Water ingested into Engine - Bent Rods

js73751 · July 15, 2003

A buddy of mine has an EXT. Drove it through a monstrous down pour on the expressway last week. It was so bad he eventually had to pull off with the rest of the traffic because he could no longer see. Continued driving until the engine started making horrible knocking and banging sounds. Called Cadillac emergency services and had it towed to the nearest dealer. They tore it down and found it had sucked in water and lunched the engine. $6,000, and they will not cover it claiming abuse. He is a 50 year old executive for a major firm, and he cannot believe that GM is just walking away from him. He asked them how they could build a vehicle that can not be driven through a driving rain. No answer from GM. Unfortunately we will never know if the snorkle broke loose or if the the air box assemblywas cracked or a connection slipped off the throttle body, as the dealer just tore it apart as opposed to looking for a problem.

Has anybody ever heard or experienced this happening on an Escalade? As the owner of an EXT myself, it does not exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that this happened. Any help or insight or knowledge of this happening elsewhere would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks>

JS

robsawatsky · July 15, 2003

Must have been some kind of rain storm. But, unless the owner's manual gives a specific warning about not driving in heavy rain (yeh, right?) they cannot possibly claim abuse. Abuse would be driving the vehicle in standing water deeper than the air intake, which there are typically some kind of warnings about driving in water deeper than such-and-such in the manual.