Total nonsense... If the engine is running there is no way water will enter the exhaust...

 

How is water going to enter the exhaust when the engine is running? Its the water being digested thru the engine which causes hydro lock...

 

Thanks for the clarification!

 

What? It has nothing to do with water mixing with the oil... Its about the engine imgesting water and trying to compress it. Hydro-lock. You can compress a gas mixture.. but not a liquid.... at least not easily... The water entering the engine would not mix with the oil... it would be locked in the combustion chamber causing mucho damage..

 

Rameeti: I see you take your "words to live by" seriously!

This, and a few other NAM threads on the same subject, have really driven home the dangers of running the MINI through standing water, much more so than the owner's manual. It especially helps to know the mechanics of how the water could enter the engine. I live in an old part of an old city, where street flooding is pretty common after a heavy rain, so I've been paying attention to these discussions. Thanks, everyone!

 

Just a note, an S with a performance intake CAN get through water that was inches from the windows. It happened to me on a road in my area. I was S#^$^ing kittens when it did but I pulled her through.

This is not reccomended, but the intake does not toss the water right into the engine like on a non-S and the performance intake makes it so even more water is needed in order to cause that damage. The car WILL TRY to stop, and likely one cylinder will stop firing as with mine, but keep pushing and praying and drive FORWARD to the closest edge and like me you may get lucky and have no damage at all.

The non-S has a key design flaw in that any water that can get into the mouth of that intake that overcomes the drain on it will drop right into your engine and you know what happens next...

 

My question about car wash spray going forcefully thru the scoop, is rather off-topic, at best it's a tangent, I know...

I understand that there's no direct path thru the hood scoop to the intake and then to the heart and soul of the engine... I just was thinking of that strong horizontal spray into the scoop like happens at a touchless car wash... Without fail it makes the tach dance up and down and the engine splutters. Doesn't stall but I always think it might. I do not fear hydro-lock, at least not at the car wash.

Willing to drive AROUND 12" of water, even though I trust the manual (except about checking the oil ),
Tatt

 

it may be getting on a belt causing slipage, or it may intermitantly be getting in some of the electronics.

Also know if you hose down the intercooler while running it WILL change the sound of the engine as it is adding cooling to the air/fuel mixture and therefore the engine will sound different.

I have ran 1 Cooper and 2 Ses (2 Cooper S cars, whatever) through touch free washes and never had an issue.

Ask your service TECH (NOT ADVISOR) what may be causing this and they may well have a better answer for you.

 

You know, I should have thought of those aftermarket spray systems, before I posted that I was worried about soapy water on the intercooler . I think I can buy into the wet electronics or (less so) the belt slipping ideas...

From what I'm hearing (and thank you) I'm pretty much just not gonna worry about it, though stalling in the car wash would be lame.

Your advice about talking to a tech and not the "greeter" is well-taken,
Tatt

 

I have become friends with mine, and it has paid off well, both in a good friend and a good friend working on my car.

 

Also, from above the intake, there is a rubber seal between water directed in through the hood scoop and the actual air intake below and to the right. The rubber seal runs along the front "nose" of the engine compartment and seals against the hood liner. Likely, water going into the scoop while running is cooling the intercooler and the computer is changing the mix.

I don't know any facts about it, but I thought I heard somewhere that MINI made a design change with the location of the air intake on later models to lessen the chance of hydrolocking regular Cooper (non-S) cars. Can anyone confirm this, and what year?

 

Also, from above the intake, there is a rubber seal between water directed in through the hood scoop and the actual air intake below and to the right. The rubber seal runs along the front "nose" of the engine compartment and seals against the hood liner. Likely, water going into the scoop while running is cooling the intercooler and the computer is changing the mix.

 

One of my friends who is considering buying a 2007 MCSC asked me about this. At first, I thought it was some myth perpetuated perhaps by 350Z drivers. But, I was suprised at the multiple posting here and in the MINI2 forums about this.

But can someone just recap for me and confirm if what I understand is correct? What I understand is that due to some configuration that older MC's had allowed water to be sucked into the engine more easily than say a MCS, MCS JCW, or MCS with performance air intake.

Was this problem fixed in later years?

Does someone have photos that can point out the difference between the MC engine/intake and the MCS engine/intake that would illustrate why this can occur?

Thanks.

 

It's not a problem for us over here. They outlawed puddles in the 50's

 

The only way on ANY car that it will hydrolock is from stupidity. I would almost bet money if you hit a puddle big enough to get that much water through your filter will throw the car out of control and into something doing far worse damage. Second the intercooler intake scoop and the car wash. There is no way water from is getting into the system from the front scoop. Third, exhaust....... no no no no. Trust me, Ive had water cresting over the hood of my Jeep and it runs like a champ. The only way you can do damage that way is if you turned the engine off in water that is higher than the exhaust manifold.

 

That should put the water about 6" deep inside your MINI! Maybe in my Suburban but never in my MINI!

 

I'm worried about getting water suxed in thru the intercooler.

 

While this is extremely true, I thought I'd mention that I knew someone whose car hydrolocked because of someone else's stupidity. He was driving a VW GTI and found himself in water that he knew was getting a little too deep to drive through, so he slowed down and was going to find a way of turning around when a larger vehicle sped through the water to pass him. The wake from that vehicle toasted his engine, there wasn't much he could do. On smaller cars, I'd say just try to avoid deep water altogether if possible, you never know when other people around you are going to make an idiotic decision that might mess you up while they keep on going.

 

Very interesting, this hydro locked stuff, but has anyone considered the Mini's idiosincratic positioning of the power steering fan? That damn thing is only inches of the ground at or near the lowest part of the car in both 1st gen MC's and MCS's. Given this and the fact that water is far more viscous a medium then air is it would follow that the additional drag on a submerged PS fan would cause dome damage to it. I would bet that at the very least the fuse to the fan would blow and or the fan motor would melt. Ultimately with an an inoperational PS fan I would think the PS pump would overheat and fail. It doesn't matter if you creep or stall in water over 6" deep yourcar is going to have some expensive bills. Wonder how often this happens?

 

if you see standing water... find an altranate route. This is a rule of thumb for all cars. Don't drive through standing water. You can bend this rule if you know the road and have an idea how deep the water is... but it can be decieving so just find a different way around.

 

extremely unlikely to happen for two reasons.

first - it's sealed.
second - it has postive pressure inside. If it did have a leak and you submerged it it would blow a stream of bubbles. not suck water in.

 

Thanks, so it would blow instead of suck.

 

come on here people, if you know anything about how engine works exhaust blows out and any liquid would have to climb up the header to the engine, where there are exploding gasses exiting, so never will a car exhaust suck up water

secondly engineers think of things like this when they build cars. They arent going to put an intake right in the line of fire of rain, bugs, dirt, and small birds

and as far as the water on the intercooler if anything it should cool it down and actually help performance, so you can spin those tires inside the bay! haha its pretty much like the Nitrous sprayers used on intercoolers in other cars (mostly front mount)

 

hydrolocking is a big problem on mini's. I've seen 4 of them with my own eyes granted 3 had aftermarket cai's... but who has a stock mini on these boards any way.

 

A friend of mine hydrolocked her '05 Cooper driving too quickly through deep puddles! The intake is poorly placed on 1st generation Coopers...in fact my SA considers it a design defect! Just be careful, you'll be fine!!!