Hi everyone,

I gotta say that I love the HHR's ability to drive through flooded roads. I live in FL, and the roads flood a lot. Sometimes, if you walk down the street crying, the street floods. It's that bad.

Yesterday, the parking lot for my building was flooded as usual. As I was pulling into the spot, I ran over a log that I didn't see floating in the water. The landlord just cut down some palm trees...not big ones, but just big enough to get stuck under my car. I felt that I hit something, and I was able to drive for about 25 feet into the spot, but when I turned the wheel, the log got stuck and the car would not budge.
Edit: It got stuck under the car between the front passenger door, like, right under the frame.

I tried to get it to reverse once and nothing. Then I tried to turn the wheel and I couldn't even do that. I turned the car off and noticed steam or smoke coming up. I didn't smell anything burning, but it was raining like crazy. I got out and that's when I noticed the log. I got in and tried to move it one last time, putting it into drive, but she was stuck.

I got the jack out of the back, jacked up the car, and removed the log. Took pics too just in case.

Once I got the log out of the way, the car moved fine and everything seemed to be running normally. This morning, I started the car again and everything seems fine. The brakes are slipping a little, but I think that might be because they were wet for a long time. They're ceramic, and I don't know much about cars, honestly.

Can anyone maybe guess what that smoke or steam might have been? I'm not sure what happened there, but it would be good to know what to keep an eye out for.

 

It could have just been water hitting the hot exhaust system. However, you should watch and listen for anything unusual, just to be sure nothing was damaged.

 

I'd also take it to your dealer or mechanic for a thorough look over, there might be damage underneath that you can't see.

 

The catalytic converter gets VERY hot, hot enough to ignite dry grass.