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A class accelerator failure due standing water

roger

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Feb 2, 2005
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Our S reg A class Elegance 1.8 semi automatic has lost power totally a few times in standing water (not flood) road conditions, so that the accelerator simply stops driving the car. This has previously happened when the car was moving off eg from a queue at a roundabout, and was merely inconvenient. A dealer seemed to know about the problem when phoned, and said the solution was simply to switch off the engine and re-start. This has worked in the past. However the problem hasn't gone away and the other day the same problem happened to my wife, potentially much more dangerously, at 70mph in the fast lane of the M11, again with heavy rain and some standing water. After a spell on the hard shoulder, it restarted. Any ideas as to the problem, how common it is and the cure?
 
roger said:
Our S reg A class Elegance 1.8 semi automatic has lost power totally a few times in standing water (not flood) road conditions, so that the accelerator simply stops driving the car. This has previously happened when the car was moving off eg from a queue at a roundabout, and was merely inconvenient. A dealer seemed to know about the problem when phoned, and said the solution was simply to switch off the engine and re-start. This has worked in the past. However the problem hasn't gone away and the other day the same problem happened to my wife, potentially much more dangerously, at 70mph in the fast lane of the M11, again with heavy rain and some standing water. After a spell on the hard shoulder, it restarted. Any ideas as to the problem, how common it is and the cure?

This is definitely NOT Normal and dangerous, you should take the car to the Dealer for proper diagnosis. :eek:

The 70 mph occurance may have been due to water being thrown up into the engine compartment, which is why you should slow down when there is surface water about.

Let us know how you get on.
 
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We live in an area with a number of minor roads prone to localised flooding in heavy rain. Friends had an A class which was all too often coming to some form of grief in the wet.

They were eventually told by the dealership that the A class is prone to this kind of misery as quite a few important bits are low slung and advised them to avoid standing water!
 
Satch said:
They were eventually told by the dealership that the A class is prone to this kind of misery as quite a few important bits are low slung and advised them to avoid standing water!
Isn't the engine kinda floor-mounted in the a-class?
 
Yes, the battery and other electrics are in the driver's footwell area, but shouldn't they should be properly sealed off from the elements, including water splashing up from the road? If a dealer says to avoid standing water, sounds like there could be some sort of design fault?
 

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