Celica Forums General Discussion General hydrolock chance question

I have a question about my chances of hydrolock when the rain pours... cause even though everyone says that you need to be in a puddle like 2 feet deep blah blah, it doesn't quite make sense to me. It rained a little bit a couple days ago and i realized something. When the ground is wet (not even puddles present), i noticed that when cars are driving normally, the water from the ground splashes up. SO it's shooting up into the wheel well even when cruising. After i saw that, i realized that if i drive on the highway... i am screwed. Because once in a while, when it's raining hard, sometimes a truck will just pass by on the highway and it will splash up water into my windshield that i can't see anything. So... if there's that much water coming up into my wheel well, isn't there a pretty good chance of hydrolock whenever it rains hard and i go on the highway? Hm.. just wondering cause it's been raining a lot here and i dont know if i should risk taking my car on the highway..

Oh yeah, imagine just enough water on the ground to hydroplane... youll have an idea how much water im talking about.

I think the chances are very slim for this (cars splashing water on you, thereby causing hydrolock) is very rare. The only time I've ever gotten close to a hydrolock with my AEM CAI was when I went through a touchless car wash. I didn't turn off the car, just left it in drive while on the brake. While the water was jetting on my front in, I felt the engine begin to bog. I assume it was from the tremendous amount of water being rushed into the area around the intake. After completion of the wash, I pulled out slowly, and eased around for a while and never felt any more bogging. So it seems to be ok.

If you are legitamately worried, when water is about to be splashed on your car, release the accelerator. This should close off the throttle body, thereby preventing water from being sucked in.

Tape up the holes in your wheel wells when you know its gonna rain. Also, look in the install section about other ways to guard the vents in the wheel well

oh yeah i think i wasn't clear enough. what was i saying was... if there's so much water and impact (from the speed of car) that the water shoots up like that onto ME but a different car.. think about how much water is actually being splashed around in my own wheel well.

Just avoid the chance of hydrolocking and get a damn SRI!! Sure a CAI may give you a little more power but in my opinion a few hp isnt worth it.

I've driven on highways when it was pouring (almost flood weather) i was worried about the same thing but nothing ever happened... so i think you're safe

heh thanks for the inputs. people were saying you need to be submerged into water for it to suck up and get hydrolocked.

Just tape up the holes on the inside of your wheel well on that side (I used black duct tape, but there are other methods). This will prevent your own wheel from splashing water onto your intake. And whenever someone passes me and they're shooting up a whole lot of water, I just shift into neutral and cost until they're a little further ahead (and I'm clear of their spray), then get back on it.
But really, you shouldn't suck up too much water in that situation anyway, unless maybe you're at a high RPM (in which case no one should be passing you! )

my car got hydrolocked yesterday. i live in Jakarta Indonesia, and the water was about half the wheel high. the car just went dead

I got it towed to an authorised workshop and the flush out all the Oils and Engine. you won't believe how much water got sucked by the AEM filter. they even filled the Intake and also the machine.

Lucky everything is ok now. so best bet is not to drive when there is any floodings...

yeah same with me.

what are the chances if you no longer have the bottom engine plastics? or if you have an aftermarket front bumper? (like the blitz)

i don't have the plastics and i have a blitz bumper and i haven't had a problem yet... we had a really bad rainy summer last year too..