Car was submerged in water!!! need help

[M-Technic]

well here's the story...
Well not sure how many of yas now but here on the gold coast we've had 360mm of rain in around 12hours so yes its been Flooding.
So last night i was heading out and after 5mins of driving i thought ide turn back home cuase i couldnt see 10m in front of me. So i started heading back home a different way to what i came un awareof what i was about to run into.

So i went around a corner and b'cause of the minimal vision i didnt see the BIG puddle in the road and then there i was in it with water half way up the door and coming in! So i jumped out the window in boxer shorts and a singlet and pushed the car back out. Well as u would figure i couldnt start the car and i decided to leave it there over night (the flooding went down and i had put the car out of the water level already). :cry:

The next day i get calls from mates saying my car has water over the bonnet (yes it was high). When i finally got to the car the water had gone down and my car had been pushed (by the water) with the back end halfway in the lane. Eventually i got it towed home (mates towed it with his BMW). :cry:

So now i have a completley wet interior (didnt get as high as the instrument cluster) and an engine bay that was completly submerged in water (i was shocked to open the bonnet and find dead grass n crap all over the engine (couldnt see metal). :cry:

Well anyway im just wondering if anyone knows the best way to dry the interior of a car and what i have to do to the engine so that it will be safe to try and start. ive been told you have to take out spark plugs and turn the car over to get any water out and also use alot of water disspersent. is there anything else ishould know about?

Sorry for the long post guys.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
THANX
Eric

[NUTTTR]

Before you do anything.... check with insurance to see if you are covered for flooding....... if you are just claim....... engines rust inside.... and break very easily if there's water in there and you aren't careful..... the ECU is in the engine bay, i wouldn't be surprised if it has water ingress.... Interiors are NEVER the same after they have been wet, especially with rain/mud, etc..... try and claim before trying anything IMHO!
Otherwise what you said works..... only way to dry the interior is take it all out and dry it out of the car, the floor of the car will rust otherwise as it will hold large amounts in the underlay...... the door panels, etc are not ready to be wet like that........ you will have to replace them most likely

Aaron

[Dave]

yeah man insurance job, youl be very lucky if it starts cause of the electrics and by the sounds of it u didnt disconect the battery its prob all half fried, if ya lucky ullg et a enw one outa them atleast a 80% new one if they decide to replace eberything, the motor may still work. with a bit of a clean up.

[SSS_Hoon]

get pics?


SSS_Hoon

[Namus]

so if u disconnect the battery before the water gets into your engine bay, ur all right? is that right? curious...

[JohnBu]

hope your car is comprehensively insured because it will most likely be a write off

[Bernard Siong]

does insurane usually cover natural disasters?

[oneightoo]

sorry to hear that about your car dude.. my car park at home was flooded luckily it didnt reach high enough to get into the car only about 100mm..

[ultim8DTM5]

Chances are water has gotten into the intake and you have flooded the engine. Be careful as the engine may seize if you attempt to turn it over.

= new engine.

[M-Technic]

thanx for all the input guys. unfortunatly i dont have insureance yet. (yeh yeh i know im stupid but $3500 a year. no thanx)

So far ive taken out the whole interior (carpet/ seats) and me g/f gave em a wash with fabric cleaner. so ill find out in a couple days when they dry if it gonna be ok. With the electrics ive sprayed water dispercement (spelling?) on em (interior and engine bay).
With the engine ive cleaned it all up and took the spark plugs out and turned it over. Water came spurting out and after 10secs or so it was all gone. So ive put em back in and connected everything and tried starting it but it dont wanna start up. I had this problem with another car when it went through a puddle and got stuck but that fixed itself. I think it might be water in the exhaust so im gonna disconnect it and make sure it all clean.
All the electricals are a lil wet still i think so i have to give that a while till everythink works right again.

And ill get pics up tonight some time.
Cheers guys

[zoidberg]

insurance job for sure. most insurance covers natural disasters, only thing ALL insurance companies dont cover is terrorism

[lowey22]

no insurance! OMG :shock:

[oneightoo]

no insurance is crazy man.. and just a little stupid too.. sorry man, dont mean to put crap on you, but i wouldnt wanna be in your shoes should you have an accident.. when you got the water out of the engine bay, did you make sure it was dry? there still could've been some water in there??

[auzvectra]

does the e330 have coil overs (coilpacks on the spark pulgs), or seperate pack and dizzy style, if so, check the dizzy for water, check the ecu for water damage or water, check for spark at the spark plug, is the fuel pump running.
just a few good places to check, is the fuel just fuel, is there any water in the oil, prob so, if so, DONT turn it over, flush the oil, give it a service oil n filter, but this may just be a waste of money, so just get some cheap oil n filter, maybe just flush the filter as it's a cartridge type, in a bitta deisel n oil mixture.
spose u wont be out tomorrow now ey, damn.
i gotta have a look but, poor thing, they dont like swimming, n it's such a nice lookn car.
GOTTA fix it!!!!

[M-Technic]

well i think i know why it wont start up.
ive got one of those pen lookin things that light up when you attach a - and a +. ive got power going to my starter coil but none coming out (the plug that goes to the distributer) so im guessin i need a new one.

and yeh oil change is coming tomorrow and i only have like 4L of fuel in the car.

[journo]

A less than honest person would ensure all posting was unable to be traced back to them... immediately get third party fire and theft insurance wait a studious period then park the thing at a mates place out bush and claim for theft... "officer I left my car on the side of this country road while I was at a mates place up that driveway drinking... and in the morning it was gone..." (different mate to the one it is parked at) then claim the theft...

This less than honest person would then wait until AFTER the cheque arrived then call in a shooting on the other side of said bush region and when certain of no cop presence tow the car to another quiet location and torch it... bloody dishonest people are so dishonest.,.. I have a feeling no one on this forum is dishonest... especially with their insurance companies...

hmm.

[CJB]

Hmm, be careful with anything like that! They have Private Investigators that well, find out the truth if they suspect fraud or something sus! (Sorry to be a 'wet' blanket)

I hope everything works out for ya :(

Insurance companies don't cover Terrorism??? :o

[Charlatan]

Geez, dont start talking about insurance fraud. Get caught doing that and you'll still be paying for it when you're 60!

Shame about your car mate, hopefully you can get it sorted. Personnally, I'd have it in the tradingpost once you get it started. What sort of car do you have btw?

[M-Technic]

well ive got the engine started. i had to replace the ignition coil (lukily my mate had a spare). and im changing oil now.
My only problem now is my clutch wont disengage (hydraluic). ive bleeded the lines and thats done nothing so im still working on it.

i have a BMW 318i 89'. yeh yeh i know im on opel. ive organised a few cruises on here and know a couple guys.

Thanx guys

[lowey22]

good luck

[Anonymous]

:screwy: :bang: :mrgreen:

[NUTTTR]

you'll find if you aren't careful that some insurance policies don't cover "act's of god"..... i.e. if you park under a tree and the branch falls on it, you may not be covered.......
Good idea to check it out!