Sinking of the Titanic

[Captain of the Titanic]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I am an owner of a 06 victory red adventure series. As a fossil hunter who uses the off road capabilities of the H3, I have been pleasantly surprise by the H3's performance off-road. I previously drove a Tahoe with every upgrade known to man kind knick named "The Beast" but got tired of 9 miles per gallon and bought the H3.

Currently, however, my H3 is in the shop and will be for quite some time. Seems the H3 is NOT AT ALL water-tight, and with the lousy stock tires on it, I managed to get in a little mud, and it slid sideways into a farm pond. 1 inch of water on the left side, 30 inches of water on the right, and an interior full of water.

When the water hit the interior, all h*ll broke loose. The on-star shut down, the doors locked and the window controls shut down. If I didn't have the door already open at this point, I'd have been locked in.

Second, when trying to get the truck to the dealership, on-star basically told me "We don't support your type. Only those people who stay on the road".

In the end, the dealership (Frank Kent in Ft. Worth, TX) went above and beyond the call of duty by towing my truck in using a new H2.

I did not expect this type of experience. I assumed that the Hummer would be as water-tight as my previous Tahoe. I expected On-Star to understand that at least a good portion of H3 owners are not "Getting their girl On"...

I'm still happy with my decision, but I foresee some serious modifications to the truck soon. Starting with Procomp Xterrain tires and some additional seals in the doors...

Has anyone else had any experiences like this?

Sign me,
Captain of the Titanic!

[Mike E]

I drove through a pond with the stock base tires, had water 6" up past the bottom of the doors and never experienced any leaks to the inside. I guess it all depends on the situation.

[deserth3]

Second, when trying to get the truck to the dealership, on-star basically told me "We don't support your type. Only those people who stay on the road".

Sounds like you got a dead head. When I thought I'd have to have my truck towed they transfered me to Hummer Roadside assistance. Of course I was in my driveway and not offroad.
Happy to hear the dealer service was great and they came to get you.

[usetosellhummer]

no way

[Wisha Haddan H3]

30" on one side? that's 6" more than it's rated for water fording. Try to keep it under 24" next time you slide into a pond

jk, sorry to hear that. About 10 years ago, I hydrolocked an engine and filled the interior with water when it got deeper than I expected. The computer shorted out too. That cost a pretty penny to fix.

[Beastmaster]

Okay...I'm going to need some clarification.

1) You claim 1" of water on one side, 30" on the other. How much was the actual depth of the water inside the vehicle?

2) An observation - no vehicle is water tight, save for an Amphicar. And even an Amphicar has bilge pumps.

3) A comment - water crossings require you to have the windows open. No windows open = bad juju.

4) I agree with F5FStop - OnStar gets you in contact with someone. It's up to that "someone" from there to determine if you qualify.

5) If OnStar did screw up in some way, shape, or form due to water exposure, then you would have had to dry out the truck. I have personally rescued vehicles that sunk, and it took at least 4-5 hours to dry the truck out to where it's in operating condition

6) If the engine was running (and the intake is on the right side), you would have ingested water. Was the engine still running?

Nice first post! Ahoy.

S.

[f5fstop]

I knew I forgot something....
" the doors locked and the window controls shut down. If I didn't have the door already open at this point, I'd have been locked in."
1. Door open, in the water usually equals water coming into the passenger compartment.
2. Did you ever think of moving that silver lever next to the handle to manually unlock the doors?????

For some reason, this story is so full of holes it is making me hungry for some swiss cheese.

[humma_H3]

my H3 is not water tight with the doors open either.. what a POS!!

man, that sucks for you- but it sure is a funny story to read.

whoever has the "this thread is worthless without pics" banner needs to put that up on this one.

better luck in the future- carry a camera just in case.

matt
cincy

high and dry.

[Agriv8r]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

I knew I forgot something....
2. Did you ever think of moving that silver lever next to the handle to manually unlock the doors?????

.

are you serious. he buys a hummer with power locks and you want him to use the manual button? get real, not even if he was sinking should he have to do that

[Viet Nam Vette]

Originally Posted by Steve - SanJose

Nice first post! Ahoy.

S.

The Captain of the Titanic should not have a drivers license.

S.

I just Pee-ed my self......ROTFLMFASO...and farting at the same time..

[Viet Nam Vette]

Gotta Be an AE....

[Captain of the Titanic]

First, to those of you doubting the story, I say: Why would I make up a story that makes me look like I had my head up my azz? (And, to the many trolls, please make fun of me for admitting that I am human)

Second, The sideways angle of the truck was extreme. Clearly my explaination of the whole mess lacked the clarity I had hoped for. WHen I went into the water, I rolled down the window to yell at my friend to GET ME OUT. The engine continued to run until Durango pulled me out. I then opened the door, letting the water out, rolled down all the windows, and put it in park. The electrical problems happened then.

Lastly, I just thought you all might appreciate a good story involving the joys of offroading. I guess I was wrong.

I must admit, I got a pizzed at a couple of the responders, but I guess that should be expected.

Also, those of you who keep using AE, after I stated I didn't know what the heck that meant, might as well be barking like a dog. Communication is the art of being understood. Try it sometime...

-The Captain

[HIHUMMER]

Originally Posted by Steve - SanJose

Nice first post! Ahoy.

S.

Insert photochop pic here?

[f5fstop]

Explain something to me. In one paragraph you state Onstar shut down due to water intrusion, in a later paragraph you state someone at onstar gave you some ridiculous statement. Which is it? Did the Onstar module suddenly dry out?
As for the statement from Onstar, I have a problem with it. One, if a rep from Onstar actually said that, you can get them fired; however, I don't believe it, since this is not Onstar's policy.
They are an emergency service, they do not determine if what you did was legal, illegal, covered under warranty, etc. Hell, they arrange tow trucks for people who run off the road all the time.
Now if you are trying to say Onstar connected you with Hummer assistance for a tow truck, and someone from Hummer's assistance center said they don't cover pulling you out of the water, the statement is probably correct.
Hummer, from my knowledge, will tow you to a dealer if your vehicle fails, but I do not believe they are responsible to pull someone out of a swamp, lake, etc. In that case, Onstar will call you a tow truck that you and/or your insurance company pays for.

As for water intrusion, I have seen the water tests that the H3 is subjected to, if the doors are closed, I don't believe 30 inches of water will come into the vehicle via the door seals.

I will agree if you have the non-adventure series, the tires do suck. One reason why I opted for the Off-road package. The Bridgestones are pretty damn good on wet rock, and even though I have not tried to see if they slide sideways, I have no indication they would slide any different than any other tire. Tire tread is designed for straight ahead operation, not sideways sliding.

[Hmmm2]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

Explain something to me. In one paragraph you state Onstar shut down due to water intrusion, in a later paragraph you state someone at onstar gave you some ridiculous statement. Which is it? Did the Onstar module suddenly dry out?
For some reason, this story is so full of holes it is making me hungry for some swiss cheese.

Hmmm .. I bet you were great at the game of "CLUE" when you were a kid! Good sleuthing, f5fstop!

[blindzebra]

hmm. i've driven through about 30 inches of water and never hada problem. I do have a question though. Why does a water crossing require to have your windows down? Does that let your seals sit tighter?

[Agriv8r]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

hmm. i've driven through about 30 inches of water and never hada problem. I do have a question though. Why does a water crossing require to have your windows down? Does that let your seals sit tighter?

in case everything quits working, you start sinking, car starts filling up, the pressure will equalize quicker, you have a way out!

[Beastmaster]

Originally Posted by Agriv8r

in case everything quits working, you start sinking, car starts filling up, the pressure will equalize quicker, you have a way out!

Not really - it's an immediate escape route. Since we live in an electrically controlled world, it necessary. No pressurization needed - just leave through the window.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Okay,

Here's the poop

I was NEXT to the farm pond and slid sideways. It was newly dug and steep sided. Ergo the 1" of water on the left and 30" on the right.

Second, you are right, when the on-star failed, I CALLED hummer support. They were the jerks who acted like I was an idiot for being offroad.

Next, they said that any vehicle that was more than 20' off the edge of the road was not eligible for FREE towing. I was about 40' from the edge of the road.

As far as brains, from the posts, I can tell that I have considerable more brains that many of the repliers. Fortunately, I doubt they own Hummers. They are probably happily driving they hybrid Hondas around town not realizing that the batteries in hybrids are far more dangerous to the environment that our Hummers will ever be.

ALso, I HAVE the adventure package. Buying a Hummer without it would be like buying a vibrator for the wife and forgetting the batteries.

And as far as the locks, yes, I tried to manually unlock the doors, but could not seem to do so. The engine was also running until I was quickly pulled from the water by, (Turn red with embarrassment) a Durango. I opened the door, and put the H3 into park and everything shut off and locked up.

Sigh, I wish I had pictures, and should have, because my friend with the Durango chose to take pictures with his cell phone before pulling me out. Unfortunately they did not turn out.

The passenger seat was half-way under water (as well as the right side of the back seat) and I'm being told that the seat will only have to be cleaned, not replaced.

The repair list includes draining and replacing the fluids in the engine, transmission, brakes and diffs. Replacing the module under the passenger seat, as well as the passenger kick panel area. Replacing the wiring harnesses, one of which it looks like will have to come off the assembly line, since no dealership carries it yet.

I would love to say this will be my last posting of this kind, but due to my past episodes, I doubt it.

By the way, I hate to ask, but what's an AE? Annoying Environmentalist?

"He who lives by the sword, spends a lot of money repairing his H3"...

-The Captain