Kagirl wrote:I had a bad moment yesterday - I was on the way to work in the pouring rain, hit a huge puddle which sprayed right over my little Ka and then the Ka started to stutter and jerk and then stalled completely in the middle of the road when I had to stop at a busy tee juction! I panicked like mad trying to get it to start but it wouldn't go, I was in tears in the end, all the traffic beeping me I just kept trying and trying - eventually thank god it started but I was in such a panic as I drove away I stalled it again! (my boot slipped on the clutch) the car was completely steamed up and I was so panicky it was awful and I was desperate for a pee ! Once I got to work and had a coffee and used the loo I calmed down a bit but I will definitey avoid deep puddles in future!
How deep was the water? Generally speaking, if the water comes up as far as the centre of the car's wheels you're going to have trouble. If it looks deeper, best not try to go through it.
It is possible to get through water that's not too deep, as long as you don't try to go to fast. If you try to go through it at speed you will probably splash any pedestrians nearby with water, you could lose control of the car as the wheels could lose traction when you hit the water, and you could get water all over the engine which will mean more likely than not that you also get electrical components wet and that in turn means that the car will start misfiring, then stop and could be difficult to start again until it dries out a bit.
Take it relatively slowly and you should get through, although it's better to drive around the puddle if you can rather than to drive through it. Another reason for taking it slowly is that you don't know if there are any big potholes under the water.
If the water is deep enough to reach the engine's air intake (and some of them are lower down than you would think), don't even think about it. You run the risk of damaging the engine if water gets drawn in and, as engines aren't cheap to repair, if it's an old car it's next trip might be to the scrapyard.
Oh yes - and the performance of the brakes can be affected by immersion in water too, so lightly apply them a couple of times after you get to the other side to make sure they're working properly.
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