With all the rain we’ve been having, especially in the Southeast, we experienced a flash flood at my house. We had a lot of damage to our home, so much that we had to move out. My poor Integra, which is lowered a few inches already, was in the lowest part of our driveway:
You can see the high water line on the upper part of the gauge cluster. The waters receded within an hour or so and I was out there within the next few hours bailing water out of the floorboard with a cup. Over the next couple of days I worked on using a shop vac to remove water from the floorboard and seats and then set up a dehumidifier inside to pull water out. It is sitting in my garage right now with a fan running in one door and a dehumidifier at the other.
My plan right now is to take it back to stock and then sell to someone locally. I’d like to get it running so that a buyer could at least drive it home. I love this car and would like to keep it but it was already a lot of work and now it will need extensive work just to get back to where it was before all this happened.
I’m looking for experienced opinions on what steps I need to take to try and get this thing running. Please don’t comment to tell me it is totally F’d and I need to scrap it, etc. My other car was totaled by insurance and I bought it back from them, so I’ve already heard all of the typical stuff about airbags, phantom electrical issues and what-not.
but seriously though, unless your going to replace EVERYTHING (literally EVERYTHING) i wouldnt bother with it. its just one of those things man… sorry about your situation. would YOU buy a katrina car?
But even non salt water will cause havok for any cars electrical system. Unless you’re going to de-pin every plug and thoroughly clean and re-grease everything I wouldn’t put much work into it.
Dry it out as best you can and sell it as-is, with the issues disclosed.
Thanks for the input. Any thoughts on getting it running? I’m thinking drain all fluids, check exhaust for water, check cylinders and intake, re-fill fluids and try to crank it. I can fill the transmission with regular 10w-30 and then re-fill the radiator with straight water. That way the most I would lose is the money for a couple gallons of oil and some of my time.
I’ll of course disclose the damage to any potential buyers. Hell, it would be impossible to hide the fact it was submerged. I figure it could still make a good shell for someone wanting a project car. The title is clean and I’ve replaced the majority of the suspension bushings with OEM rubber.
i highly doubt that anyone would even consider a flooded car as an option if they were in the market. imo your options are part it out, junk it, sell it for under 500$. parting it out may be your best option…
I changed the engine oil and transmission fluid and pulled the spark plugs. I sprayed a little WD-40 in each cylinder and then turned it over by hand a few times. It was initially seized up but once I got it turning it was fine. Reconnected everything and plugged in the battery and was able to start it. Electronically everything seems to be working but who knows as time goes on.
The new problem though is the clutch is rusted to the flywheel. Anyone know any tips to break it free? I know I could drop the transmission but at this point I’m really just trying to get the car moving so that I can get it out of there.
