Please tell me about PRIUS and flooding

A year's worth of rain around here in two days would be like all the dams bursting at once, and the city would be washed out to sea. Not too sure what you can do, other than going slow through the big puddles to keep water from splashing on the engine. Can you park it inside at work, out of the rain, to dry off? Throw a tarp over it in the parking lot? Is it bad enough you'll be driving wearing a PFD and a snorkel?

 

Given that, perhaps this is more on order? I wonder if it comes in a hybrid?



... Brad

 

As long as the water doesn't get too deep to drive in you will be ok. Especially if you keep the water out of the interior. The electronics in the interior is not waterproof. The electronics in the engine compartment is sealed in a waterproof box (the module with the HSD label). It's on the top of the powerplant, about 3 ft above the ground. So water deeper than that would be a serious problem, but it would also seep into the interior, and there are modules on the floor in the interior (Nav., battery, etc).

If the SUV gets in water 3 ft deep it will also be in serious trouble. Water that deep will get into the interior, and the ECU is usually on the kick panel or under the seat.

 

Just below the rockerpanels and you should be OK. The key is to keep the water out of the INSIDE of the car. That's were the stuff that can easlly get messed up by water is.

 

The Prius has electronics boxes and connectors on the floor of the interior. If these get wet, you are in for big problems. Try to keep the water out of the car.

Tom

 

Water can get in to the engine compartment from the base of the windshield and rust out the coils and plugs. There's a split in the plastic cowling around the wipers that isn't watertight. (This may have been fixed on later models, I don't know.) If the rain's coming down in buckets all day, a tarp over the window and hood might not be a bad idea.

 

Is it reasonable to take a taxicab for the next few days until the weather settles down?

As other posters said, the main concern is that you not allow any water to enter the interior of the car.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/47502-my-babys-gone.html

 

Water going through the seam between the cowl trim panels will never make it into the engine area. The wiper pan is below the cowl panels and it diverts water to the sides of the car.

 

Well, that's the theory. I assure you it can happen, at least on the 2004 model. It cost me $400 to replace two coils and two plugs that had rusted. Toyota even issued a TSB about the problem.

 

Just what kind of answer are you looking for? No cars do well in floods. The Prius is no different.

 

I could beleve that water may have entered the engine area between the seal and the hood but not through the wiper pan itself. The pan is solid.

 

Rumor has it that if you tip the Prius upside down, it will float.

 

The top of the cowl is composed of two large black plastic pieces. The seam between the two pieces has a spongy gasket. Water can accumulate at the outside of the seam and drip down onto the engine valve cover, bypassing the metal cowl pan, then enter the spark plug wells. As previously pointed out, TSB EG063-05 was issued for the problem, which basically required placing a bead of caulk on the seam.

Perhaps the cowl design was modified for current models, to eliminate the likelihood of this water drip happening.