We got a ton of rain on Saturday night....over 6 inches in a 2.5 hour period at one point. Roads turned into ponds like I've never seen here since 1985 when I moved here.

So, I go pick up my buddy that night and we are heading to our local watering hole in my F-150. We came upon a huge puddle under a highway overpass. I was going to turn around and go a different, MUCH longer way. Then a set of headlights came from the other side of the puddle. He came right though it, slowly, but made it no problem. It was a newer Jeep Grand Cherokee, which have like what....9 inches of ground clearance? We look at each other, and I said "Screw it...that little Jeep made it, we'll be fine!"

You probably see where this is going. I didn't take the same line as the Jeep had. Suddenly it got VERY deep. I didn't have the foresight to put it in 4X4, but somehow it kept on chugging. The wheels were slipping and grabbing, but we kept moving forward. Then the exhaust went silent....because the tailpipe was under water, but we were moving forward. Then suddenly it all went pitch black ahead. The damn water was washing up OVER my headlights! I thought we were done. Somehow, she kept chugging forward. For about 10 seconds, I couldn't see a damn thing, but we kept chugging along at a crawl. I held the throttle at about 1/2 and it just kept slipping/grabbing. I wanted to try to steer over towards the line the Jeep had taken, but I was afraid that ANY slightest change in throttle/steering would halt my forward progress. Then just like that, the lights came back above water and all I could see was brown water everywhere. I felt traction coming back fully, and heard the exhaust again. Whew! I was very lucky.

We both cheered in disbelief that we made it through that. Amazing. So I spent Saturday changing the oil and diff fluids. The trans. fluid looks bright pink and smells fine. I KNOW I sucked in water because the air filter was soaked and all 3 of the little noise cancelling chambers on the intake tract were filled with water. Dried it all out and the truck drives fine.

HOWEVER....something up front, one of the accessories, is making a noise now. It sounds exactly like the older Ford powere steering pumps from the 80s/90s...that sort of mechanical "buzz" sound they make. It seems to be coming from the AC compressor. The iddler pulley is really the only other thing close to it.

Any ideas what the sound may be? Anyone ever run through really high water and then get a similar sound?

 

count your lucky stars man.

I had an old Bronco lifted on 35" tires that I swamped where water was running into the open windows. like you, I got lucky and nothing got in the intake during my stupidity...that and I was kinda sorta floating


take the truck to the local spray & wash. then spray the ever-living **** out of the entire front end of the motor. You've likely got some nasty dirt/mud crap on all the rotating surfaces of your drive belt & pulleys.

be sure to not spray the COP's, battery or anything else obviously electrical.

 

go ford!

 

before you spray the engine be sure to have a nice big can of WD40 with you to spray down the electrical connections incase something goes faulty. I try to avoid the deep water since last time I went wading I had all sorts of crap in my rear e-brake drums. Made all sorts of nasty sounds when I was rolling along.

 

will spraying WD40 on electrical parts not harm them. Bc ill spray wd on some parts to keep them looking new and as well to prevent from corrosion and other things like that but will it harm that stuff?

 

Remind me NOT to buy your used vehicles!....(LOL)

 

could be muck in your alternator...

 

WD-40 stands for Water Disbursement Formula 40. It was made for drying out electrical components. Works fine on connectors and plug wires.

 

Similar issue with my truck. When the AC compressor kicks off I have a high pitched dirty/metal grinding sound. I assume it is crap in the compressor but I never got around to look at it. Sounds like I have rocks for bearings on the clutch. I figured if the AC works fine still, don't mess with it. I was in murky water as well with water over the hood and bubbles for exhaust. I was not too happy with the line I choose either when going through a hole I thought I knew how deep it was.

 

oh didnt know that ... learn something new everyday

 

pics or it didn't happen.

 

Pull off the serp belt and turn all the pulleys by hand. I'd pay close attention to the alternator.