My A8L hydrolocked. Need help.
11-10-2005, 08:27 AM
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My A8L hydrolocked. Need help.
My A8L hydrolocked about 2 weeks ago. I was driving on the freeway in Las Vegas while it was raining and all of a sudden my car shut down. I had it towed to the dealer and they told me the airfilter sucked in a bunch of water and hydrolocked the engine. $20K to get it fixed. WTF, are we not allowed to drive these cars in the rain? I didn't even drive through any major puddles. Just the water that was on the road.
I've been trying to get it fixed under warranty, but they won't cover it. I called Audi of America and they will only go off of what the dealer says. My insurance will cover the damage, but they told me I may be dropped because it is such a big claim. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should handle this issue? Should it be covered under warranty?
I've been trying to get it fixed under warranty, but they won't cover it. I called Audi of America and they will only go off of what the dealer says. My insurance will cover the damage, but they told me I may be dropped because it is such a big claim. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should handle this issue? Should it be covered under warranty?
11-10-2005, 08:40 AM
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Re: My A8L hydrolocked. Need help.
I'll be honest with you, so don't take this personal. The air intake on the A8 is mounted faily high, so to suck in enough water to hydrolock the engine, it had to be significantly deep. Warranty will not cover this and the only way is through insurance or your own pockets. Sorry to hear it happened, but you don't have a lot of options with this one.
11-10-2005, 10:28 AM
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How deep was the water that you traversed?
There's three explanations as to what happened and only one of them will give you any hope:
1) you drove in water high enough to have water enter the air intake like Kimbo said. that's high. and there's no amount of water other than a nice steady flow (not drops) as in a flooded street situation.
2) you drove in water high enough to have submerged your secondary air injection pump.
3) you drove in owner qualified non-negligent, non-abusive, wet conditions. in other words, just rainy weather. however, your seconday air injection pump was perhaps, defective in the sense that it and/or its components such as hoses and clamps, were not water proof/resistant. That caused water to collect inside the hose leading directly up to the air box. the pump turns on, and whatever amount of water that was stored inside the pump and hoses got pumped into the airbox and then the engine.
Scenario 3 would be your best case. But it would still be a stretch to prove that there was something wrong with your secondary air injection pump. btw, that pump sits low - directly behind your right fog light. it's the only alternate connection to your airbox that could have led to a hydrolock situation.
I am not claiming that you were negligent. however, it is difficult to get water into the engine (enough water to cause a hydrolock situation). the burden will not be so much on Audi as it will be with you and your insurance company to prove that scneario 3 may have been the case.
let's just say that driving through high levels of standing water is not a good idea. i've been there. i got lucky though. and i am a fool to this day - not that i had much choice as my workplace is below sea level and bouts of storms and days of rain lead to certain streets flooding
since then, i leave work on first sight of water rising any higher than a few inches. but back to that day, i can definitely say that had i driven any longer and had i not corrected the matter, i would have been in your shoes.
1) you drove in water high enough to have water enter the air intake like Kimbo said. that's high. and there's no amount of water other than a nice steady flow (not drops) as in a flooded street situation.
2) you drove in water high enough to have submerged your secondary air injection pump.
3) you drove in owner qualified non-negligent, non-abusive, wet conditions. in other words, just rainy weather. however, your seconday air injection pump was perhaps, defective in the sense that it and/or its components such as hoses and clamps, were not water proof/resistant. That caused water to collect inside the hose leading directly up to the air box. the pump turns on, and whatever amount of water that was stored inside the pump and hoses got pumped into the airbox and then the engine.
Scenario 3 would be your best case. But it would still be a stretch to prove that there was something wrong with your secondary air injection pump. btw, that pump sits low - directly behind your right fog light. it's the only alternate connection to your airbox that could have led to a hydrolock situation.
I am not claiming that you were negligent. however, it is difficult to get water into the engine (enough water to cause a hydrolock situation). the burden will not be so much on Audi as it will be with you and your insurance company to prove that scneario 3 may have been the case.
let's just say that driving through high levels of standing water is not a good idea. i've been there. i got lucky though. and i am a fool to this day - not that i had much choice as my workplace is below sea level and bouts of storms and days of rain lead to certain streets flooding
since then, i leave work on first sight of water rising any higher than a few inches. but back to that day, i can definitely say that had i driven any longer and had i not corrected the matter, i would have been in your shoes.
11-10-2005, 10:38 AM
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deep enough to hydroplain
The freeway was pretty wet. Probably an inch or two. The dealer did mention to me that the intake was down low by the head light (I now know he was referring to the secondary). I'll see what I can do with scenario 3. I was driving in a non-abusive way. There were plenty of other cars on the road. It just irritates me that other cars on the road at the time (civics, A6's, mercedes, etc...) didn't have any problem. Maybe there is a defect with my secondary air pump.
11-10-2005, 11:17 AM
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Neither intake is down low...
The main air inlet is just behind and almost flush with the headlight. The air is routed from the front grill. The secondary intake is on the back side of the air box, and is simply a flap that opens to the engine compartment above 3000 rpm. If either one of those were submerged then the water was as deep as the top of the wheel wells.
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11-10-2005, 11:22 AM
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Indeed. the pump for the secondary is, however, down low...
behind the right fog light. if that pump gets flooded, it will bring water into the air box. i hope that will clear things up for audrenaline so that he may explain this to his dealership.
