Victim of a flooded street...your thoughts

[ek5.56]

For collision, yeah, this is usually the drill. For internal engine damage, how's the estimator going to have a clue without somebody tears into it? The issue is probably that the shop wants to know they are going to get paid for tearing into it, regardless of what they find or what happens next.

Thats kind of what I figured. However I just talked to my friend, and he got ahold of one of the guys he works with. They are going to go through the car prior the adjuster coming out, but have no yet done that. My insurance company told me they'd be in touch with the dealership. I think just in case they haven't I'm going to call the dealership and give them the heads up that the adjuster is coming out Thursday. I wouldnt be surprised if this guy just shows up unannounced.

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[nuowner]

What do you mean, "got her"?

Flew through the parking lot like an asshole and made a wave that got sucked up by the Escape.

 

[charleswrivers]

I hydrlocked my first Z32. It didn't just die... the engine seized immediately, and the rear tires locked and I came to a dead stop. I was in a parking lot with an inch or two of water... but didn't realize there was a drainage spot in a portion where it was lower... low enough for the CAI to suck water up. The one on it was no more than a foot off the ground.

Pulled the plugs and what intake piping I could... turned the engine over to pump all the water out... put it all back together, fired it up... let it idle until steam quit coming out the exhaust (20+ feet of intake piping on them) ... oil change. Drove it another year without any ill effects.

That old VG30DETT was a tough engine. You may get lucky.

I have a dual intake/MAFs will a Selin translator on my current Z32... and it doesn't play in the rain much. No CAIs for my Civic. Where I'm at, it wouldn't survive.

 

[ek5.56]

Update as of an hour ago:

The adjuster got out to the dealership today! Worked with a tech to see how much damage was done. Seemed like a super chill dude. Anyway... as I expected they pulled the plugs all cylinders were squirting water. He said they were pretty much full. He decided to play it safe for cars sake and just order a new block and head gasket. Reason being - replace it all, and have piece of mind knowing nothing was missed. Also because I would have exhausted my deductible anyway. The engine is being ordered today I believe and is shipping from California. Expecting it in about a week. So far I'll be getting a check from insurance for $3700.

So to summarize, sounds like the water can and will get in to the engine very quickly. And when it does, you're done.

 

[Tenshi]

Hmmm. Was there any mention of the turbo? I know the intake connects to the cold side but having a bunch of water in there cannot be good. The thing would have been going a few thousand RPM when the tsunami hit.

 

[ek5.56]

Hmmm. Was there any mention of the turbo? I know the intake connects to the cold side but having a bunch of water in there cannot be good. The thing would have been going a few thousand RPM when the tsunami hit.

No he didnt mention the turbo. Honestly, I was going very slow, my psi was around 0psi or even negative. I was taking care to not try to stomp on it just incase I was getting in there deep. Even though that didnt help, the turbo at least wasn't spooling that hard. That being said, I know it wouldnt take much for it get messed up. Might be worth asking the tech to take a look at it.

 

[dick w]

As with collision, there is probably the recourse of "supplemental" claims as they get into the job.

 

[charleswrivers]

So to summarize, sounds like the water can and will get in to the engine very quickly. And when it does, you're done.

Yep. Until you hydrolock a car... there's a lot of thoughts that preventative measures are effective. Hydroshields... that you just *won't* drive through that puddle when you're following the guy in front with cars on your back bumper.

It takes very little actually. You get the filter up to the tube immersed, you're engine *will* pull water up rapidly. Immersing the exhaust pipe won't keep an engine from running so our engines certainly pull hard enough to suck water *right* up.

The spot that got me was barely a foot deep... and only about 1/2 a car length in diameter. When I went through it... because there was a little bit it a slant, the front angled down a little. I was driving really slow... so 1) allowed more time for the water to get pulled in but also 2) lessened the strain on the engine when the rods took the strain of having my entire powertrain down to my wheels lock up. I couldn't see the spot, and there was under ankle deep water through much of a parking lot I'd parked at a couple years for work. Drainage sucked and it got backed up in any rainstorm and that *one* time is where I rolled over a drain point.

Glad you're getting taken care of. Interesting they're not going to attempt to recover the engine, as it *could* be fine... but at least you'll know you're good. And yes... the entire intake path would have water... including a turbo who's compressor side got flooded out. Not being spooled at that moment certainly bodes well... but it they're pulling the block w/o even considering just recovering it... I'd bring up the turbo. The ducting and intercooler can just be dumped out and let to dry. The MAF will either work... or not... and be replaced as needed.

 

[ek5.56]

Yep. Until you hydrolock a car... there's a lot of thoughts that preventative measures are effective. Hydroshields... that you just *won't* drive through that puddle when you're following the guy in front with cars on your back bumper.

It takes very little actually. You get the filter up to the tube immersed, you're engine *will* pull water up rapidly. Immersing the exhaust pipe won't keep an engine from running so our engines certainly pull hard enough to suck water *right* up.

The spot that got me was barely a foot deep... and only about 1/2 a car length in diameter. When I went through it... because there was a little bit it a slant, the front angled down a little. I was driving really slow... so 1) allowed more time for the water to get pulled in but also 2) lessened the strain on the engine when the rods took the strain of having my entire powertrain down to my wheels lock up. I couldn't see the spot, and there was under ankle deep water through much of a parking lot I'd parked at a couple years for work. Drainage sucked and it got backed up in any rainstorm and that *one* time is where I rolled over a drain point.

Glad you're getting taken care of. Interesting they're not going to attempt to recover the engine, as it *could* be fine... but at least you'll know you're good. And yes... the entire intake path would have water... including a turbo who's compressor side got flooded out. Not being spooled at that moment certainly bodes well... but it they're pulling the block w/o even considering just recovering it... I'd bring up the turbo. The ducting and intercooler can just be dumped out and let to dry. The MAF will either work... or not... and be replaced as needed.

They’re not trying to salvage the engine basically for a peace of mind. Either route they take if be exhausting my deductible so I’m good with a new engine. I’m emailing the adjuster now about the turbo though.

 

[ek5.56]

Not so great news...

The car should be done by the end of the day tomorrow. My buddy isn't the one working on it but hes been kind of keeping tabs on whats going on for me. He thinks there will still be problems though. They pulled the plugs and tried to crank it, he said water was shooting out like a fricken hose. As they got in to the work though, he said I had water in the head, turbo, block and direct port injection. But only the block is being replaced. So essentially the adjuster, even though he made it should like he was doing me a favor, basically said "lets just start with the block and see if that fixes it". So if what my friend is right, it'll be who knows how long for them to order the other parts and do the labor for them.

 

[ek5.56]

So the insurance company is really dicking me hard. When the DIs were ordered, they knew the water was in the turbo and the head, but the dealership either didnt order or, and more likely, the insurance company didnt want to order those yet and wanted to try one part at a time. They're wasting my time, the dealerships time because my car is just taking up space on a lift, and the techs time because at flat rate, these jobs dont pay well. The block work paid 14 hours and I'd be surprise if he got it done in that amount of time start to finish. So, as I've been saying from day one and telling the adjuster to have it checked weeks ago... they had to order a new head and turbo yesterday! So I went from "it'll be done Monday" to "you wont have it back this week".

On a side note, the customer service with MetLife insurance sucks hippo dicks. I'll be dropping them first chance I get. I've called countless times now to have them remove my CBR that I sold 3 years ago! They owe me a credit back to July 2015. They told me they can see the plates were canceled at that time but still haven't taken it off. Shame on me for not paying attention to my policy over the last couple years as I just caught it when I bought the Si.

 

[choo]

Sorry to hear OP, hydrolocking can be surprisingly easy to do with a CAI.

I say this because I hydrolocked one of my cars while I wasnt even in a puddle. Just minimal runoff. I was driving in the rain for a few hours though. I downshifted to decelerate, and water had been pooling in the intake manifold in a U bend....once the vacuum got up enough to pull the water out of the bend it sucked it all into one cylinder and bent the rod.

 

[jred721]

First let me say that while I know that hydrolocking an engine can happen to the best of us in situations where you think it wouldn't happen, i'm really surprised that it actually got all around the engine like that even with you driving pretty cautiously from what you said so I really hope that everything works out. I would make sure 100% that they fix every single possible thing on that car though because from experience, once you ignore something or just look it over, it tends to bite you in the ass later on and damage other things in the process. Good luck man.

 

[CivicChina]

consider yourself lucky! Over here you would just get a kick in the butt by the insurance because the intake was modified.

 

[360glitch]

This is closer to a $10,000 problem than a $3,700 problem. (assuming new OEM parts and the dealer fixing everything)

Good luck OP. I’m sure if you fight long enough you’ll get it all taken care of.

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