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

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[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