fourdown

During the rain in Florida Recently, my car got stuck in a flood and my bottom of my engine was sitting in water... now 2 days later, the car will still not start,

after checking my oil it looks like coffee with some cream in it... i'm kinda scared guys, someone please give me some good news!!

a depressed 4down

Tom R.

trying to start it was your first mistake.

my buddy did that in 84 with his 84 300zx. his was the first 3 liter v6 ever opened outside of the factory in japan.

he bent a connecting rod and scored one of the cylinders. after he got it back he traded it in because we were sure the crankshaft bent to. water doesnt compress like gas does!

drain all fluids of water and oil, replace with correct oils, try spinning the crank by hand to see if anything is hitting, check for any damage and good luck.

make sure no oil is in the coolant. you may have blown a head gasket with the pressure.

nyda

Starting was the mistake, my dad did this to an old landcruiser once, if you would have removed the spark plugs then started it, all of the water would have just shot out, instead he has a bent rod (I can take a pic if you want he kept it).

Strange part is that after he started it (with bent rod) it still ran okay (made a small ticking noise). You are probably going to need to do a compression test etc.

SidViscous

Just to pass on the information. The problem is that are air intake is so low to the ground, any water in there is an "ahhhh ****"

Sorry to hear.

IceShark

Well, we have the hydrolock issue as well as being soaked that deep.

Water in oil .... you must have driven water past the piston rings? If true, this not good as you likely bent something in the process.

How deep in water did the car get? If you also got the interior soaked in flood water you are going to have mold, mildew and electrical problems in future. On an '86 NA (or about any car for that matter) you have just been totaled out. Sorry. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

nyda

Just thought of some more info to add, use WD-40 on the spark plugs to get the water out/away from the contacts (WD=water displacement).

This picture should turn your stomach some.
<a href="http://www.members.***.net/nyda/bentpiston.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.members.***.net/nyda/bentpiston.jpg</a>

fourdown

wow... i am soo depressed...

the car is currently on its way to my local porsche specialist.. i don't know what i will do if i lose my baby, i've only had her since Feb. and this would be a horrible way to lose her....

<a href="http://www.hyperstarnetwork.com/ex/freespace/4down/main1.html" target="_blank">http://www.hyperstarnetwork.com/ex/freespace/4down/main1.html</a>

heres what she looked like...

the car was sitting in water up to about an inch or 2 under the door, we got it out of the water as soon as possible, it ended up getting about 4 inches inside the car thru the notorious battery tray leak.

how hard is it to pull the carpet in our cars??

**** **** **** **** ****

SidViscous

Very purty

Okay better description. I think wea ll thought water got in the intake.

If water in the cabin is the culprit then you might be in better shape. Pull the carpet (not that hard) and see if the DME and so forth is soaked. You could have a much cheaper, but also difficult electrical problem. But if that's the case it's far from a loss.

IceShark

If you only had the thing in an inch or two below the door sills you may be ok on hydrolocking. Unless there was some sort of wave action going on. Doesn't explain your milkshake in oil, though.

4" in the interior is not good. Is the DME in the floor on an 86 NA? That would certainly explain why you can't start. Everything is shorting. Get the DME out, open the case, clean and dry off. Then spray the living bejebbers out of it with silicone spray. Pull the carpeting and seats out. Seats may be able to be saved but I would replace the carpet off a parts car. Also pull off the door pannels to see what is going on in there.

On second thought, the seats are probably shot if it was 4" deep. They may seem OK now, just let them cook for awhile and it may be a horrible smell.

Maybe things are not so bad if what you say was actually the worst of what your baby saw.

fourdown

the seats seem to be fine, although i havn't gotten them out to look underneath.. there was some wave's goin on in the water, the front was under more than the back, (weight?) sitting about an inch under the licence plate frame...

4down

Legoland951

I bought a 88 with water in the cylinders. I am pretty sure you didn't have that problem because you still have oil/water in the pan. I bought a car with a chunk of engine block missing the size of your palm on either side of the engine and 1/3 of the oil pan was gone. You can see through the bottom of the engine from both sides as the rod broke both sides of the block. Even then it started on 3 cylinders.... change out the oil, dry up the DME under the passenger foot board, remove the spark plugs and pour a little trans fluid in case there is rust already and crank it over a few times with the plugs out. Then replace the plugs and see if the car starts. Good luck.

Mr. Avionics

Hey Fourdown,
Nice looking car in the pic's. Hope nothing serious happened, yea that sure was alot of rain we had this week. I dodged most the low areas driving home Tuesday night, luckly. If there is anything I can do to help, give me a shout via e-mail, your phone no., I'm also here in Ft. Lauderdale.
Hope all goes well,
Bill

qoncept944

This won't help you get your car started, but given that you DO get it running again, you probably shouldn't need to replace all the carpet. Our basement flooded in 93 and we pretty much said the carpet was toast. But I spent a couple hours down there with a wet vac and then set up every fan we had blowing around for the next week and after a shampoo, the carpet just needed tacked down and it was fine. If you pulled the carpet out and cleaned it like that, you could probably save it (maybe make it look better than it does now.. )

Devia

Suck all the water out of the carpets ASAP with a wet vac, and the strongest you can get or borrow!

My car was wet when I got it, due to a leak in the roof, drainage problem, etc. But I yanked the passenger seat out, and sucked it up, and added an enzyme to the carpets that you use for pets. So far,so good.

Good luck, don't give up on it yet. Lego has some expert advice there!

- Julie

Chris_924s

the DME should be ok-- providing it didnt get wet/ luckily water is a terrible conductor. WD40 or contact cleaner (the electronic tuner kind)will dry out the electronics.. Wait til its THOROUGHLY dry- WD40 is flammable!!!