SAN ANTONIO – Many people look at large puddles created by heavy rains on some streets and just drive right through them without a second thought.
But driving through them could end up being an expensive decision.
Customers at Cambridge Auto Center consistently come in with an issue to the vehicle after driving over large puddles of water, Jake Calohan, assistant manager of the auto shop, said.
A constant issue is the skid plate located underneath the vehicle coming loose and scraping the road while the vehicle is moving, Calohan said.
“Skid plates are just basically big pieces of plastic that go under the whole car to protect against water from going up over into the engine,” Calohan said.
When going through big pools of water, the weight of the water can cause the plate to become loose and potentially drag down.
“You’ve submerged that thing to the point of where the body panels are starting to get into the water,” Calohan said. “Your door lines get under the water, that’s when water starts coming in and starts killing all the computers or worst case scenario gets in your engine and kills it.”
Some people can end up paying thousands of dollars in repairs, according to Calohan.
Calohan pointed to a vehicle currently in for repairs and said, “it’s here for a whole engine replacement because they drove through a big puddle and water went up over the top of their engine, got inside of it, and just ruined the engine.”
Drivers are recommended not to force a vehicle to drive forward if it starts acting like it wants to shut off after going through a pool of water.
Calohan said you could make any damage that just happened even worse.
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