[sharp]

Thanks for the update and I hope you'll get your car fixed soon. These are valuable lessons for the community.

Can you please talk a bit more about driving in water? How quickly were you going? How deep was the water? Did you get any water in the car?

Thanks!

[streborx]

Found this on the web -- incredible damage from 6" of water! Who knew?

https://askcarmechanic.com/hydrolocked-engine/

[Orient330iNYC]

i suspect even if not that deep, hitting the water at the right speed to drive enough water into the intake would do it.
or if you are really unlucky, a car going in the other direction pushes a wave toward you that puts the intake tract underwater. either way you're done

[Davewolf]

I was driving slow! Bottom line: Why is my $100K 2022 BMW SUV not able to withstand the same water intake as minivans and sedans? My car was the ONLY one that got stuck from dozens of minivans and sedans driving by at the same time. THATS what really bothers me.

[chicagox7]

Really strange about the engine. There is an ‘X’ course in Spartanburg where they have folks drive X5’s through water that seems to come up just below the doors. Of course it’s idling through the it and the instructions are to stay off the gas likely to prevent waves.

At least everything seems to be covered and you’ll be back driving it soon.

[streborx]

I'm still churning on the seeming improbability of this. Inspecting my M50, the air intakes come off the top of the air filter boxes, route to the front dropping along the way, and appear to terminate on each side of the grill with air intake openings facing inboard. The grill centerline is about 30" off the pavement. Gravity and/or suction are not going to induce water from ground level past the air filters.

But splashback from a passing vehicle might be hazardous when the grill vents are open, and not much standing water would be necessary. This would still need quite a bit of air intake to suck in enough water to saturate the air filters and then enter the engine. The grill vents operate automatically, but having the ability to close them when driving in standing water with other vehicles passing might minimize the likelihood of hydrolock if this is the scenario in which this can occur.

Opinions, comments??? Is there some other conduit for air entering the engine?

[U235]

Originally Posted by Davewolf

[IMG][/IMG]

Is this image where your car came to a rest? Did you drive through anything deeper than that prior to the engine giving up the ghost?

[MystroX5]

I hydrolocked a new Jeep Grand Cherokee back in the late 90’s. Going off road through a puddle that disappeared into a washed out 4’ deep muddy pool. Water was at the bottom of the side mirrors. Powered the mirrors down and crawled out as water came in the cabin through the floor vents. It was totaled.

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by streborx

The grill vents operate automatically, but having the ability to close them when driving in standing water with other vehicles passing might minimize the likelihood of hydrolock if this is the scenario in which this can occur.

Opinions, comments??? Is there some other conduit for air entering the engine?

Which the car should be doing automatically. Someone already linked to the BMW technical docs which describe how it can detect a water crossing and in that case it'll disable the air suspension adjustment and close the grille shutters to reduce the risk of water getting in.

Though I suspect that if the car needs cooling, it'll open up the grille shutters anyway as a higher priority. And when driving around town my grille shutters do stay open quite often (you can tell because of the loud ass radiator fan), at least with my N63. Not sure if the 40i is much different.

[Saejin]

$36K for engine and $9K for transfer case!

How much of that is labor?

What setting did you have your air suspension set to. From the pic looks higher than normal.

So, know it’s been asked, but at any point possibly when you entered the puddle did water come up to the grille?

Usually when you enter standing water like seen in the pic, your car when it enters will push up against the bumper/grille and then push away. The hydro lock could have happened at the time.

As for other cars driving past you, well, it all depends on the design of their air intakes and where they are located in the engine bay.

Good luck with the repair. Glad insurance is taking care of it.

[streborx]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

Which the car should be doing automatically. Someone already linked to the BMW technical docs which describe how it can detect a water crossing and in that case it'll disable the air suspension adjustment and close the grille shutters to reduce the risk of water getting in.

Though I suspect that if the car needs cooling, it'll open up the grille shutters anyway as a higher priority. And when driving around town my grille shutters do stay open quite often (you can tell because of the loud ass radiator fan), at least with my N63. Not sure if the 40i is much different.

Thanks for referencing this earlier post. I had viewed the video, but neglected scrolling down to the "water crossing detection" portion. This vaguely described mechanism that senses a bow wave and closes the grill shutters seems either not to have deployed in the OP's circumstance, or proved ineffective in the OP's experience.

I remain concerned about the consequences of splash back from a passing vehicle. Several times in winter driving, a hurried driver will pass me, showering my car with the slush that accumulates along the highway centerline. This would seem outside the detection boundary of crossing water, yet could hurl significant water through open grill shutters.

Fundamentally, I'm skeptical of the efficacy of systems whose purpose is protection of the vulnerability of another system. Why not just fix the first system's problem? Over dozens of cars driven hundreds of thousands of miles, I've never hydrolocked one driving through a few inches of water.

[khai37]

Originally Posted by streborx

Saw the news coverage — appeared severe, but then news crews seem to already know where they'll find the lowest underpass with the deepest water, and the most stranded motorists. Driving through anything deeper than a couple inches, especially swift water, can be risky.

You would think people are smart enough not to drive into a flooded underpass.

[entendu]

Originally Posted by Davewolf

So here is the terrible update on my X7 M50I: Hyrdrolocked engine and destroyed transfer case. Repair is $45k ($36K for engine replacement and $9K for transfer case) if I heard correctly.

YOU GUYS WERE SPOT ON. Pretty incredible community here.

1. Hydrolocked engine (from NY flood). My car was driving in water barely touching the wheels with sedans and minivans doing circles all around me. Such bullshit and still dont understand but learned my lesson with BMW's!

2. Destroyed transfer case (from wheel tow). This just kills me. The tow was ordered from my insurance Geico Roadside Assistance who said they will likely pay for transfer case upfront and separately from my primary claim (and I guess create their own claim against tow company?). Lets see.

Geico already authorized engine replacement and BMW ordered it (N63?).
Feeling a little lucky the damage wasnt 75%+ of car value and total loss (only has 7k miles / 16 months on 3 yr lease and I put down $10K).
Hopefully back in my car in a few weeks.
[IMG][/IMG]

This is what “barely touching the wheels” means to you?? The X7 should be able to handle that, but come on, that’s more than barely touching