Yaris Hsd..whats The Wading Depth?

[Ethanedwards]

Went through about six inches this morning.

Luckily the petrol engine was running but is there a procedure for this? Probably...don't do it!

[korat102]

I wouldn't have thought six inches depth would be a problem for any 'normal' car.

Best idea is to let someone else go first. You can then see how deep it is and see if they fall into anything. If they don't make it you can take a detour :)

If it looks deeper than your door sills, I'd be careful. What you don't want to do it get water in the air intake. If the engine sucks water into the cylinders, it's bye-bye engine. When you get a chance, take a look under the bonnet and see where the intake is. You'll know then, for next time. Water a few inches lower than the intake would probably be ok if you're careful. Official depth? Take a look at the manual...

If your guinea pig makes it across, stick the thing in a low gear so you don't stall it and just take it easy - that means reasonably slowly. Drive it like you would on ice, constant speed till you're through to the other side. Once you're committed you need to keep going so make sure you really want to do it before you start.

Low speed because you don't want to splash water up into the air intake. Keep going because once you stop it'll be harder to get going again. And if you stall the thing your engine could suck water into the exhaust resulting in a wrecked catalytic converter (if you're lucky) or water in the cylinders (followed by a bang when you try to restart it).

Whatever you do, don't follow the stupid advice I saw on a major news corporations site. They said, high engine revs so it doesn't stall, low gear, slip the clutch till you're through. Only a nut would slip the clutch like that, it'd probably burn out long before you got halfway across, then what would you do?

[Parts-King]

6 inches???? That was not your best idea of the day

The bottom of the sill on an Auris HSD is about 6 inches, the top about 10.5

As mentioned above, you are in real danger of sucking water into the engine if you drive through deep puddles like that, better to divert thank risk it

Kingo

[Ethanedwards]

^{Depth? Only came half way up the duck.....}

^{Yaris Hybrid being a CVT -How do you keep it in low gear though? Your options are P,R,N and D and B (and I've never used the B setting).}

[Ethanedwards]

6 inches???? That was not your best idea of the day

The bottom of the sill on an Auris HSD is about 6 inches, the top about 10.5

As mentioned above, you are in real danger of sucking water into the engine if you drive through deep puddles like that, better to divert thank risk it

Kingo

Indeed opposite was an old C class Merc had conked out before I got there. I'm guessing he tried to go through at speed.. I stuck to the crown of the road as much as possible.

I only went that way cos I knew the other way (I usually take) floods a lot. If it keep up I'll use my wife's SUV tomorrow.

[korat102]

You're in the same boat (!) as me with my Prius. No way to force it into any particular gear. Just keep the speed low and constant and it'll be fine. As long as you don't run into anything unseen or try to take the car swimming in stupidly deep water :)

The low gear advice for manuals is to keep the engine speed reasonably high for a low road speed. Plus, you don't really want to change gear, the loss of momentum when you disengage the clutch could get you stuck. CVT's don't have that problem.

Best advice is to simply not do it but I guess sometimes you just have to :P

[Parts-King]

^{Depth? Only came half way up the duck.....}

^{Yaris Hybrid being a CVT -How do you keep it in low gear though? Your options are P,R,N and D and B (and I've never used the B setting).}

Just keep the speed down and try not to stop. The problem in wading through any water is you do not know what lurks beneath! With the extensive flooding we have seen, part of the road may be washed away without you knowing!

Kingo

[Ethanedwards]

Washed away? Yikes never thought about that.

Thanks - good advice.

[Parts-King]

Yup washed away. When you drive through water that is only just slightly moving, as soon as you get up to the sills and it starts floating, you are stuffed without a rudder

Joking apart, that is how a lot of people get caught out, they thought it was shallow but all of a sudden hit deeper water and float off! Not likely I know but quite a few have been caught out, enter youtube twit

http://youtu.be/eqMEKA2BN7I

kingo

[Hotlush]

Just keep the speed down and try not to stop. The problem in wading through any water is you do not know what lurks beneath! With the extensive flooding we have seen, part of the road may be washed away without you knowing!

Kingo

The more likely scenario is that any drain covers will have lifted so you have a big lump of cast iron and/or a bloomin big hole in the road, neither of which you can see.

[Yolina]

I would probably go with if the road's flooded, don't drive through it - if anything you have no idea what's lurking underneath the water. I don't remember a wading depth being mentioned in the Yaris owner guide (so I would assume it's officially 0), would be nice to know though.

And this made me chuckle:

[korat102]

That's why the second best plan is to let someone else go first :)

Best plan is to find a less watery detour of course...

[Jamesbelfast]

Any object moving through water will create a bow wave - so in effect the tyres will be doing so. In other words 2" water can create a wave of 2 to 4 inches meaning you wading depth has suddenly increased a heck of a lot.

[Cyker]

Can't you lot just stick it in EV mode so the engine switches off and so there's no chance of sucking water into the air intake?

Some water may go into the exhaust but that's always going to be a danger...

I'd only cross a flooded road if I knew that road from past experience tho', and failing that, using Kingo's guinea pig idea

[Yolina]

The problem with letting someone else go first is that you have no guarantee that you'll put your wheels exactly were the other car did and for all you know, they might have just missed a piece of rock or a hole or whatever and you might not :P

[timberwolf]

I'd stay in bed!! Where I used to live the house would be surrounded by flood water from the Thames for a week at a time.

I have memories of wading through ice cold water in December. It's no fun wading along a gravel drive and an unmade road, in the pitch dark, breaking a thin layer of ice (which is surprisingly difficult to do when the water is nearly up to your knees and you're trying to keep your balance), shuffling and trying to the find the pot-holes, rocks, etc by feel because the sediment(?) in the water makes seeing to the ground impossible by torch light. Oh, I also learnt that I couldn't make improvised waders from wellies and plastic bags.