Jim, depends to some degree on how heavy a foot the son has. A young friend
of mine hit a small river in Utah in his small pickup several years ago.
Water entered the air intake, caused hydrolock and wrecked the engine. I
expect a foot of water is plenty if you're going fast enough. Maybe Volvo's
intakes are well shielded? Not sounding good when you turn it over isn't
good news.
The more likely culprit and common in the old cars I drove years ago is
water getting into the electrical system. Cracked distributor caps were
common. Let 'em dry out or us a blower (vacuum cleaner e.g.) to hurry up the
drying.
I'd be sore tempted to pull the plugs, inspect for water and run a
compression test before I went to far.
Good luck.
Brian
--
> From: Jim Stone <jandkstone99@msn.com>
> Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:26:04 -0500
> To: shop talk <shop-talk@autox.team.net>, "dstone@stonerealestate.com"
> <dstone@stonerealestate.com>
> Subject: [Shop-talk] Flooding Stalled Car
>
> I am posting this for my brother, who lives in what is currently a very wet
> Chicago suburb. (And Ike hasn't even hit them yet!) His neighborhood is
> flooded and his son just drove their 2004 Volvo S80 through about a foot of
> water in front of their garage. The car stalled in the water and they pushed
> it the rest of the way into the garage. Now, the engine won't catch at all
> and, while it tuns over, it does not sound good. (For what it is worth, there
> is no evidence of oil leaking on the garage floor.)
>
> It seems unlikely to me that the water could have gotten into the engine with
> only a foot of water and I can't believe Volvo would put sensitive electronics
> where they would have been damaged by only a foot of water. For now, he is
> leaving the car in the garage and letting everything dry out before trying it
> again. In the meantime, does anyone have any advice for him or thoughts on
> what might have gone wrong?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
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