Hi,

We've had heavy rains here in Cape Town and this weekend my fiancee's brother borrowed the Ka. He encountered a car stuck in water so had to reverse to get around it. At this stage the exhaust pipe was underwater. Now the engine chugs. What is the problem? Is there a way water could've gotten into the cylinders? The puddle was pretty deep.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated (not including smacking the fiancee's brother around).

Hi Lars,

If you get water in the exhaust pipe you could be looking at a flooded Cat which could explain the chugging. The Cat will be almost solid now and so wont be allowing the car to breathe, probably increasing the exhaust gas in the engine and thus causing the issues.

If you can get the car started, you should try and keep the revs relatively high, get the engine hot and start drying the cat out, you need to let the engine warm up first though (idle) and then work to heat the exhaust once the car is up to temperature. If you rev it too gard and choke it you could end up with worse issues like blown seals and gaskets...

Thanks James, will try that :)

Let us know how it goes!

other thing to do is remove the exhaust system and pour the water out then refit it & run as previously said

Thats true Martin, if its possible then draining the water is a good place to start, running the car will help clear it down but will take a little while longer...

if the engine was hot and the water reached the cat, chances are its shattered it...if it has and cat has collapsed within itself, you will struggle to start/run the engine

would definitely get the exhaust drained, even if only jacking the front of the car as high as possible, before attempting any further starting...

highly unlikely water has entered the engine