[An04Prius]

I read an article by click&clack today about cars getting severe engine damage, from water being drawn in through the air intake, when driving thru puddles.

The point was that some cars/vehicles have the air intake close to the ground, and are subject to this costly condition called :shock: "hydrolock" :shock: which will ruin the engine. One of their recommendations is to know where your vehicles air intake is.

Where is the air intake on the 2004-07 generation Prius located ?

 

[Ct. Ken V]

Don't worry!! It may look like the intake tube goes downward as it leaves the air cleaner body, but the eventual end opening is actually right up inside the top of the passenger-side fender (USA passenger side) just behind the passenger-side headlight. That's the little recess area where some of the Prius drivers would stow their dipstick wiping rags that would wind up inside the air cleaner body causing air starvation to the engine & some of the reported highway-speed shutdowns that the media got ahold of to discredit the reliability of the Prius.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

[An04Prius]

thanks Ct. I found it with your directions. 8)

 

[Phoenix]

Hydrolock ICE Damage

Hydrolock isn't caused by splashed water from driving through puddles. It usually comes from submerging the air intake and sucking water into the engine. Water doesn't compress like air, and when the combustion chamber is full of water, excessive pressure may abruptly stall the engine and/or crack the engine block.

If you are driving in water deep enough to submerge the air intake and completely fill the combustion chambers, you probably have more problems to worry about than just blowing the engine. I would think you should be concerned about water coming in through the doors and windows and perhaps trying to decide whether to stand on the hood or roof to await rescue.

I have exaggerated the above to make a point, but in Arizona we have a "stupid motorist law" for fools that try to drive through flooded washes, etc. that have been closed. If they drive around barricades and aren't swept away and drowned, they have to pay for their own rescue. See article below:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... d1118.html

Thus, it seems like hydrolock is a needless concern for the average motorist with a little common sense.

 

[David Beale]

Yes, and I did get quite a kick out of the "depth gauges" on the underpasses in Arizona. :shock:

 

[richard schumacher]

That's the little recess area where some of the Prius drivers would stow their dipstick wiping rags that would wind up inside the air cleaner body causing air starvation to the engine & some of the reported highway-speed shutdowns that the media got ahold of to discredit the reliability of the Prius.

Are you serious? There are morons who store rags inside an engine compartment? Good gravy.

 

[Ct. Ken V]

Yah, Rich,

I recently saw a video clip of an engine compartment fire (I don't remember if it was a link from somebody here at PriusOnLine or a news item I saw on a TV newscast). You should have seen all the stuff the fire dept pulled out from under the hood of that packrat's car. Among other things there was clothing & even a one gallon fuel can full of either diesel or gasoline (I don't remember which)!!!

As far as the dipstick rags I mentioned, you've been a member of this group longer than I have, so I'm sure you would have seen the post that mentioned one Prius driver who couldn't understand why the rag that he had stored previosly was no longer in that little recess. So he got a new rag, checked his oil level, & stored that rag in the same little recess again. This senario kept happen'g until his car died & he had it towed into the dealer & the mechanic found 5 or 6 rags in the engine air filter box.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

[ChasSuitt]

:roll: Quote Ct. Ken V: "...mentioned one Prius driver who couldn't understand why the rag that he had stored previosly was no longer in that little recess. So he got a new rag, checked his oil level, & stored that rag in the same little recess again."

Similar experience in the 1950's on my VW Beetle. A mechanic left a shop rag in the engine compartment. It was sucked into the engine air intake for the air-cooled VW engine resulting in the necessity for an engine overhaul at the dealer's expense.

:roll: DUH... The engine compartments is *NOT* a storage area.

 

[David Beale]

I always have kept a rag under the hood of all my vehicles. I've never had a problem, but some use of the brain must be done when choosing the location. This last is the probable cause of problems, as brain use is currently rare.

Of course I currently drive a SUV so take my comments with that in mind.

 

[LowCO2]

Re: Hydrolock ICE Damage

I have exaggerated the above to make a point, but in Arizona we have a "stupid motorist law" for fools that try to drive through flooded washes, etc. that have been closed. If they drive around barricades and aren't swept away and drowned, they have to pay for their own rescue. See article below:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... d1118.html

Thus, it seems like hydrolock is a needless concern for the average motorist with a little common sense.

I think Virginia needs to enact a Stupid Motorist Law. Was watching WVEC-TV in Norfolk this A.M. during live coverage of the Nor'easter. The reporter was standing at a flooded intersection telling people how many cars had already been towed that morning. In the background a driver in a Toyota pickup drove into the flooded intersection and promptly hydrolocked.

Paying for your own rescue would seem to be good incentive to prevent further acts of stupidity.