High Water Hazards: How Shreveport Drivers Can Stay Safe When Cars Stall
It's pretty common in Shreveport, heavy rain leads to high waters across the city, and possible right outside your driveway. Maybe you got caught in that high water and now your car is stalled out; it might freak you out, but stay calm and remember these tips.
Outside of just Shreveport, these are good tips you should take with you anywhere it rains, like the whole state of Louisiana.
If your car is stuck in high water, it can be easy to panic, but panicking won't help solve the problem. No matter what vehicle you're driving (unless you've got one of those truck lifts everybody loves so much), high water puts you at risk of stalling out, and possibly doing major damage to your car.
The First Thing You Need To Do If Your Car Stalls In High Water
If your car is stuck in high water and stalls out, do not try and power through it, especially if there is running water.
When stuck in running high water, the safest thing to do is to exit the vehicle and swim to safety. If the waters are high enough, they'll be strong enough to pick up your car and wash it away, maybe with you inside.
Otherwise, if the water is standing still and not pushing or pulling your vehicle in one way or the other shut off the car immediately or else things could get bad.
The Hidden Risk: How Water Can Destroy Your Engine
Your engine runs on a mixture of air, oil, and gasoline. Did you notice what isn't included in that mixture? If you said water pat yourself on the back because that is one of the last things you want to let make it into your engine.
Water in the way of your engine's pistons means that they won't be able to ignite the gasoline to turn your wheels, but that piston is still gonna try and smash that mixture of water, air, gas, and oil together. When that piston does try to smash that mixture for an explosion, it usually bends, snaps, breaks, or just locks in place and seizes your entire engine in a condition called hydrolock.