Car shut off driving through a deep puddle, will not start

Hi RTGirl,

It depends on what it is doing. Can you give me a little more detail on what the engine does when you try to start it? Also, can you get me just the last 8 of the VIN? I am getting a couple options on electrical information and depending on where this goes, I want to make sure I am giving you the correct information.

Let me know this information and we can go from there. Thanks

Okay. This sounds like you have water intrusion in some of the electronics. It is a good thing that the engine turns over but due to this we will need the codes in it. That should point us in the right direction.

I expected you to say that it just clicks and this would mean the engine is hydro-locked. The fact that it turns over is a good thing. However, we need to get the codes and see if anything is preventing the start.

With the vehicle being so new, I would suggest taking it to a dealer. The reason is, if you had water that high and the engine shut off you may have issues past getting it started. Clearly this will not be covered under your warranty but you can submit it to your insurance. Once they have a documented issue and cover whatever the dealer finds, you can submit subsequent claims against it if there are more issues. If you don't do this and you happen to get it started, then the dealer will most likely find the damaged components due to water and they will not warranty them and your insurance will not cover them either because there was no initial claim. This will leave it to you to pay for.

The other thing that you need to think about since this vehicle is so new that if you try to repair it or take it to an independent shop that you are not using OEM parts and this will raise eyebrows as well if there are more issues in the future.

My point in all of this, is I have seen many people get stuck with large bills because something like this happened and they tried to conceal the issue. Unfortunately, there are many signs that show this type of damage that once they are found, the dealer may reject all repairs in the future.

Let me know if you can get the codes and we can go from there or if you are going to take it into a dealer. Thanks

Wise choice. This is what insurance is for. Just tell call them and tell it was damaged due to flooding or high water that you had to drive through. Most insurance will cover this whether it was your fault or not.

Let me know if I can assist.

Any time. Please come back to 2CarPros when you need info in the future. Thanks.