Car Flood Damage

yeller

Friends car runs into a flood on the road, over a foot and half of water and car stopped, he got it towed home…
ok before we try to start it what pipes etc will we need to remove, its an 06 focus tdci…

cheers

martinr5232

Best thing to do is take out the air filter see is it wet if it is more than likely its good night sweetheart im afraid.

You will need to take all four injectors out and spin it over to get any water out of cylinders beware injectors can be seized in the head on these engines.

CJhaughey

A teaspoon of water in an engine is enough to cause hydraulic lock.

A bent conrod won't be immediately apparent.

yeller

ok so all the injectors need to be removed...

it mighten be too bad if the person did not try to start it in the flood as one it hit the flood no attempt was made to try and start it

colm_mcm

I fear itd be beyond an average DIY job.

I've done this myself years ago driving through a flood.
I was really lucky that my head gasket was nearly gone and that saved the conrods. Just changed the gasket and off she went

CJhaughey

colm_mcm wrote: »

I fear itd be beyond an average DIY job.

I've done this myself years ago driving through a flood.
I was really lucky that my head gasket was nearly gone and that saved the conrods. Just changed the gasket and off she went

On a modern high pressure diesel what are the chances?

JohnBoy26

yeller wrote: »

ok so all the injectors need to be removed...

it mighten be too bad if the person did not try to start it in the flood as one it hit the flood no attempt was made to try and start it

Yes but surely it was running when it hit the flood for it to have sucked the water into the engine and stop up. This is when the damage usually occurs.

shamwari

Don't pull out the injectors, remove the glowplugs instead.

With the plugs out, disconnect the electrical connections to the injectors before cranking. You don't want to risk diesel under pressure blasting all over the place....

cruizer101

Could be water got in engine but could be other reasons would cut out, if water was covering exhaust and revs dropped so not building enough exhauset pressure could cause to cut out, water could have got at some electrics and caused a short. I'm no expert but would take martinr advice and look to see if air filter got wet and for other problems before getting into big jog of pulling engine apart.

martinr5232

shamwari wrote: »

Don't pull out the injectors, remove the glowplugs instead.

With the plugs out, disconnect the electrical connections to the injectors before cranking. You don't want to risk diesel under pressure blasting all over the place....

If its a 1.6 tdci do not touch the glow plugs they will break in the head and id say your in enough trouble without that.

bbsrs

Check is the air filter wet, if not Try turning the engine manually to see if its locked or can rotate, that would be my first task . If the filters dry and the engine rotates through two full crankshaft revolutions I'd say it should be ok to try starting.

yeller

martinr5232 wrote: »

If its a 1.6 tdci do not touch the glow plugs they will break in the head and id say your in enough trouble without that.

its a 1.8 tdci, so try take the glow plugs out instead of injectors, they look very fragile those plugs

martinr5232

yeller wrote: »

its a 1.8 tdci, so try take the glow plugs out instead of injectors, they look very fragile those plugs

You could take the glow plugs out on the 1.8 never seen them give trouble but anything is possible.

shamwari

martinr5232 wrote: »

You could take the glow plugs out on the 1.8 never seen them give trouble but anything is possible.

And if you think pulling the plugs out of 1.6 is messy, the injectors are a total nightmare. It isn't a DIY job whereas the plugs are (just about..)

martinr5232

shamwari wrote: »

And if you think pulling the plugs out of 1.6 is messy, the injectors are a total nightmare. It isn't a DIY job whereas the plugs are (just about..)

You think glow plugs are easy to take out of a 1.6 diesel focus ??

You obviously havent done very many so.

shamwari

martinr5232 wrote: »

You think glow plugs are easy to take out of a 1.6 diesel focus ??

You obviously havent done very many so.

I think you need to reread what I said. I never said they were easy. Indeed they aren't. But they are easier than doing an injector which is a total and complete pig, especially if the seal has failed. Oh, and yes, I've done both. And that's why I told the OP to remove the plugs instead of injectors in case his engine was hydraulically locked. And yes, I've done work on some of those too....:)

George Dalton

I'd rather take injectors out of a 1.6tdci rather than glow plugs any day of the week.

If also rather take injectors out of a 1.8tdci. It is less work than taking the glow plugs. No risk with either though unlike the 1.6 engine.

martinr5232

George Dalton wrote: »

I'd rather take injectors out of a 1.6tdci rather than glow plugs any day of the week.

If also rather take injectors out of a 1.8tdci. It is less work than taking the glow plugs. No risk with either though unlike the 1.6 engine.

Someone talking some sense :-)

yeller

bbsrs wrote: »

Check is the air filter wet, if not Try turning the engine manually to see if its locked or can rotate, that would be my first task . If the filters dry and the engine rotates through two full crankshaft revolutions I'd say it should be ok to try starting.

but i still need to remove either injectors or glowplugs...RIGHT

martinr5232

yeller wrote: »

but i still need to remove either injectors or glowplugs...RIGHT

Turn the engine by hand with a socket and ratchet on the crank pulley for two full turns.

If it wont rotate then you will have to take out injectors.

If you are going for a start just make sure there is no water in the intake system.

yeller

ok thanks guy, we only managed to get around to doing something this morning but we have the injectors now out, wasnt that hard so what should we do now

Slideways

Turn the engine over by hand. If you can get 2 full revolutions without any bother then I'd give it a flick of the key and watch for any spray of water.

After that a compression test will tell you if you have a bent conrod.

I hope you have dried the carpets out or else you'll have one stinky car by now

martinr5232

Turn it over on the starter with the injectors out of it, Check your air intake system make sure there is no water in it, Put your injectors back in bleed it up and start it you will soon know if you have a bent conrod or not if its really smokey and running rough.

yeller

ok so i would not do any damage by putting a new battery in and turning it over on the key once the injectors are out and no water in intake system?

martinr5232

yeller wrote: »

ok so i would not do any damage by putting a new battery in and turning it over on the key once the injectors are out and no water in intake system?

No not a bit spin it over if there is water in it it will throw it out on the first revolution or two.

Then put your injectors back in bleed it and start it.

CJhaughey

The engine has had water sitting in for 3 months? GLWT.

yeller

Ok I put a battery in and tried to start the car on the key but all it does is click once and says “ Engine system Fault ”

martinr5232

yeller wrote: »

Ok I put a battery in and tried to start the car on the key but all it does is click once and says “ Engine system Fault ”

Possible the starter is seized after being left with water in it as was said above you really shouldnt have left it this long to start working on it.

Did you turn it over by hand ??

Possible that the rings are stuck to the cylinders it could be anything to be honest.

MercMad

If its manual trans you could try putting it in gear and rolling it forward a touch to see if the engine rotates. Even if the car was driven into a flood the starter wouldn't have filled with water or still have water in it.

The fact you are getting that error and no starter seems to indicate an electrical fault. The ECU is seeing something it doesn't like or not seeing something it should see.

Fuel pump fault perhaps ?

Ronnie Beck

Hoopefully you've not fried some electrics. Since it's being sitting wet for three months I'd also look for corroded starter connections. Then have a look at the other plugs for the MAF etc. for damp/corrosion. Try and clean every thing up with wd-40. Probably check for fault codes then if you can rule out the starter as the cause.