Water puddle stalled, try to start or tow to dealer?
 

I drove through into about 8" of water and the car stalled, I didn't let off the gas, was in 1st crawling. I'm pretty sure it wasn't enough to cover the exhaust or reach the intake, I tried starting it a couple of times in the water with no luck. It's been sitting in a parking spot (which I pushed it into in 8" of water, in a suit lol) for the past 4 hours, which the water is down to about 2" now.

I'm very tempted to try and start it again but I've been told that's a bad idea, could be an electrical problem and could fry the computer/water in the engine or something like that. I looked at the engine bay and it looks dry with no signs of water reaching the upper parts I could see.

Any ideas? Is it safe to try and start it or do I need to tow it to a dealer?

I realize now I approached it all wrong, if I had been going 60 in the parking lot I could have easily hydroplaned right over the puddle and wouldn't be in this situation.

No one responded, so here's an update. The starter was seized up, which they said was underwater (which it wasn't) so it possibly got wet, which they said shorted out the battery, and they need to remove the muffler and exhaust up to the headers to drain the water from it (which there isn't much if any in). Also the carpet needs to be lifted and vacuumed all the water out of the padding or else it will never come out. All for over $1k, insurance will cover it though, past the 1k deductible.

On the other hand I have a new 2010 Mustang rental to play with, which handles like it sucked up more water then my 8.

8" doesn't seem that deep, considering the bottom of your car should be 5" off the ground at least.

And hell - I'm pretty sure you could have pushed most of the water out of the entire exhaust system. Odd no one responded to you - pretty sure someone would have chimed in (or at least flamed you :()

water will not inter through exhaust if your car in on
if you have stock intake then it would not get through it eather

Maybe try tomorrow and see what happen

It's already at the shop on a lift. I went by for surprise visit as they closed to take a look at it myself, the exhaust was taken off and hung upside down to drip all the water out, which there was a very small puddle. Which would not have kept it from starting. I can believe the starter was fried, so I'll pay for that and the battery. But I still fail to see how the cost of those things goes over $1k. Which at that point I'll go with the insurance claim and just get everything they suggest done.

But I don't trust this shop either way, both from the reviews I've read and a few questions I asked to test them.

Might wanna post up info on this shop, it may help steer more customers away from it. I'm not sure how much the starter costs and how much labor is involved in replacing that. The battery would be around 100-150 at most.

100 bucks an hour adds up fast and the parts are expensive.

They make a 35% profit on parts too.