2016 2500 6.4 died driving won’t start

[teamfmi]

Drove through a mildly flooded area today in my 2016 POWER Wagon (water was 2/3 up the tires) and the truck suddenly shut off.

Why I hit the ignition it lights everything up, goes into acc, etc but will not click or attempt to start.

Ended up getting pulled out and will be towing it home later if I can not get it to start. I popped the hood and checked fuses, the belt and front of the engine were dry. Any ideas as to where to start? Have gone through similar water plenty before and never had problems. New battery last year, will check voltage once I get it back but would love to drive home instead of towing it 20 miles.

 

[2003F350]

Likely a short to ground somewhere, if it dries out it may start again, see if it threw any codes. Possible that it got water in the intake and locked the motor but impossible to say without tools.

 

[teamfmi]

Pretty much what I’m thinking, wanted to be sure there’s nothing stupid simple I’m overlooking in the moment. Don’t see where water had gotten near high enough to lock it. Will update as I get to check it out.

 

[RamDiver]

Drove through a mildly flooded area today in my 2016 POWER Wagon (water was 2/3 up the tires) and the truck suddenly shut off.

Why I hit the ignition it lights everything up, goes into acc, etc but will not click or attempt to start.

Ended up getting pulled out and will be towing it home later if I can not get it to start. I popped the hood and checked fuses, the belt and front of the engine were dry. Any ideas as to where to start? Have gone through similar water plenty before and never had problems. New battery last year, will check voltage once I get it back but would love to drive home instead of towing it 20 miles.

First things first.

Load test the battery with a toaster-style battery load tester such as the following from HarbourFreight.

100 Amp, 6/12V Battery Load Tester

Amazing deals on this 100 Amp 6/12V Battery Load Tester at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

.

 

[teamfmi]

Just got it back, battery checks out after the load test. Just pulled the air filter and it’s SOAKED. Perplexed as I was driving g SLOW and the water was below the tow hooks. Hoping it’s a fuse, soaked starter, or connection I hadn’t checked yet. Going to pull the plugs and go from there.

 

[Daw14]

If the filter is soaked it will not flow properly, think you found the problem

 

[chri5k]

When going through high water the front of the truck can push up a “bow wave” that is several inches above the water level. The faster you go, the higher the wave. Can definitely get high enough to reach the lower portion of the air intake horn.

 

[jr27236]

Your definition of slow may be too fast for a flooded road that deep. Before you start pulling all your plugs I would check the main ignition fuses. Also pull the intake tube off your throttle body and see of it dry in there. If it shut off right away I doubt you got water past you filter and the filter plus stalling saved the motor from ingesting any water and hydro locking.

 

[2003F350]

Just got it back, battery checks out after the load test. Just pulled the air filter and it’s SOAKED. Perplexed as I was driving g SLOW and the water was below the tow hooks. Hoping it’s a fuse, soaked starter, or connection I hadn’t checked yet. Going to pull the plugs and go from there.

If the filter is wet then the water was high enough to interact with the air pickup, as pointed out above. If the water was that deep, you also need to be concerned about your differentials (vent tubes) and possibly the vent tube on your transmission. I'd be checking EVERYTHING out, you don't want to drive with water in any of those components as that would absolutely destroy them.

Driving through deep water is a risk in a stock or nearly-stock vehicle. Most of them aren't built to keep that water out of critical components.

 

[62Blazer]

Like stated already, your definition of "slow" may not be slow enough. When going through water that deep even 10 mph is too fast and would cause water to push up into the engine bay. If the air filter is soaking wet that is a really bad sign and means the engine probably ingested a lot of water. I would pull the intake to the engine and look for water in the tube and into the throttle body. Based on your original post the engine won't even turn over. If the engine ingests a lot of water it can hydrolock....air in the cylinders will compress but water will not and cause a lot of resistance. Also common to start bending rods and stuff when that happens. I would pull the plugs and try to turn the engine over. Just don't be leaning over the engine bay because if there is water in the cylinders it will start shooting out of the spark plug holes.