Here’s what not to do if your car gets stuck in floodwaters

A Florida man tagged Toyota in a recent post lamenting the loss of his father-in-law’s 2004 Tundra pickup truck. After 350,000 miles, the man blamed the failure on storm surge entering the engine. Commenters were quick to point out that things might have been salvageable had he not started the truck.

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“My father-in-law purchased this truck new in 2004 and put 350,000 miles on it. The storm surge from Hurricane Helena was the only thing that could take it out. This truck was a real workhorse. RIP,” Brett Herrington said on Facebook.

More: Hurricane Helene destroys 672 vehicles at a Kia dealership in Florida

Along with the text, he posted a video of the truck spraying water as it sprayed from its exhaust pipe. The audio in the clip clearly indicates that something isn’t quite right in the engine. It’s unclear if the truck drove through floodwater or if it simply got stuck deep enough in the floodwater that water entered the intake.

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Harrington did seem to indicate that the truck was indeed parked in the water and not driven through. In another review, he mentioned leaving it in salt water for eight hours. This message was in response to another person saying they would keep the Toyota Tundra on the road.

They say, “All you have to do is drain the oil with a new oil-pull spark plug, prime the new spark plug, and crank it up.” In fact, this is a huge key. If the vehicle has just been parked when water enters the engine, it can be saved without extensive work.

Removing the spark plug provides a safe place for water to drain during the starting process. Changing the oil to fresh oil ensures that the engine is properly lubricated and the potential for contamination is very limited.

If there’s any obvious lesson here, it’s this: Don’t start or run your car when there’s water in the engine. Since water is virtually incompressible, it can cause catastrophic engine failure when located in the cylinder. It bends valves etc, which is a quick way to require an entirely new engine, as was the case with the Herrington.

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Photo Credit: Brett Harrington | H/T Tire Meets Road