2011 Ford Explorer Durability in High Water

10

Asked by panamafrank Jan 30, 2018 at 04:23 PM about the 2011 Ford Explorer Base

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

So this morning I had the unfortunate event of running in to a wall of water.  I
live in a 3rd world country so there was no real lighting on the roadway at
5am and obviously no safety personnel.  I reached a  point where the Ford
shut down and it through up the loss of traction warning before doing so..  
The water was up to the doors but nowhere near the head lights.  Since the
water was not rushing water I got out through the window and began
pushing it through.  The water was about 3 feet deep and was only in the
water for about 1.5 minutes to 2 minutes.  even less when you factor in the
water level decreasing as I am pushing it through.  There was water in the
floor board that I quickly removed.  I knew not to start the engine but all the
systems checked out.  Blinkers, radio, everything...  I know flood damage is
hard to predict but how much damage do we think is done?  I also need to
know because 3rd world mechanics can be very corrupt....  FYI the car is
being diagnosed as we speak.

6 Answers

Unless you specially prepare a car there are none that I have ever heard of that are made to ford streams. Water proofing and installing a snorkel are needed if you plan on doing this again. A lift kit would also help. At this point let it dry out and hope you did not suck water into the engine.

10

Thanks for your prompt response. I assure you this was not intentional. I don't want to prepare the car for it. Hell I want to try my best to avoid it. Basically they told me they will be replacing all of the fluids, removing and cleaning the interior and inspecting the wiring. Afterwards they will run diagnostics on the engine. Hopefully they don't over do it.

20

When trans gets rebuilt it will nneed to be driven 200 to 300 miles for the computer to adapt to the new trans and the reprogramming of the PCM. When put in drive it will have a 6 to 8 second delay . even with a new transmission you need to give it time . It will drive slow also when cold

10

So will the trans need to be rebuilt? Also cold weather isnt an issue here in central america.

1 people found this helpful.

I would drain the transmission fluid and replace it before I would rebuild it. I would also check out the engine first. If it is toast, changing the fluids is a waste of money.

15,925

Pull the plugs, change the oil/filter and see if the engine turns over without any water coming out of the plug holes. If it spins normally (with no compression), put the plugs back in and see if it will start. If that works, change transmission oil/filter screen and you should be ok. with disk brakes, you should have no problem with brakes UNLESS it was salt water that you were in. If it was, check you metal brake lines for bad rust every few thousand miles just in case it rust through and you end up with no brakes.

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