STOP! Don't drive through flood water!

As tropical storm Isaias approaches, it is sure to dump huge amounts of rain water, and of course there will be flooding!  We need to protect ourselves and our vehicles.  The best advice I can give is to STOP!  Don't drive through the water!  Wait until the water recedes, find an alternate route, or avoid areas that you know flood, like most of the streets along the Barnegat Bay and Long Beach Island.  At Petty Motorworks we routinely deal with issues related to driving through flood water, and last year we had three vehicles totaled, and had to replace two engines; not to mention the minor repairs caused by water intrusion. The worst case scenario is that you get trapped in your car by rising flood water and put yourself in danger. The most common problem we see is damage to the engine when it ingests water and hydro-statically locks.  In less severe cases the onset of problems won't be seen for some time due to that salty mixture of bay and rain water as they slowly corrode brake and electrical parts.