clawhammer

My car got flooded a couple of weeks ago. Water got up to the dash. I ended up buying the car back from the insurance company. I finally got some time to mess around with the car tonight, and I swapped all the fluids. The car started with no CELs.

I decided to take the car for a spin. The first thing I noticed is after a brake test, there was still standing water in the passanger area. The carpet and floor mat were still pretty much soaked. It seemed to run kind of funny. At times it would have trouble raising the RPMS, but other times it was running OK. I even hit VTEC at one point. The biggest issue that i noticed is the car was shutting off when I would hit the brakes and come to a stop. It would start up OK.

Here's what I'm suspecting.
1. There is water in the exhaust, when I hit the brakes, water moves forward, and the car shuts off.
2. Water moves forward and get in the electronics under the dash

Any ideas? Tomorrow I plan on pulling the carpet.

Slows2k

You need to remove whatever on the interior that got wet. It will mold very quickly, take it apart, clean it out and hope it doesn't stink too much.

Any electrical connector needs too be unplugged and dried out. Most likely the PCM is also fried from taking a swim and will need to be replaced.

There is a good reason why they totalled the car. Water has covered all of the electrical control units and wire harnesses. They are all expensive, and labor intensive to replace.

clawhammer

If the PCM was fried, why did the car start?

Slows2k

Water in control units does crazy shite... You could try taking the cover of the PCM and drying it out. In general, water + PCM = new PCM

clawhammer

Is the PCM the same as the ECU, just a different name?

Slows2k

PCM = Power Train Control module. Same as ECU

mikegarrison

Dude, I hate to say, but bad move.

Maybe OK if you plan to strip it down and turn it into a race car or something, but like Slows said, there is a good reason they totalled it.

Slows2k

My local area just had a flash flood over the 100year average. Over 20 cars towed in for flood damage. 2-3K in damage on average for those that didn't total.

Flood water is nasty stuff, it's not clean and damages anything it touches. If you get lucky you can clean/dry it out and still have a functioning car. At worst you replace everything that got wet.

Either way, get ready to spend some $$$$ and time to get a functional car.

Kyushin

ya bro, part that shit out or strip it for a race car flood water is nasty

clawhammer

Part of the reason I bought the car back was because I had mods on the car, and my stock parts were 1200 miles away. This at least gives me time to go and get my stock parts and swap them out.

My plan is to get the car functional if possible without putting a lot of money into it. At that point I'll try selling it as a whole, there's going to be someone out there that will be interested.

If I fail to sell it whole in a reasonable amount of time, then I'll sell it in parts. There is no way that I can loose money on it, since the body panels are fine, the suspension is fine, brakes are fine and the drivetrain is fine minus the electronics. It will simply take time.