Fram saves the day

[bjb in TX from Ne]

Had a little bit of water (2.5" in 30 min, 6-7" in ~3hours) right as I was in my neighborhood going home last night (ie in the middle of a flash flood). My 93' Buick Century has
forded some flood waters before in Houston, but I turned around twice because the water looked too high to get through.

I was able to find a spot that (based on walking the neighborhood) should be passable. About 2/3 down the block, a bus came by and threw 6" of water over the hood and the Buick
died. Once the wake was gone, the water was to the bottom of the door. Tried the key and the car still cranked, but no fire. Was about to get out and wade the 2 block back to my
house in deep water, when I tried the key one more time and she started firing (and started). Got up to the intersection (slightly higher ground) and I had a one more low spot
to ford through to get through the house. During the turn, a wake reflected off a stalled van and she died again. This time she cranked and fired right up and I got the 200' to
the driveway and up and out of water. The car was running rough, but still running.

This morning I checked the fram filter and it was soaked, but not distorted, so a new filter and the buick should ride again. The hood and fire liner were full of water, and the
oil level looks good. In case your wondering, the air intake is behind the front head light in a little "box" up high, which help protect it when, in flood water, water comes
surging in around the engine. That and coupled with the fact the engine has 180k+ miles, she also probably doesn't quite pull the same amount of vacuum as a new car to breach
the filter and pull in water.

BTW the JD H was safe and sound inside the garage.

 

[Russ from MN]

Driving into flood water is not a good idea! That's how many flood victims die.

 

[bjb in TX from Ne]

Not much you can do when you are in the neighborhood and it is literally coming up all around you (again we had 2.5" in [b:654c4848f0]30min[/b:654c4848f0]). The streets in Houston are designed to "flood" as part of the hard rain management. Most people in Houston die b/c they flood the car out and then decide to stay in the car (or they dont pay attention to the flood gauges when the freeways dive down below grade). I was 30sec away from abandoning the car and wading to the house. The neighborhoods that I had traveled through before getting to mine were fine at the time, but this morning there were dozens of stalled out vehicles all over the place in the roads and on the grass shoulders by the walls in those neighborhoods too. It was a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

 

[bjb in TX from Ne]

The street showing the van I had to get by:

 

[Billy Shafer]

I am up here in Centervile. It is starting to rain again. So get ready for more.

 

[Steve@Advance]

I live in the DFW area.

A couple weeks ago we had some heavy rain, flooding.

There is a small city lake that commonly overflows when it rains.

The water was up over the road by about 6" I would guess. The city had blocked it off but people were driving around the blocks.

It was OK as long as you used caution, the water was standing, not flowing.

Then here come 3 4x4's, wanting to play!

They were charging through the water, making a big splash. They kept at for a while, one finally stalled in the water. They were all standing around it with the hood up. Finally got it started and out of the water.

It sat there running for a while, blowing a huge cloud of steam and smoke. Obviously it ingested water.

Finally most of the steam stopped, but the exhaust never fully cleared, looked like 1 cylinder was still puffing.

I suspect that little playtime made some diesel shop a lot of money!