Drowning my Grenadier (a sorry, soggy saga)

[Jeremy996]

Don't take it personally, but I won't be doing @CrazyOldMan 's suggestions - I like my Grenadier plain, not fancy. (The white roof is enough bling for me!)

NFU's claims engineer rang me this morning and asked how deep I got it, so he could decide which route to follow. I said enough to drown the engine but not enough to swamp the interior. The locks, screen and headlight flashes still functioned onto the flat-bed. There's some water in the cabin, mostly from my boots as I was collecting my gear out of the truck, but the lower area of the truck is supposed to be splashproof. He said the claims handlers expected all vehicles in water to behave like basic hatchbacks, but he was anticipating a full and warranted repair.

He assessed the value of the vehicle at £56k, (remembering I have 30k+ miles on it), and an engine swap at about £20k all in. Issues for them is the paucity of technical data and the capacity of the dealer network. He plans to get the engine assessed in the next fortnight and the repairs completed in a month and he intends to project manage it on that basis. I'm to direct claims progress requests to the claims handlers in Bristol.

I think he is being ambitious in terms of completion time, but I do have the capacity to wait a little while. I've been offered the loan of vehicles by colleagues ranging from a Fiat 500 to a Discovery 2, (LR2), but I'll probably use the MX5 (Miata) in the garage.

So far, NFU have met my high expectations, but I must expect my premiums to rise dramatically at renewal.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

Aw maaaaaannnn! Shucks. No - I was suggested doing that to the loaner - not the Grenadier. It would be “one of a kind”

 

[CrazyOldMan]

ChatGPT has ideas

 

[Jeremy996]

ChatGPT has ideas

That's both funny and bloody scary! I'm convinced that Enterprise Car Rental would not be amused.

 

[Mountain4x4]

Did you learn what went wrong yet? Or did I miss it. I went damn near submarine in mine brand new with no issues. Figuring a bad electrical connection here.

 

[Cheshire cat]

I think he mentioned that not particularly deep, he hadn’t allowed for the fast flow of the water, which built up on one side. I’m assuming it likely shorted something on one side of the engine.

 

[DaveB]

Don't take it personally, but I won't be doing @CrazyOldMan 's suggestions - I like my Grenadier plain, not fancy. (The white roof is enough bling for me!)

NFU's claims engineer rang me this morning and asked how deep I got it, so he could decide which route to follow. I said enough to drown the engine but not enough to swamp the interior. The locks, screen and headlight flashes still functioned onto the flat-bed. There's some water in the cabin, mostly from my boots as I was collecting my gear out of the truck, but the lower area of the truck is supposed to be splashproof. He said the claims handlers expected all vehicles in water to behave like basic hatchbacks, but he was anticipating a full and warranted repair.

He assessed the value of the vehicle at £56k, (remembering I have 30k+ miles on it), and an engine swap at about £20k all in. Issues for them is the paucity of technical data and the capacity of the dealer network. He plans to get the engine assessed in the next fortnight and the repairs completed in a month and he intends to project manage it on that basis. I'm to direct claims progress requests to the claims handlers in Bristol.

I think he is being ambitious in terms of completion time, but I do have the capacity to wait a little while. I've been offered the loan of vehicles by colleagues ranging from a Fiat 500 to a Discovery 2, (LR2), but I'll probably use the MX5 (Miata) in the garage.

So far, NFU have met my high expectations, but I must expect my premiums to rise dramatically at renewal.

It would be nice to know how water that low got into your engine intake.
There could be a fault or design issue somewhere we all need to be aware of.

 

[LeeroyJ]

I would be surprised if any Ineos dealer would want to do an engine swap under warranty as they would be unlikely to be able to perform it within the designated book time, they could take a big loss on the job. For insurance work at least they should be able to include enough labour hours to cover the job, but this may increase the price to a level it becomes a write off anyway. Hopefully its not a full engine replacement but just a few readily available parts and you are back on the road soon.

It's only a "loss" if 1) they are fully booked and have to turn away other work as a result of your work that would have paid more, or 2) the incremental income they get from doing that work is less than their incremental costs. The fact that they are not getting their desired shop rate doesn't necessarily mean its a loss.

 

[Tazzieman]

It would be nice to know how water that low got into your engine intake.
There could be a fault or design issue somewhere we all need to be aware of.

Perhaps a bow wave as he hit a dip. Or the floodwaters had subsided by the time he had the presence of mind to document the incident?
And the manual staes "CAUTION: Never exceed 3 mph (5 km/h) during wading.If the maximum wading speed is not adhered to, then awave might be generated that could enter the airintakes, causing irreversible engine damage (hydro lock)."

- 5km/hr is walking pace

 

[Mountain4x4]

I have had experiences with bad water situations. I had a vehicle conc out in a river, and it was simply a tiny nick in a spark plug wire. Later I started it and poured water on the engine and the second it hit that wire, bam, shorted out. I also lost one in a river where the driver got confused and drove the wrong way, floated down river and sank. But we got it running, only to find out I missed drying out a sensor and it died later, but we damn near had it. The transmission.,.....ok, that was never the same But if you do not hydro lock it hard, you can recover, especially with such a minor crossing as this. Oh, and stay away from doing that in salt water if you have not heard.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

I would hope this is a more easily fixed water-induced electrical failure vs. hydraulic lock.

 

[nodric]

Read this thread with some incredulity and reminded myself of this. Here is my 2055 110 playing around. Latter half of the video is some wading at Billing. 110 Getting Wet

It had its faults but the engine never died.

 

[lightning]

What's the official maximum wading depth of a Grenadier? On my Defender it's 80cm but l would imagine that's standing water and not a side current.

Personally l wouldn't attempt a water crossing where the depth was any more than around knee height.

l might get through deeper water, but if the vehicle's engine stops for any reason it's likely to be a total loss.

 

[nodric]

What's the official maximum wading depth of a Grenadier? On my Defender it's 80cm but l would imagine that's standing water and not a side current.

Personally l wouldn't attempt a water crossing where the depth was any more than around knee height.

l might get through deeper water, but if the vehicle's engine stops for any reason it's likely to be a total loss.

Defender is 90cm but that's the new ones. Grenadier is 80cm.

 

[Tom D]

Looking at the pictures and the direction of the flow it would have piled up on the intake side 60cm of water could easily pour into the intake if it was moving fast enough.

 

[Jeremy996]

@Tom D has the right idea and a better idea of the depth is given by the picture I posted here https://www.theineosforum.com/threads/january-2025-photo-contest.12417664/post-1333320022.
My Grenadier is a diesel and the insurance assessor tells me it is hydro-locked; what we don't know at the moment is how much actual damage is there.

Grenadier wading depth is 80cm, assumed to be still water.