Driving in heavy rain/puddles? Help!

[ThumperMCS]

It is basically been raining hard all day here in LA and tonight coming back from dinner, I drove through extremely heavy rain and standing water on the road. While it was quite a bit of water, I have driven through deeper puddles before in my MCS with no problem....it could not have been more than 5" at most. However, this time after driving through the water, the car almost stalled and it seemed the car went into some sort of "safe mode." The car would not go over 2000rpm and the SEL and EML lights were on. I managed to turn into a parking garage, shut the car off, opened the hood to see if my intake had gotten wet. My intake was completely dry so I don't think any sort of moisture made its way into the engine. I restarted the car and it ran fine, but the SEL light remains...but the EML light is now off. Do you guys just think the light needs to be reset and the code cleared? If i actually caused any damage the car wouldnt have started again, right? I'm worried!!

[Outlaw818]

Oh man tell me about it... i live in Glendale which is right next to LA and i was driving and the same thing happened with me when i went in a puddle of water... i didnt get any lights on or anything but the car seemed fine after a minute or two...

[DaFlake]

Ugh, I have heard of the dreaded puddle of death. If your intake is dry and the car is running fine other than the light, the car my have thrown a fault code. Take it to the dealer and see if it can be reset. Keep us posted. Good luck.

["Megan"]

I just happened to be reading the Driver's Manual on the weekend, while I was being the passenger instead of the driver. It actually says not to take your car into water over 1 foot deep and if you have to still take it through water less than 1 foot deep, to do so at walking pace.

So, there you go, a bit of trivia I never thought I'd use - until we got caught in an absolute hammering rain storm on Sunday afternoon here just out of Sydney.

So it sounds like you guys will be okay. Just a bit scary though!!!

Cheers
Avril...

[ThumperMCS]

Glad to report that the SES light is now off and everything is fine! Looks like the ecu cleared the fault on its own...phew! Now I just need some new tires...bald runflats + heavy rain isn't mixing too well :-/. Tomorrow the run-flats come off and Goodyear F1 GS-D3's go on! My car will be happy.

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThumperMCS

Glad to report that the SES light is now off and everything is fine! Looks like the ecu cleared the fault on its own...phew! Now I just need some new tires...bald runflats + heavy rain isn't mixing too well :-/. Tomorrow the run-flats come off and Goodyear F1 GS-D3's go on! My car will be happy.

Something probably got a little damp and needed to dry off. Glad to hear it is ok.

[Porco Rosso]

Quote: Originally Posted by Megan

It actually says not to take your car into water over 1 foot deep and if you have to still take it through water less than 1 foot deep, to do so at walking pace.

And for the benefit of those who might have this problem in the future, let me add that walking pace is much slower than you think it is. 10mph is too fast. 5mph...still too fast. 4mph is OK, but pushing it...better try for 3 or even 2. The slower the better.

You should be creeeeeeeeeping through the water, otherwise that lovely, low and shapely front end of your MINI is going to push a miniature tsunami wave of water high enough to flow into your intake. And that would be baaaaaad news.

I lived for 3 years on the far side of a low-water crossing that flooded in almost every rain storm, so trust me on this one. I have seen the vehicular casualties that result from driving too fast into the water. I have driven the 10 miles out of my way to avoid stalling my own car.

Slow it way down...your MINI will love you for it.