I had to go through a large puddle yesterday, probably 10-12 inches deep, but at the time I entered it I did not know it was that deep.

Anyway, the front sport bumper must have forced the water upwards, as it came up over the front of my hood. I was only going 10-15 miles an hour, as it was in a parking lot, but as soon as the water came up over the nose, the engine died.

Since it would not start at all after that, I called roadside assistance. They sent a tow truck and took it to the dealer, who then called me and said I should contact my insurance company as I have some bent valves and possibly need to pull the engine or replace it altogether!!!!

If the design of the car is such that you can ruin your engine from going through a puddle that any other car could go through, then they should cover it. I watched car after car go through the same one, none of which had the same problem I did.

The service manager was so rude about it too, he said I must have submerged the car. Well since not a drop of water had come in the interior, it was proof I had not submerged it. The engine shut off while I was still in the puddle, and I was able to open my door without the water coming in, as it was a few inches below the bottom of the door.

And no, I did not have any kind of aftermarket cold air intake, just the stock airbox and filter. The "power scoop" just in front of the air filter seems to make it pretty easy to let water into the engine, as the drain hole at the bottom is not very big.

So my 06 Coupe may need a new engine.....because of a puddle.....I am so furious.....

 

Very strange. I go through a huge puddle near the Newark airport every time it rains and have not had a problem.

Of course the water has never come over the hood either.

 

WOW... I don't blame you for being furious.

It doesn't surprize me that Infiniti is trying to dodge the issue....
This the first I've heard of this with the OEM box.
Too bad you didn't have some pics of the G in the puddle

 

That's what your camera phone is for!

 

I guess I was lucky

 

Sorry to hear about that. When water goes over your hood that is not a good thing either way. Hope everything works out for you.

 

Yeah, sorry to hear about this. I hope they end up covering it.

You should talk to Infiniti consumer affairs.

 

damn thats messed up........sorry to hear

 

With the way the air inlet is setup, if you're going forward and water splashes in through the front grille.... unfortunately, it's going to be forced right into the air box. That has to be one huge puddle though for the water to splash that high and also for that much volume of water to go into the airbox to the point where the car actually sucked in solid water and didn't instead pull in the lighter air which was surrounding the water.

I haven't heard too much about people hydrolocking these cars with teh stock airbox, so it doesn't look too good for you that Infiniti would cover this repair.. but hopefully things work out in the end.

Some cars are very problematic in terms of hydrolocking with the OEM design, such as those new Saturn IONs and Chevy Cobalts(Same engine and intake design) but I don't consider our cars to fall into that category.

 

Yeah. If a wall of water went over the hood, most likely the air intake would have sucked in the water and locked the motor.

Did a truck pass you up and splash water over your car? Or was a wave of water coming towards you as you were driving? 12" of water is A LOT of water. Especially for a car as low as ours.

 

how then can our cars go through a touchless car was that essentially uses a pressur washer directly onto the front of the car?

 

Why hasn't the 10-15MPH triggered a response from anyone? The situation sucks but I think if you slowed down to a crawl you would never of had a problem.

 

Thats only a small spray of water, driving through a deep punndle will force large amounts of water into the intake box. Also i thought the thing under the stock box was there to collect water b4 it goes into the engine , and i also thought the collecter below the stock G-tube was there to prevent water from entering the engine?????
Good luck with gettting your car repaired, and hopefully you wont have to go through insurance .

 

A pressure-wash isn't submerging the intake by a long-shot.

I have a feeling that we're not getting the entire story. 10"-12" of water? That's a lot to take in a sedan. And 10-15MPH? Through that deep of water?

There's only so much the warranty should cover. Clearly, this ranks up there with not checking the oil. Sure, it should be fine, but you still have some owner obligation to check/maintain it. Driving through such deep water is along the same lines. Simply put, you made a big mistake by heading into a puddle of unknown depth in a really low-slung sports car with the intake at the top of the grille.

I think it was a combination of too deep and too fast, as indicated by the wake of water that came over your hood.

FWIW, submerged could be used to describe what happened to the engine... ...as in the intake was submerged. IMO, interior condition and the possibility that the entire car was submerged isn't relevant. It's apparent that didn't occur. But what also seems apparent is that the engine (more importantly, the intake) did get submerged. That intake point is well above 10"-12" from the ground. A short spray of water or a reasonably deep puddle (taken at slow speeds) shouldn't pose much of a problem.

Not that it's going to make you feel any better, but this is the first story I recall of hydrolocking the motor with the OEM intake. I know it's happened with the super-low cold-air intakes, but the OEM intake box is pretty well sealed and the intake point is fairly high. I'm certain Infiniti might see fit to cut you a reasonable deal, if you're nice and own up to your part in this, but I don't see how this could be fully covered by warranty... ...under legitimate conditions.

 

sorry to hear and thanks for the heads up. ill be careful next time i drive through a puddle