23
Going through deep fords

I turn to the collective knowledge of this place again.

Last Sunday in Wales I noticed a very weird behaviour of the car and wanted to get opinions on what issue could this description point at:

Basically, when we went through a ford at speed, for around 5-7s afterwards the car was almost stalling and running at around 1500rpm with clutch released, leading us to believe I may have been in third, only for me to chuck it into first and same to happen again, which is when I declutched and selected first again to no avail, still running at around 1500rpm and not seeming to accelerate at wide open throttle. That lasted for around what felt like an eternity but perhaps was only between 3 and 5 or 7s. After which the car seemed to have picked up the pace again and we happily pulled away up the steep hill.

Remembering now the speeds were extremely slow, so I doubt I was actually in third or I would have otherwise stalled, but the engine hesitation felt very unusual.

My theory was it might have been a partial hydro shock to the engine as some water might have gotten into the cylinders since I removed part of the dirty side air intake ducting that was pointing at the wheel arch and the leftover air intake just before the filter is now pointing directly downward. It is not too low, as it is at about headlamp height but the fact that it's pointing downwards may or may not have played a role. I've also already had suggestions that it might have been a wet coil pack, which I have no experience of, so wouldn't know how that feels to judge.

I once again welcome all and any suggestions, advice or even honest shots in the dark for me to investigate.

Many thanks

Anton

tony burchnall
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Joined: 2006-12-12T21:43:55
Wet engine

HiAnton,

Not sure if the same problem could happen with your car but my 205 used to get water past the bungs on the plug leads. The plugs are deep in the head and it could take a relative age to dry off. Cured by a smear of silicone around the bung to make it waterproof. ( Thanks to Ben Scott for the tip.)

Tony.

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SuperUno
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Joined: 2006-11-25T18:05:15
Wet

I would suspect your engine swallowed some water, was the air filter wet? When electrical stuff (coils, HT leads etc) gets wet unless lucky it can take a lot longer for it to dry out and stop causing issues. 

Have had both situations, and yours sounds like water through the engine. At least you didn't spend an hour drying out your engine, like Leadfoot and myself did once on Salisbury plain....

 

Silicon spray can help, as can adding splash guards to the side of the car between the body and the sump guard to stop water getting in.

 

Also look at re-routing your air intake.

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Simon Rowan
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Joined: 2016-09-27T18:14:20
Hi Anton

Hi Anton

I have completely removed the air intake on my 206 and replaced it with a cone filter that sits on top of the radiator top hose, which is as high under the bonnet as possible.  Not only does it save weight but I have had no issues when running through fords and deep puddles.  They're not very expensive and I got mine from Motormania in Chelmsford.  I also suspect that any water ingress into the engine would cause it to 'hydraulic' and stop dead so the problem you were having is quite possibly electrical but I have not experienced any issues myself with my 206.

regards

 

Simon

 

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drholmes1003
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Joined: 2015-12-14T10:03:23
Hydrolock video

Thanks Tony and Matt. I was also thinking that if it was electrical, it would've stopped and meant a drying out job for the next hour or so but for just a few seconds, it was weird. I'll make sure to silicone the plugs then as well, just in case, but the main job I think will have to be rerouting the intake or at least some splash guards between wheel arch and the engine bay.

Thanks Simon, on the topic of partial and full hydroshock/hydrolock there is this video, which is in Latvian, but I found it really educating to see what happens when you directly pour water into the inlet. They tried both inlet and turbo inlet as well.

http://nra.lv/video/4337-timrots-bez-zelastibas-lej-motora-udeni.htm

(2:10 starts pouring, 6:30 inlet submerge)

Spoiler alert: It turns out just pouring water directly into the inlet may not stop the engine dead.

drholmes1003's picture
drholmes1003
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Splash photo

That's the one that did it ^_^

Holrus Targa splash

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Simon Rowan
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Joined: 2016-09-27T18:14:20
I see the problem, you weren

I see the problem, you weren't going fast enough.................

drholmes1003's picture
drholmes1003
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Joined: 2015-12-14T10:03:23
Next time

Next time I'll hit it at twice the speed to just aquaplane across......

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