I screwed up. Car through Ford

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 14 Oct 2008, 21:06

Took the car through a ford this morning (the water variety).

Went into the ford (about 1-2ft deep) as I have done before, came out the other side to a much louder engine than normal, still seem to have plenty of power just very noisy, any ideas?

Rang the local main stealer, who didn't really have a clue, told me the air intake is really low on the 405 isn't it? well last I checked that was the 406; mine is up near the top of the rad. She ended up saying we're not technitains take it to a garage.

I think it may be the exhaust as that is in fairly poor nick anyway being, as far as I can tell, the original exhaust. Any other suggestions?

Cheers

uncle buck · Post by **uncle buck** » 15 Oct 2008, 10:21

You have to be very careful when going through any water as the engine can take in water & then suffer a hydraulic lock up....depending on the speed of the engine at the time this can write off the engine totally.

I worked on a Vauxhall Diesel engine a few years back that had went through a big puddled & hydrauliced...it had 1 snapped con rod & 1 bent like a banana, luckily the damaged rods hadn't caused any damage to the block & the engine was repairable but it's not uncommon for the block to be damaged & the engine be a total write off.

If your engine starts as normal & runs without smoke from the exhaust it maybe is just the exhaust that is blowing.

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 15 Oct 2008, 10:42

Yeah the engine starts and run normally as far as I can tell, no more smoke than is normal for the car that I can see.

I would think that if the engine had locked up it would have died at the time as the revs were quite high. Will ring a couple of garages today for a new exhaust quote and get i done this weekend and then see what happens. unless anyone can tell me I really shouldn't run the car?

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 15 Oct 2008, 10:43

If you had water in your engine, then you'd get lock and it would stall (happened to my first Xantia without any adverse effects though - bloody good engines!) and your air filter would be soaking wet.
If your filter is dry, then I'd go along with the exhaust being the likely culpret, so get it checked.

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 15 Oct 2008, 10:51

Will check the air filter at lunch, as I'm off to work now.

Why didn't I think of that though?!

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 16 Oct 2008, 18:13

Just checked the air filter (yes I know I said lunch yesterday, bit wet though) the filter is bone dry and the same colour as when it went in.

Started the engine again and got no unusual smoke at all, sounds totally normal just loud gave it a few revs, up to tubo and back a couple of times, all sounding normal. Did notice quite a bit of exhaust smoke coming into the cabin when dropping off the turbo, so I'm thinking definately the exhaust now. A friend of mine suggested the engine mounts how would I check? Underneath the car all looks normal no dents or gashes.

For all who want a laugh at my stupidity this is the same ford later in the day look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7671425.stm I went through it at about 10.30am when it looked nothing like the pictures on the bbc.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 16 Oct 2008, 18:34

First thing for the mounts I'd check would be how much your engine vibrates. If it's not much, I can't see them being a problem, otherwise you'll have to get underneath and take a look.
My gut is saying exhaust, as it would have been cooled suddenly by the water, and tugged as you went through it.
If there are any holes then water could have gotten in, changing the tone of the exhaust until it dried out, or sloshing around any rust flakes.
Could be the water pushed the exhaust off one of it's mounts too.
Course, if you'd had a Xantia and raised it's suspension up for the ford...

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 16 Oct 2008, 20:45

Engine doesn't seem to vibrate over much. the exhaust seems fairly stable bar the gaping hole near the back box (was there before the ford, put in by the MOT guy unprovable of course.)

I would like a Xantia, but there weren't any about the last time I was looking for a car, well there was but I wouldn't have paid for it even the pittance they were asking £250 for an S reg, the only thing that seemed to work was the suspension, it had a nasty collection of squeaks and rattles, a dead clutch, 4 bald tires and b****r only knows what else wrong with it.

Will get the exhaust done thius weekend or early next week and see if that helps. Normal or Stainless Steel? Obviously depending on costs what are the pros and cons?

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 17 Oct 2008, 08:37

hi Owen, it had to be a ford that got stuck

SS exhaust, lots of money, last forever... but if you intend selling car in the next year or so, I would go for a GSF mild steel one..

John

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 18 Oct 2008, 14:09

Just had a quote for an exhaust from Barnes in Pentreath, £155 fitted. Now all I've got to do is get there without asphixiating myself.

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 19 Oct 2008, 01:29

Did it have the (some say mythical) sound deadening sheet under the engine? Maybe it got ripped off by the water?

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 19 Oct 2008, 08:34

Not that I'd ever seen before, didn't know that any of the 405s did.

OwenP · Post by **OwenP** » 22 Oct 2008, 10:41

Hey guys,

Just picked the car up from having the exhaust done, the cabin definately smells better when driving now, however the extra noise is still there.

There doesn't seem to be any lack of power or extra smoke, could I have knocked the timing one or two teeth out or would that cause lots of issues?

Had a look at the engine running when I got back there may be a tiny bit more vibration than normal but hard to tell.

It seems perfectly drivable and the noise isn't too noticable outside the car (unlike before where it was outside as well), mainly its loud from the cabin.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Spud · Post by **Spud** » 30 Oct 2008, 13:18

Here's a Ford in the ford......

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 30 Oct 2008, 15:05

Poor thing