Hello, Could anyone advise me what to do with my car? It has been doing a submarine for 2 days. I just took all the interior out to dry. Now what else can I do? Thanks

 

Check out the attached guidance document from Toyota.

It is mostly about salt water flooding, but can be used as a guide for fresh water too.

 

Thanks for info.

 

Thanks for the info
This is not salt water im dealing with. So far i have managed to rip out all the interiors and dry the eletronics. I am not sure about the engine though. I am going to change the oil and filter and transmission fluid, brake fluid, coolant plus drain the fuel tank and clean all the spark plugs. However how do i determine whether the water got into the pistons or not. That seems to be the great cause for concern for now. The car was parked and locked when it got submerged.

 

How high was the water?

Check both air filters. If dry that tells you how high the water got. If not then dry out the ductwork. Maybe a leaf blower would help.

When the spark plugs are out you can look inside the holes for water. There are flexible scopes etc to do this with but I am not familiar with them.
The rear bank will be more of a challenge.
You can also try turning the engine over with the plugs out so there is no pressure. However I have no experience with this. Maybea try suctioning out through the spark plug holes and then pouring a few tablespoons of oil into them.

I don't think the cooling system would be affected as it is pretty much sealed up except the overflow tank. It depends on how the overflow tank looks and the fluid in the radiator.
The brake fluid also probably is okay as it is also sealed.

 

Sounds like the water was pretty deep - was the engine totally underwater?

If it was truly submerged, I might pull the Bank-2 plugs and have a look in the cylinders, they are easy enough to get at.

If you do that, look for water in the intake: air cleaner, throttle body, and surge tank.

If you don't find water trapped in the low points of the intake you might stop there.

However, if I found water in Bank-2 I would also pull the Bank-1 plugs - not so much fun.

 

What Clutchless said!

 

I would punt on the vehicle.

All mechanical items which have fluids in them have a breather hole [engine, transmission, differential (if equipped), battery, brake reservoir] which will then take in water. Incidentally the coolant is sealed and you just need to dump out the overflow. Rest have to be drained, refilled, rinsed, drained and filled again.

The interior can again be shampooed and dried [you will not be able to get to every nook and cranny].

To me the thing that tips the balance is the electronics and electrical connectors. Corrosion and deposits that set in get worse over time. They are impossible to trace and repair.

So if you want a reliable and dependable transport then a flooded vehicle does not qualify. I hope you have insurance to fall back upon.

Salim

 

Thanks for you help. The water was over the roof. Atm i am planning to do what you said there. Suck all the water out through the spark plug holes if there is any. The car was not moving so I think there was no chance the water got inside the cylinders.

 

Thanks. I got to live with the reality and take whatever comes. There is not a chance im getting rid of the car and also insurance doesnt cover this.

 

Thanks for the advice. By Bank1 2 what do you mean? I am thinking of 3 spark plugs on each side is a bank?

 

Can anyone show me how to get all the fuel out and where the tranmission fluid is at please? Do i crank the enigne without spark plugs after all the fluids and filter changed or before ?

 

Bank 1 and bank 2 are the front and rear cylinder heads. The rear one is very hard to get at and to do so requires several hours of work. You have to either remove the windshield wiper motor assembly, or the intake manifold etc. There are youtube videos on this procedure and threads on this forum. It is a big job. Be very careful removing the individual spark plug coils as the wires are fragile and easily broken. I don't think the engine will be in a condition where you can crank it with the rear bank plugs out as more of the engine may be disassembled unless you do the wiper motor removal method. Just get a flexble tube video scope to look into the spark plug holes. Amazon probably has something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ING-RK7NJ-c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf-4hq3kJFI

For the transmission see ths video. There is no dipstick. There is a drain plug and inside the hole is a small plastic overflow tube that must be removed with a 6mm allen wrench per the video. Then the fill hole is on the side and the driver side front wheel needs to be removed to get at it. It is a 24mm bolt and all of this is in the video. However you can only drain about 2 quarts at a time this way.
Filling the transmission and adjusting the fluid level is a pain in the A$$ as shown in the video and your car needs to be running.

To drain the gas tank get an electric fluid pump with a hose you can stick into the tank. Amazon probably has something or maybe a local auto parts store.

Of course all of this work may be for nothing as your car still may not work or work properly after all of this labor and drying out. Electronics may be damaged permanently and there really is only so much one can do to fix stuff in this situation.. It will probably stink in a few months from mold.
As Salim said below - do the math. And figure the odds. It will probably be better to sell it to a junkyard for $200 and then spend $3000 on another car than to spend $3000 trying to get this submarine running again.

 

In the hope of getting things to work, you will be spending some $$$($?). Just work out the math.

The worst thing you can do is crank the engine before taking care of essentials. If you have water [more than moisture] in the cylinder, the engine will not crank as air is compressible while the water is not. Also waiting for things to dry seems reasonable, but not for engine and moving parts as they begin rusting.

Before doing anything, take the spark plugs out and squirt engine oil/transmission fluid mix into the holes. Then gently turn the crank pulley nut [with a wrench] back and forth to begin with and hopefully full 360 degree turn forward. Then plug the holes and do not install the coil packs.

Once everything is in order, [rinse preferred but replacement of fluids has been done], remove the plugs, hand crank agains 2-3 turns. Leave the plugs out and use the starter to spit out the oil introduced before [cover the holes with rags]. Then proceed to install plugs and coil packs and try to start.

Remember with the engine running [idle] transmission fluid is also being circulated.

 

If this vehicle was indeed completely submerged in water (fresh water is terrible and salt water is even worse), it will quickly become a massive money pit even if you manage to get it running again. I would get rid of it as soon as possible.