Help! Flood Water Damage!

[NISMO_R33_GTS_T]

Hey everyone,

I dont know if you guys have heard yet, but Newcastle got hit by flash floods yesterday! THe water levels rose so high....cars were floating down the street. Unfortunately i was stuck in grid-lock traffic, with no choice but to drive through a rather deep section of road....1 metre 'rather deep'!!!..... I was lucky to get home! As a result my pride and joy is misfiring and carrying on! It idles ok....starts to rev ok....then, all power just drops out/cuts off...then trys to pick back up again! ....not happy!

I obviously figured, i managed to get water in the intake (seeing as though water was washing up over my bonnet!!!)....so i started to pull a few things apart to see how far the water got! The air box had a fair bit of water sitting in the bottom!.....the piping from the air box to the turbo was damp!....the piping from the turbo to the intercooler was damp! (which means the turbo must have got water in it! F$%K)....the intercooler had a bit of water sitting in the bottom of it....it also has a greasy/oily film through it! (im thinking oil from the turbo!).....the piping from the cooler to the engine-intake was only slightly damp....and fortunately (and about the only fortunate thing about all of this mess!) is that the engine-intake (just before the throttle butterfly) looks relatively dry!

Ive taking everthing inside...in an attempt to dry it all out....but i really need some expert advice ->

1) what damage may have been caused?

2) what if water is still residing in the turbo?

3) what should i do with the intercooler? How do i clean it out?....i put a hair dryer through it and the air velocity seems to slow down from one side of the cooler to the other....is this normal?

4) What do i do next? How will i know if there is damage i've over looked?

I plan on putting everything back together this morning....so its kinda urgent....any expert advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers

[blind_elk]

I think all you have is water in the electrics. Water in the intake will stop the engine dead in its tracks as it fills the cylinders with water.

If you can, get the car under cover, spray the engine bay with liberal quantities of WD-40 (or similar), and let it dry naturally. You may need to disconnect and inspect every connector in the engine bay to ensure they're all ok.

[Links]

Maybe check your coil pack AFTER it's dried, make sure there is no water down in there..

[LatinR33]

Sounds electrical to me. take it down to an auto electrician if worse comes to worse. good luck!!! Just be happy to be safe man those storms are crazy in newie. you can always fix your car.

[SECURITY]

yeah sounds like you've got a bit of water sitting around your spark plugs. take out your coil packs and check for any water that has ponded in the spark plug hole. dry up as much of it as possible and it should run as it did before.

[NISMO_R33_GTS_T]

Cheers guys!

After a great deal of stuffing around....ive manage to pull it all apart and put it all back together again (drying everything as best i could in the process)! Other than the water found previously....there was a 5cm-10cm well of water sitting under the ignition coils!

Its been a long day...i really need to sit down...so long story short it started...blew a little white smoke (water in the exhaust?...oily film in the intake?) and seems to run ok! However there are still some unresolved issues :-

1) I can hear a whining noise coming from the engine bay...perhaps a bearing? but dunno what one?

2) occasionally i can hear a kind-of-belt-slipping sound

3) When i run it through the entire rev range....up high (around 5-6k)...occationally it hesitates a little. Not sure if this is water still effecting electrics? or perhaps some crap goin through the intake?

4) Seems to run intermittently smooth then a little rough? (maybe even missing a cylinder occationally?)

5) Dunno if all my sensors and electrics are ok or not?

[_x_FiReStOrM_x_]

I can imagine the AFM would have soaked a bit of water... maybe try changing that?

[Duncan]

mate it will have been wet coils for sure, you are pretty lucky - like blind_elk siad you can sieze an engine if too much water gets through the intake, and you probably wouldn't be covered on insurance.

Dry around the spark plugs, leave it a few more days and everythign should come back fine

[Trust33]

holy fekk

[lighty01]

what about the belts?

belts may be slipping causing the whining noise?

could have been damaged in the wet.. wouldnt hurt getting a new set of belts either..

[Guilt-Toy]

your lucky. my car broke down at cardiff and has been there since friday night. Mine is a wiring fault from the water somehow

[heyhey!]

any water above like 20cms and i wouldnt go near it....1m i dunno how u arnt down the river with the car?