Who would have thought: A X-Type is not certified as submarine - and neither are most other cars...
Here is the video to proof that a X-Type does not work as submarine - watch the few seconds from timecode 4:50 onwards:


A "ford" is a "shallow" (more or less) section in a river or stream, where you may or may not be able to cross without a bridge...
There is this "ford" in Rufford, England. Apparently people drive there intentionally from far distances to wreck their car.
Watching that much stupidity actually has a strangely calming effect on me - I watched already heaps of those compilations - and now I saw that stupid person wrecking the X-Type, which I thought I have to share...

There is an endless amount of videos of stupid people driving thru that ford. Most of them fail - obviously:
The air-intake at the front of the car channels the air, then mixed with fuel into the combustion chambers (space above the pistons in the cylinders), the piston will compress the air-fuel mixture and the spark will let it explode. Air is "compressible" - water is not - thus obviously - if you channel water instead of air into the combustion chamber the piston will run with all their force against uncompressible water, and it would not be unlikely that this would tear apart the engine internally and utterly wreck the engine.

Note: Most Fords also cannot cross that ford... Pretty much the only chance to do so would be, if your car has a snorkel, like serious outback-4WDs or the Mud-Type...:


However, in all the videos taken on that Rufford ford, I only ever once saw a person, who showed to have a brain, as he did, what I would have done, if I where pressed to drive thru that ford to get somewhere urgently: Drive slowly backwards! That can work - just in case you are ever in a situation, where you have to cross a bit of water like that. But slowly, as you might loose you front bumper with speed...

PS: The German word for ford is Furt. Hence the name "Frankfurt", as this was the spot, where hundreds of years ago the Fanks found a Furt,
where they crossed the river Main...

PS2: Some, who are crossing that ford in Rufford, are also loosing their front number plates.
That I can relate to, as I did that myself speeding thru a little stream on a beach in Spain decades ago...

PS3: Water in the piston is not the only danger to the engine when having the strange notion that a car could double up as boat or submarine:
The sudden temperature change around the engine could easily warp the upper half of the engine, leading to air-gaps at the top end of the cylinders
and also lead to a wrecked engine.

PS4: Plus, there is a very high chance that water will get into the car and (if nothing else) will at least flood the carpet, and if you then don't remove the carpet, clean it with a water pressure cleaner and dry it in the sun, there is a good chance that you would have a mould-production-plant, and that follows will be a noticeable unhealth stink.

All in all, I just can't get my head around it that anyone would drive thru that ford with anything else but a car, which is going to the wreckers in the next few days... - or of course the other explanation: They are all idiots...

 

Love the Mud-Type - that Ford looks like it could furt a fjord...
and it makes me want to go buy another X type just for fun

 

Actually, most of those would have made it if they hadn't tried to blast through. The water isn't that deep.

The manuals for military Jeeps say that if you haven't got the Deep Fording Kit installed, loosen the fan belt and go slowly. Loosening the fan belt keeps it from flooding water over the top of the engine, and also keeps water resistance from dragging the engine down to a stall.

 

The problem with the X-Type is it has 2 horns that go up and over the radiator and suck the air from in front of the radiator. So, you get a build up of water in front of the car, this is going to build up in front of the radiator and cause those horns to suck the water straight to the engine. If you have a car with an open air box behind the radiator, you can bring water even up and on to the hood as the radiator and its support is providing a barrier to the water entering the engine bay and the water level inside the engine bay is maintained lower and therefore you can make it through the deep water. Granted, I also find having an air filter like an oiled K&N helps to ensure you do not suck water into the engine bay as the air filter will suck through the part of the filter that is not underwater. If you have the whole filter under, well, all bets are off. I have proven this a few times with my truck as I have an open air box and have gone through water that was coming up and on to the hood and I didn't have a snorkel system. Granted, this was water that was around 4 feet deep. So, not your normal ford.

 

The water in that ford on THAT day, when that guy ruined his X-Type, was not that deep. There are days, when the water there is deeper (as I wrote there are heaps of those Rufford ford youtube collections. Driving thru there there are 3 reasons as to why this would ruin your car: Bent valves/broken pistons, wet carpet, warped engine block due to sudden cooling with cold water from the outside.

Other thoughts I had about this nonsense: Those, who feel the urge to risk destroying their car there:
1. use a car that is about to get scrapped anyway.
2. drive backwards
3. and if you really want "your audience" to be flabbergasted: Re-route the air-intake of your airbox...: Proper 4WD have a big snorkel outside, but that is visible. Thus - just for the short time of driving thru that ford on a deep water day (with a scrappy old car to be wrecked anyway) I would feed a thick tube to the airbox and from there into the cabin, from where it draws the air without water.