Hello TBHP,
I have been an avid reader for years now , but I only managed to get an approval now. This is my first post and I'd like to get inputs from our fellow forum members regarding an incident that has happened to our beloved car recently.
It has been raining heavily in Chennai over past few days and my dad had to run for an errand and this is when he took out our Figo Aspire TDCI ; unfortunately ended up stalling the car in a road that had water till almost the level where the doors open/shut. The Engine stall happened on its own and not possibily because of the car being a manual transmission one where the driver could have disengaged the clutch from a higher gear unintentionally ( My dad has a driving experience close to 20 years and he is certain that the engine stalled on its own ). It seemed that there was a car going ahead of him and he was convinced he could make it as well at this water level, but unfortunately ended with this uneventful incident.
At this point , the water did not enter the cabin yet. The ingress into the cabin happened when it was realized that the car was in the middle of the road and my dad decided to step out to call someone to push the car towards a side for now - The car later was pushed and parked at a side ( but still in water ).
He called me as the car had stalled and he didn't want to crank the vehicle. I reached the spot as soon as possible and saw that the car had stranded at a place where the water level was just below the bumper fog lights when looking from front and ; at enough level for the water to enter the cabin from the side, upon closer inspection. ( To give a more concise idea - Lower half of the wheels were submerged in water).
We managed to push the car to the end of the road where the road is high and has no water ; we stopped there to clear out the water from the cabin with a mug.
The car is Figo Aspire TDCI 2018 Diesel with 52K Kms on the ODO ; In its 4th year of EW (I do understand water wading consequences are not covered under warranty anyways ).
Quickly called up Ford RSA - they informed me that they would charge 2900/- for towing. Realized i also have RSA from ACKO and so I called them up and had the car towed to FASS for free of charge ( Although the driver from Alliance Assist asked for an extra 250 due to pouring rains ).
I do not have Engine Protect Cover and I'm worried if the engine had any possible water ingress . The car did not show any problems when the electrics were switched on as I noticed the radio turned on and I had to immediately shut it ; Also automatic cabin lights and the follow me home headlamps )- And.. No, the AC was off thankfully).
For now , I will have to wait until Monday to visit the FASS on the next steps and shall report back here for next inputs.
Meanwhile , I'd like to understand from our dear Team BHP Members , what could be the extremity of the damage here. I understand that not cranking the vehicle at this stage is extremely crucial ( which we did not ) - But i'm worried about the fact that the car STALLED from running which makes me think if the water did have its ingress into the engine or any other crucial place .
Apologies as for some reason my phone did not save the picture of the car in flooded road when I clicked , however the only picture I have is the view showing water level with the door open.
Update on 29 November
At the time of drafting this post , I hadnt heard from FASS yet. However , As I write this now, I have been to the service center already and I got to know from the service advisor that there are traces of water found in the engine oil based on his analysis
![Frustration](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/Frustration.gif)
. He pulled out the dipstick and could tell this just by getting the oil onto his fingers based on viscosity. ( I couldnt tell the difference as I do not have much understanding of how engine oil is supposed to look otherwise)
Here are the next steps directed to me by the SA to proceed further.
1. Raise a claim with Acko - ( This is finished already ).
2. Once a surveyor is assigned , most probably "they will rotate the engine turbine manually to understand if there is any resistance as the first step in diagonosis." - Exactly as I heard from the SA today.
I had put the same set of questions to the SA as well. However , he was unclear on whether or not Insurance would cover this ( based on his experience ) ; also unclear on what might need to be changed to fix the problems in the worst case scenario.
I would really appreaciate it if our fellow Team BHP members could throw some light here.
Thanks!