A flash rainstorm led to flooding of a dip in the road that killed the engine. Luckily the car came to a stop out of the flood, as can be seen. Electrically it is fine, but the engine wouldn't even hunt at starting.
I had to have it towed to my house. The tow driver advised me to let it dry out tomorrow and try the engine in the evening to see if it turns over but if not immediately responsive to stop and get it the mechanics.
Is this reasonable or should I have it towed to the garage for a full check without doing anything else?
Thanks for suggestions

P.s. On a very positive note, the Brookline, MA police department were responsive and superb at ensuring we were safe and looked after myself and the other stuck driver as well as one could hope for

 

Simple , towed straight to the garage. Don’t risk it as it isn’t just your 15yo $3000 Corolla.

 

The air filters on the F-Type are mounted low in front of the front wheels. You do not want water sucked into the engine! It is best NOT to try to start the engine until the filters have been removed and checked for water intake. This might be a job for your dealer.

 

Maximum depth of water listed in the owners manual is 6”.
DO NOT START THE MOTOR!
Pull the spark plugs ASAP and spin the water out of the cylinders, then hit them with a bit of fogging oil. Suck the oil out of the crank case, if there is any signs of water then put fresh oil in, warm up the motor and change the oil again. Mechanically, the engine will be OK if you didn’t and/or don’t bend a con rod when you hydro locked it.
Electrically, it might be fine but the problems won’t show up for a while. Takes time for water intrusion gremlins to do their magic. I’d file a claim ASAP and then you can always do a continuing claim down the road.

 

Sorry about the Jag.
Seems like unfortunately you hit the jackpot with over 3.5 inches of rain yesterday in Brookline.
We only got about 2 inches here in Scituate.
Having had issues with a submerged outboard, I concur totally with all prior comments except the one from the tow truck guy!!
Definitely do not try to start the engine. Trailer it to your nearest JLR dealership and let them check it before starting.
Make sure JLR does not try to start it either until they have checked for waterlogged cylinders.
I can highly recommend Jaguar Boston which may well be your closest dealer

 

Many thanks everybody. Exactly why I thought to check here before taking any action.
Would you specifically recommend the dealership over an independent Jaguar garage?
I was considering Jaguar Boston vs. Samuels

 

I do not know Samuels.
If you have dealt with them before it might be the better choice.
One-on-one service rather than the Jag Boston machine.
You can make sure they open up the cylinders before doing anything that might result in more damage.
I do not know whether it is possible to turn over the engine (by hand) without using the starter motor?
Also, it might be easier (and cheaper) for them to work on the car outside without needing to somehow tow it to their upper floor workshop.

 

^^^^^ Absolutely what he said!

 

If it won't even try to fire, either you have an electrical issue or you hydro-locked and blew gaskets/ valves or something else. If the engine was up to temp, likely the water vaporized and is gone. Having hydro-locked and engine, if the engine turned over easily it is either got no compression or more likely you have a sensor or sensors that are ruined. If the car is sat for a while after the incident, the water inside it is know probably leaked down into the oil or vaporized back through the intake or condensed in the intake. Either way you need a QUALIFIED mechanic to look at it and if you noticed I put qualified in capital letters. I am not an expert in this, but I know what can happen.

I wish you you all the best and hope it is just water in a electrical connection!!

 

Many thanks. It is now at the dealership. They are pessimistic based on their post experience but will take it apart and see if it can be fixed - I truly hope so.
I will update

 

Like I said earlier, best of luck!!

 

Hope the engine can be saved, but worst case, won't this event be covered by your insurance?
If not already done I would file a claim ASAP and hold on spending much until the insurance is on board.

 

I was following this thread and was curious what the dealer found. Was it easily fixed, or was there any mechanical damage? I was curious as it appears low water flooding is a common issue with the F-Type (see a lot of them at salvage yards tagged with low water flood damage) before I further pursue purchasing one, I'd like to know how fatal or fixable a situation like yours typically is if I someday unfortunately encounter it. I live in an area where my commute consists of many back roads and on very rainy days, usually causes severe puddling in locations that could easily cause this problem with a car that has the air intake so low to the ground. Thanks.

 

Hi
sorry for not following up - it took a far longer time than it should have to resolve things. Between insurance and the dealership issues dragged on.
Sadly the engine was hydrolocked and the insurance declared it a write off. I considered buying it back and having a new engine put in. However, after taking with some Jaguar mechanics, concerns about evolving problems that I wasn't aware of that insurance would then not cover just made it to much of a risk. Very sad as it was otherwise in great condition. Even a week later the air conditioning came straight on as did every other non engine component. I had quite the battle with insurance to get a fair minimum value though in the end I did.
​​​​​​I ended up replacing it with a midnight blue 2010 Cayman 987.2 S, another car that I have always wanted - this by way of trying to assuage the loss. I doubt that it would fair better in such a "puddle" but I know that I've become much more paranoid and defensive driving in heavy rain since. I guess though it depends how deep the "puddles" get

 

This damage from driving through deep water (or what passes for deep water when you are driving a sports car) is by no means a “Jaguar issue”. It is instructive to watch the English youtube videos of car drivers attempting to sail through fords (small f). You’ll be amazed at the variety of cars that come to a sudden (and probably permanent) stop.

 

That said, I bet a Cayman would fare *much* better in deep puddles than our cars

 

Thing is though, the actual air intakes in our V8 and V6 F-Types - the snorkels - aren't all that low at all. with their openings just above the level of the mid-grille horizontal bar.
It's the filter boxes which sit low down well below the level of the snorkel intakes.
Those filter boxes look pretty water-tight to me, with the top and bottom halves fixed together with 8 or 9 small bolts/screw, BUT I wonder how many are driving around with the two halves of the filter boxes not properly/fully screwed together?
I say that because when I first undid one filter box to check the condition of a filter I really struggled to get the two halves to line up properly again, I spent around 40 minutes wiggling and jiggling the two halves before I got it right. Then a year or so later I did it all again on both sides this time when I fitted new filters, and that time the two halves of each box went back together easy peasy. Well so I thought! When I then had the Mina Gallery lower intake system fitted a couple of years after that I immediately spotted that one of the boxes was done up right but the other one was not, the top and bottom halves were misaligned causing a sizable gap of around 2 mm, plenty big enough to let heaps of water in if I had driven though a deep puddle (which luckily I had not). I had no idea I had done this as it felt and looked right when I put the filter boxes back together.
Point is, I suspect there may be a number of F-Types out there driving around after an air filter change (either DIY or JLR dealership or other shop, makes little difference) because it's real easy to get it wrong and leave a fair old gap in the filter box.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry to hear they couldn't fix it an it had to be declared a total loss, but glad you got something also enjoyable to drive out of the whole mess.. Did the dealership say the motor was unrepairable, or did they just submit the cursory "Welp, water in the motor...gonna need a new one." response? I've seen many hydrolocked motors repaired, especially ones that had no real mechanical damage other than just ingesting enough water to stop it. From all I've heard and read, the process of ridding water from the cylinders and anywhere else it made it into like the oil is a little tedious but not technically difficult or very costly if done soon afterwards. If it was a non-insurance, or warranty related work, maybe they would have tried repairing it? Well, not the dealer, but any experienced and knowledgeable mechanic. I'm always surprised by dealers who's answer to most internal issues with motors is to simply replace them, but I guess I shouldn't be. Saves them time and labor better spent on easy $1500 brake jobs I guess. That and they can get a much bigger return with the inherent new engine markup and hideous labor costs. It's what the ASE certification is for ya know.

That said, If I do get an F-Type soon. I'm going to try better protecting the airbox against possible water intrusion or even relocate it higher if possible. There's always solutions.

 

Sorry, meant to say them, as there are obviously two air/filter boxes.