Flooded engine (broken down)
 

So I broke down the other day, first time I have ever done so in the middle of a busy road.

Pulling out onto a main road, I saw a gap so gave it a bit of throttle, but then decided the gap was too small so I hit the brake. But the engine then died and wouldn't re-start.

Luckily I was close to a garage so with their help I was pushed to there.

Was told the engine was flooded and the plugs had to be removed and dried out.

Is this likely to be a one off incident, because I accelerated and backed off quick, or is there likely to be a bigger problem somewhere?

Note mine is an auto not a manual. Cheers.

This sounds a bit strange to me, I don't think an engine can be flooded while it's running, trying to restart it could flood it.
A lot of questions...
Did the garage remove the plugs?
Were they wet with petrol?
Did it restart after?

I agree with 'volvo again'. The most common cause of 'flooding' is continual cranking without the engine firing, more usual in my experience with carburettor fed engines - I don't think I've ever had a FI one flood on me.

Regards, John.

"Flooded " ! more likely a wiring connection seperated when you braked suddenly . Before removing any parts / throwing money / having a hissy fit , my first port of call would be to plugin & read / delete any codes stored in the ECU .

If you have any code/s you will be a lot closer to a remedy , rather than groping in the dark for answers . Modern engines are nothing like as easy to fault find & rectify purely because of all the magic goblins under the bonnet working their magic ( or not )

Faulty coolant sensor could cause over fueling and poor starting issues that you describe.

thanks all, I will check the fault codes, although I think my reader is OBD2.

I'm pretty certain it was an over fueling issue, so maybe I need to do some searching as to the cause.

It did happen 8 months ago in a car park, and after I left it half an hour it started. It was a similar problem.

I wonder how the coolant sensor could cause over fueling?

cheers all

Coolant temp sensor provides the ecu with temp data to allow the fueling to be richened in cold temps to assist starting/running. If it’s feeding duff data then the engine will be running extremely rich, causing bore wash, plug fouling etc.

Very true. However, the coolant temperature sender on these cars is also the sender for the temperature guage, so if it's sending duff information you would expect to see an "odd" reading on the temp guage - it should be at the 3 o'clock position when hot, if it was anything else when the car failed then that's your culprit, but if it is/was reading correctly then it's a lot less likely.

Could it be a failing crank position sensor?This would allow the engine to turn over but not start which might give the symptoms of a flooded engine?

Crank position sensor failure will give no spark AND no fuel, so unlikely to make the spark plugs wet when cranking.