The flooding here in Nebraska is becoming a normal way of life. Today I drove my Chevy Express van into about 18 inches of water and the thing stalled out. Now when I try to start it all I get is a vibration sound like an almost dead battery.

So I figure it will dry out in a few days. I was able to call someone and got winched out and then made it home. But I am going to upgrade to a Tahoe or something similar with 4x4.

I have been offered a duce and a half but that is not practical for a daily driver. It would solve my high water over the road problem.

But.... If I get a Tahoe is there a package or a procedure to upgrade the electrical system so I can drive through water up to 24 inches? I am really wondering if someone can point me in the right direction on the web, not a full blown description of how to perform such an upgrade.

This is standing water, not flowing.

I would also be concerned about water intrusion into mechanical components such as transmissions, transfer cases and differentials at 24 inches of water...

Got ya covered ....

Depending on the year Express van. If the starter gets soaked, it will show an open circuit to the BCM and will not crank. If there is an amperage sensor on the positive cable, unplugging it will bypass it and it should crank.

Right now I am giving it a day or two to dry out. I know this is sometimes not possible so your info will come in very handy if the foul weather continues.

I just need two hot days with no rain. My road was just about passable yesterday afternoon. And then it rained again last night.

My wife wants me to wait for two years and buy a Rivian which is a new electric truck. The components are sealed to allow for use in up to one meter of water.

I predict they will sell a lot of these in Nebraska. For a area so flat it sure has a lot of places that collect water. And too many of those places are in the middle of a road.

I saw one of these in the early 70s. I ran across one on a used car lot.

A dealer in Arlington, Texas had a 'We Trade for Anything!' sale and someone bought one of these in. So they traded for it and put it on their lot.

I think the asking price was $3,500.

They are much taller than they look.

An update for anyone using their car for a flotation device.....

Today the starter is turning over the engine. It would not do this yesterday but yesterday was the first hot day recently. And then it was only 80 f.

But still no start. Hit the intake with starter spray. Nothing. So tomorrow will be a drying out of the distributor and other wiring connections.

So far my efforts to repair this have been to charge the battery. That and wait for things to dry out.

I did look at a Range Rover with the full snorkel and high water package. Too much rust from too much high water driving. But at least I know the package is available.

If I wanted to deal with all the other older Range Rover problems. Such as the lurking Prince of Darkness in every switch and relay.

If you sucked water into the intake you may have a bent rod. If so it may cause slow cranking due to extra friction from the piston being not square in the cylinder.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

What year and engine

I was about to suggest Gelandewagen mit schnorkel. Landrover Nein!

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I looked at one of these but these actually ride rather hard.

SUCCESS! After a lot of tinkering I found two main problems. The air filter was full of water. The 'filtered air' side was dry and so was the MAF but the air filter was soaked. So I though the thing died due to lack of air.

And maybe it did. But it still would not start. It tried to, but would not catch.

Eventually I found a cracked distributor. I was rather lucky in that it was the first thing I checked since back in the 50s water in the distributor was a problem after a heavy rain. I always carried a shop towel to wipe out the inside of the cap. I finally quit doing this in the early 70s.

This crack was not in the cap. It was in the body of the distributor.

And.... When I pulled the distributor the oil on the bottom gear was brown. Uh, oh.. Water in the oil. But I checked the oil and nope, it was just in that one spot. I guess it was left over from the plunge.

The beast in question is a Chevy Express van from the 90s. Right at 300,000 on it with a 5.0.

So far I have replaced the air filter and the distributor. Next up is an oil change. I also replaced the Schrader valve in the gas line because it was leaking. So air filter at $15, Ebay distributor (new) $58 and $4 for the Schrader valve and the tool to pull it.

And it fired right off. I still need to set the timing but it's dark here and at night all sorts of creatures come out. The bugs are the worst but at least they leave something for the mountain lions.

I have this thing in the barn since my garage stall is hogged up with shop and the driveway is hogged up with an old 111.

Changed the oil and while the oil filter was full of water the rest of the oil came out, well, just oil. Apparently the filter caught and held the water that was in there. It was almost, but not quite full.

Let it sit overnight and loosened the oil drain plug. Nothing but oil came out.

I don't know if I got lucky or if this is normal, but I have been told by some of the locals that when it comes to driving in water nothing is normal.

Anyway... IT LIVES!

Lucky you!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.