# Driving through standing water **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** hybrid-repair\ **Created:** [October 9, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559 "2008-10-09T15:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![miamichick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@miamichick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/miamichick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/1 "2008-10-09T15:52:11Z")
I have a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid (there are no spark plugs) - Ijust drove through a huge, deep puddle of standing water. Now my car is making a funny noise (it sounds just like it did went I went thru the puddle) but is otherwise fine - no lights came on; nothing different under the car. Should I let it dry and see if it persists or should I take it in now to be looked at? What damage could have been done? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://community.cartalk.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/2 "2008-10-09T16:01:03Z")
Can you describe the noise for us? How deep was the water? Any other symptoms? My best guess, knowing what we do, is if the car is still otherwise driving around fine, the issue could be that going through the puddle knocked loose some splash guarding on the bottom of your car and now it’s dragging on the ground. Oh, and the gasoline engine on your hybrid does have spark plugs, but that’s almost certainly unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![miamichick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@miamichick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/miamichick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/3 "2008-10-09T16:36:15Z")
Thanks GreasyJack. The noise sounds exactly how the car sounded going through the puddle - just a very loud whoosing sound. The noise is not located in one particular area. The sound is so loud that it attracts attention from folks walking on the sidewalk. A few folks bent down to look under my car to see if something was dragging. I also checked twice - there is nothing underneath the car dragging though the noise is consistent with that. The water was sufficiently deep but did not enter into the car, so perhaps 9" deep at one point?. There are no other symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![MikeM95831](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@MikeM95831](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeM95831)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/4 "2008-10-09T16:48:54Z")
Given the mechanical complexities of a hybrid, I think I’d be heavily inclined to have a mechanic look at it. Does the car have to be moving to make the sound? My shot in the dark (and I think this is an unlikely explanation): There’s something lodged between a brake shield and a disk, or a brake shield is bent and is now contacting a disk. But I think that’s a cruddy guess. ---
**Author:** ![miamichick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@miamichick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/miamichick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/5 "2008-10-09T16:55:44Z")
Yes, the car needs to be moving in order to hear the noise. When I stop, its dead silent Just as a note, the brakes are working as they did before I drove thru the water - no problem stopping and no smoke or smell coming fror them. ---
**Author:** ![MikeM95831](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@MikeM95831](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeM95831)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/6 "2008-10-09T17:02:53Z")
If there’s, say, a rock between your disk brake shield and the disk itself, your braking performance will be entirely unaffected. Just because it’s stopping well doesn’t mean you didn’t tweak a shield. ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/7 "2008-10-09T17:50:14Z")
My guess is that water has collected somewhere that it should not be and it will, in time, dry out. However it is also possible it is somewhere in the electrical part of the hybrid and it may be damaging electrical parts. There are just not eenough of them out there for many of us to have any experience with such a situation. I would suggest that 9 inches of water is too much water to try and navigate in your car, or even mine. Three inches might be OK if you don’t go too fast, but nine is too much. About the only thing I can suggest is to park it somewhere dry and see if anything is draining. That might pinpoint where there is water where it should not be. Good Luck ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-through-standing-water/20559/8 "2008-10-09T17:51:57Z")
Have you gotten on the ground with a flashlight an looked to see if anything (branch, etc) is caught on some part of your car?