Oh dear, I have become a victim of the GSR being so low down. Bet you've guessed already, a puddle. Well I've just been out in the piddling rain and I encountered a puddle that didn't look too deep. There was an old Rover 214 in front of me and I saw it die in the puddle which I was going through very slowly anyway. My mate and I knew what was coming next...the Panda died. I was frantically trying to revive my stricken baby whilst contemplating getting out and pushing it through the puddle. About two minutes passed and we were about to get out, when...finally... IT LIVES! A huge puff of white smoke billowed from the Ragazzon and off we went waving at the poor Rover driver. But it had lost so much power and wouldn't rev past 5k initially. Had a lot of steam coming from the engine which seemed to burn off in the end. It got us home and now revs to 7k once again. But now it's knocking like hell, sounds like it may be firing on 3 cylinders Bizarrely though, no warning lights at all

Noo! That sucks!

I had a similar thing, and 12 BMW cylinders full of water makes quite a noise!! Huge steam out of the back but luckily its a low compression motor so no damage after an oil change, hope yours is ok though, whats the situation with the warranty etc if there is damage?

Its always a worry and the main reason I dont have a GSR kit on mine, especially with so many roads that flood these days.

At the very least though I would change the oil and plugs just to make sure.

I think I'm going to have to revert to the original airbox setup before I take it to Fiat otherwise they will probably say the warranty is void

Yes fiat will shot the lot back into your court..have thay already seen the kit fitted to the car or not..if they havnt you might or might not get away with it its a hard one to call..the thing is how do you explain to them that water got into the system when the airbox is on top of the rocker cover..

grizzly_panda said:

I think I'm going to have to revert to the original airbox setup before I take it to Fiat otherwise they will probably say the warranty is void

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But how are you going to explain how it happened, just tell them the puddle came up over the bonnet? lol

Good luck with this one.

bathing panda?

Jai said:

bathing panda?

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Got to say it we have one of the best mods in this section with a wicked sense of humor

Good luck to Grizzley panda though..time to bin the kit..

That brought a wry smile to my face

Humour gets you through. Like when I bashed my previous car, I got out and immediately laughed, although that might have been the shock and the relief that I'd just averted what could have been a fatal accident

Sorry to hear that. This is the problem with fitting aftermarket parts which haven't had the benefit of proper development.

That is an appalling oversight.

In summary:

http://www.mr2.net/standardisbetter.html

I have known standard cars suck up water in floods, so what is your point exactly?

I don't know if this will help but my boss claimed on his insurance for a similar problem, he got a new BMW diesel engine done

I think he claimed he had an accident hitting this puddle that was deeper than he expected.



Trev

take the plugs out and dry them and the ht leads, a hair dryer on the coil pack dry that out and see what happens (also might be worth drying any other black boxes /connectors near the engine)

take the GSR off and dry that out (with a bit of luck it might have only sucked up a trace amount of water) If it had taken a big lung full it wouldn't have started again...

Stu DemonD said:

I have known standard cars suck up water in floods, so what is your point exactly?

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I think she's pointing out that the standard intake is up near the badge so this problem may have been avoided, the GSR kit is awesome, but with anything that low, or the other type in the wing you have got to worry about water/road dirt etc

good luck with the panda though hope it gets sorted

grizzly_panda said:

. I was frantically trying to revive my stricken baby whilst contemplating getting out and pushing it through the puddle.

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you soft sod get your feet wet

(or it that the Mountain biker in me coming out)


have you got a garage and a BIG fan stick it in front of the radiator and force some air into the engine bay to speed up the drying..

Does your car have a MAF give this a check and a dry...

Stu DemonD said:

I have known standard cars suck up water in floods, so what is your point exactly?

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Bad design of the GSR kit I guess, that is my point.

I'll bet that the dealer would love telling you what to do with your warranty if serious damage was caused by hydrolocking. Have you known a standard 100hp to do this? Or were you just talking about cars generally?

The difference is, if it happenned on a standard car you'd have your warranty.

Sounds like to me that the GSR kit is a liability.

Well I was about to get my feet wet until it burst back into life

I'm going to play daft in the morning when I take it to the dealer.

It just started knocking all of a sudden...

I've just spoken to the AA, reckons it could be a bent valve ?

a bent valve is a possibility as you could have got Hydraulic lock as water isn't compressible however it depends on how much water got in being a fiat i'd probably put it down to damp in some sensor connection (well hope so in your case)

trackdayqueen said:

Bad Or were you just talking about cars generally?

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About cars in general - you seemed to imply that STANDARD was perfect, and any modification was to be avoided.

grizzly_panda said:

Well I was about to get my feet wet until it burst back into life

I'm going to play daft in the morning when I take it to the dealer.

It just started knocking all of a sudden...

I've just spoken to the AA, reckons it could be a bent valve ?

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When you say its 'knocking' what does it sound like?

Is it a deep sound that you kind of feel?

I wouldn't necessarily go on what the AA say.. remember once i had to get them out when my old Mr2 boiled over, they asked me to open the bonnet! Err.

A bent valve wouldn't cause a knocking noise as such. Knocking is nearly always associated with the bottom end. Have you checked your oil to ensure it isn't contaminated with water?

Stu DemonD said:

About cars in general - you seemed to imply that STANDARD was perfect, and any modification was to be avoided.

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Right. So a standard 100hp would not be likely to suffer the same problem as one fitted with a GSR?

Its a bit tongue in cheek about 'standardisbetter.com'...

I've modified cars extensively for the last 20 years. I've done engine rebuild's, suspension mods, engine conversions, trick geo setups, restorations etc.. pretty much been there and got the t-shirt. Had loads of fun doing it too, but it did cost me a fortune and of course that money invested is never returned come re-sale time.

In some respects its frustrating buying a car knowing you need to mod it to get it somewhere near where you want it.

However the odd minor mod as long as it doesn't cost you too much does no harm. So an airfilter is hardly going to break the bank i agree.

In conclusion i've learnt that if the standard car doesn't do what you require, then buy a car that does. This is exactly why we bought the Integra Type-R. Its very close to standard, apart from big brakes (JDM cars have smaller brakes than UK ones), braided lines and a stock 98 spec stainless exhaust that will never need replacing.

We bought the car with these 'sensible' mods on it. Everything else, suspension, engine is totally standard and in this respect it really is perfect in my eyes.