Random acts of Mother Nature
MINI 1.0 makes way for MINI 2.0
I worked on having a good attitude, and hope, as I watched my beloved MINI taken away on a very nice flatbed tow truck by Classic Car Courier. It took several days to get into a reputable shop to have it looked at after being caught in the flash flood last Thursday night, the prelude to the massive wind storm that put three quarters of a million people in the dark overnight in the Puget Sound area.
Within just a few hours we heard the news of the worst kind - the engine was hydrolocked and my car would need a new engine. I was hoping beyond hope that the fact I drove it home after going thru almost two feet of water for long distances that it would be less severe than it actually is, but my little MINI probably didn't stand a chance.
Gallows humor from the BMW online board upon hearing the engine is hydrolocked and not drivable:
Sympathetic reader: Wow, that really sucks!
Funny Man: Well, not to belabor the point, but first it sucked, and then it blew! hahaha...sorry about that.
I retraced my route with Steve and confirmed I was trapped by a center median and would not have been able to turn around and avoid the intersection full of water (West Marginal Way at the bottom of Highland Park Way). I was lucky to get it home. The shop confirmed it was probably ruined immediately and I didn't actually do further damage driving it the one mile from the bottom of the hill. So it was safe in my driveway instead of on the side of the road somewhere.
So I am scrambling around trying to find an inexpensive, running, automatic transmission car to drive in the meantime - something that I can resell as soon as I get my MINI back. Or a small pickup truck. Steve really misses the one we used to have (that got totaled, while he was in it!). We would keep a truck. We bought a Chevy Luv for $400 after buying our house and it was a little work horse and always started! It's been over 3 years since we lost it and the utility trailer behind the MINI just is not the same (according to Steve). I don't want to be ambarrassed by what I am driving, it has to have working heat, not have major body damage, and run! I have to be able to work and a rental car from Enterprise at $170 a week is going to kill me!
So most everyone has received an email already explaining what I am looking for and what I can pay. Wish us luck! We eagerly await my MINI 2.0. It will be neat having a 2003 MINI with such low miles. Altho having high miles is like a badge of honor proving how much you love driving your car. It will be strange! But 67,000 miles have just been erased from the engine and so it will last even longer!
What does "hydrolocked" mean?
From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolock):
In automotive terminology, a hydrolock is the immobilization of an engine's pistons by a liquid (usually water, hence the prefix "hydro-"). Hydrolocking occurs when liquid fills a cylinder on the intake stroke and, due to the incompressibility of a liquid, makes the compression stroke impossible. This, in turn, prevents the entire engine from turning, and can cause significant engine damage if one attempts to forcibly turn over or start the engine. Typically, connecting rods <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Connecting_rods&action=edit > will be bent, making the engine uneconomical to repair. It is relatively common when driving through floods, either where the water is above the level of the air intake or the vehicle's speed is excessive, creating a tall bow wave.
Hydrolocking is often a concern when consumers modify their engines with aftermarket intake systems (e.g. Cold air intake <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_air_intake > ). A cold air intake typically locates the filter near the bottom of the engine compartment to gain access to colder air, which can also increase its chances of ingesting water should it be submerged.
Another reason for it to occur is in the event of the head gasket cracking or "blowing", which causes the radiator coolant to mix inside the combustion chamber.
I worked on having a good attitude, and hope, as I watched my beloved MINI taken away on a very nice flatbed tow truck by Classic Car Courier. It took several days to get into a reputable shop to have it looked at after being caught in the flash flood last Thursday night, the prelude to the massive wind storm that put three quarters of a million people in the dark overnight in the Puget Sound area.
Within just a few hours we heard the news of the worst kind - the engine was hydrolocked and my car would need a new engine. I was hoping beyond hope that the fact I drove it home after going thru almost two feet of water for long distances that it would be less severe than it actually is, but my little MINI probably didn't stand a chance.
Gallows humor from the BMW online board upon hearing the engine is hydrolocked and not drivable:
Sympathetic reader: Wow, that really sucks!
Funny Man: Well, not to belabor the point, but first it sucked, and then it blew! hahaha...sorry about that.
I retraced my route with Steve and confirmed I was trapped by a center median and would not have been able to turn around and avoid the intersection full of water (West Marginal Way at the bottom of Highland Park Way). I was lucky to get it home. The shop confirmed it was probably ruined immediately and I didn't actually do further damage driving it the one mile from the bottom of the hill. So it was safe in my driveway instead of on the side of the road somewhere.
So I am scrambling around trying to find an inexpensive, running, automatic transmission car to drive in the meantime - something that I can resell as soon as I get my MINI back. Or a small pickup truck. Steve really misses the one we used to have (that got totaled, while he was in it!). We would keep a truck. We bought a Chevy Luv for $400 after buying our house and it was a little work horse and always started! It's been over 3 years since we lost it and the utility trailer behind the MINI just is not the same (according to Steve). I don't want to be ambarrassed by what I am driving, it has to have working heat, not have major body damage, and run! I have to be able to work and a rental car from Enterprise at $170 a week is going to kill me!
So most everyone has received an email already explaining what I am looking for and what I can pay. Wish us luck! We eagerly await my MINI 2.0. It will be neat having a 2003 MINI with such low miles. Altho having high miles is like a badge of honor proving how much you love driving your car. It will be strange! But 67,000 miles have just been erased from the engine and so it will last even longer!
What does "hydrolocked" mean?
From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolock):
In automotive terminology, a hydrolock is the immobilization of an engine's pistons by a liquid (usually water, hence the prefix "hydro-"). Hydrolocking occurs when liquid fills a cylinder on the intake stroke and, due to the incompressibility of a liquid, makes the compression stroke impossible. This, in turn, prevents the entire engine from turning, and can cause significant engine damage if one attempts to forcibly turn over or start the engine. Typically, connecting rods <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Connecting_rods&action=edit > will be bent, making the engine uneconomical to repair. It is relatively common when driving through floods, either where the water is above the level of the air intake or the vehicle's speed is excessive, creating a tall bow wave.
Hydrolocking is often a concern when consumers modify their engines with aftermarket intake systems (e.g. Cold air intake <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_air_intake > ). A cold air intake typically locates the filter near the bottom of the engine compartment to gain access to colder air, which can also increase its chances of ingesting water should it be submerged.
Another reason for it to occur is in the event of the head gasket cracking or "blowing", which causes the radiator coolant to mix inside the combustion chamber.
posted by Wendy Hughes-Jelen @ 10:30 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:18 AM,
Jane said…
I ended up driving through over-knee-high water on that night, too. I was in it before I saw it in the completely dark street. It steamed something fierce and the electrical system freaked out for a few days, but it doesn't seem to have any long-term damage, thank goodness (and knock wood).
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