Q: Would a water saturated air filter result in an immediate engine seizure 2016 VW Touareg
I noticed white smoke coming from the exhaust, I made 3 stops before driving to the dealership having travelled 5 miles, I then took a test drive with a technician, I left the vehicle at the dealership with no engine warning lights on and the vehicle was running apart from the issue as described. When diagnosed 4 days later I was told the air filter was saturated with water and the engine was seized.
My car has 1700 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
Hi there - the answer to your questions is "maybe". Since water does not compress at all, it takes very little water in a cylinder to cause "hydro-locking" which will cause serious damage to your engine. Perhaps a bigger question here is "How did the air cleaner get saturated with water"?). If the air cleaner was soaking wet, did this occur in a flood scenario, off-roading, car wash run amuck? An air cleaner should not, under most driving circumstances become even moist with moisture. A failed head gasket will leak coolant directly into a cylinder, but not the air cleaner. I would have a serious conversation with the service center.
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