89 928 went swimming

[Baenzi]

I have a 1989 S4 that went in to the water up to the roof.
I have spent a lot of time drying her out. I am now ready to put power to her.
Is there a main electrical protect fuse or relay or what ever?
I did just hook up a battery to move seats and there is no pulse anywhere.
So, if anyone has had this issue, any help would be greatful.[/I][/B]

[Mrmerlin]

disconnect the battery and then remove all of the relays on the CE panel as well as the fuses also the LH/EZK brains next to the panel drain the oil remove the aircleaner and the MAFand.......

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by Baenzi

I have a 1989 S4 that went in to the water up to the roof.
I have spent a lot of time drying her out. I am now ready to put power to her.
Is there a main electrical protect fuse or relay or what ever?
I did just hook up a battery to move seats and there is no pulse anywhere.
So, if anyone has had this issue, any help would be greatful.[/I][/B]

What is a lot of time drying it out? There are loads of electrical stuff that is in box like structures (ECU, Relays, etc), which will hold lots of water. Unless you have removed "all" these pieces and opened them up to verify they are totally dry, your looking into making yourself more trouble. My father in law taught me how to properly dry out circuit boards that had water on them.

What have you actually done to dry this car out? I wanna see pics of it playing Submarine too.

[Baenzi]

OK, Thank you.
I have not removed the fuses and relays. I will. I will also remove ECU. Can it be opened?

No pic's available, to embarrassed.

So there is not any type of master circuit protect fuse or fusible link?

I will continue to dry more prior to putting power to it.

[XLR8928]

Reminds me of the time Tom Cruise played U-Boat commander.

[MPDano]

Although I just named a few electrical things that could still be full of water, there are a lot more. You got to be real careful as water will short things out and cause further issues. The way my father in law taught me to dry out a circuit board is using the natural sun for a few days. After all the water has been dried out, depending on how long it was submerged, you will get corrosion and that will need to be brushed off with a fine metal brush.

You've got your work cut out for you and it's not just take it to a Porsche Dealer and the next day you'll have your 928 back like tom Cruise did in the movies.

You still haven't answered the question of how long was it in the water and what else have you done to the car since then?

[Baenzi]

It was in for about an hour. Swamp water. Then sat out in the cold MI weather until Saturday. Everything froze. Rear wheel were locked up when we tried to moved it in to the garage. Now it is in a heated garage. Rear wheels are free now.
I have removed the seats and am currently drying out car. Engine had a complete rebuild, GT cam, ported, steel sleeved cylinder walls, forged pistons etc..... Lot of lot of lot of money in this guy.

[MPDano]

Well, that's enough time submerged to fill up every enclosed electrical part in the car. Even the Seat Switches are probably soaked. You in for some serious work on this one. Is it yours? Or are you fixing it for someone?

[Baenzi]

It is all mine

[928worldwide]

Steel sleeved the motor? Who does steel sleeves???

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by 928worldwide

Steel sleeved the motor? Who does steel sleeves???

Carl at 928 motorsports for years.

http://www.928motorsports.com/parts/cylinder_sleeves.php

[rhjames]

89 S4? Ouch.

pull the motor and put it in another S4......one that has a blown motor. tear down the motor and rebuild it again. If there's water in it, there's probably dirt, silt, sand in it as well. Same goes for trans axle as well.

drying a flood car is not worth the trouble, specially since it was waterlogged and then frozen. Water will be in places you can't even think about, and then freezing that moisture will expand everything the water was/is in. Think about water inside wiring, electrical components, body cavities, upholstery, instruments, HVAC and it's related parts....the list goes on and on. You will have to totally strip the car to it's shell to do it right. And then there is the cost of replacing everything/anything that's water soaked.

And then there's the MOLD issue......think about that.

nothing will be the same.

collect insurance (if you had any), build/purchase another car.

if this was a GT or GTS, I might say fix it, and that would be a stretch. otherwise, it's a big money/labor loser.....

Sorry-

--R

[Danglerb]

I think I may know this car, it was for sale maybe a year ago from a shop with no prior experience with a 928 that decided to try a steel sleeve to fix some motor mess and they wanted to sell the car for some side ways issue in semi put together form. Wild guess.

Swamp water, not clean and full of silt.

Up to the roof, water and silt went everywhere, inside all the relays and motors, and engine etc.

Allowed to freeze, water expands as it turns to ice with enough force to split boulders and crack blocks.

Applied 12v before car was clean and dry, Wet fuses don't blow, dirty water conducts electricity, no guess on what may have been damaged.

Allowed to dry before getting it clean, yuck, stuff that might have rinsed out easily with clean water is now embedded.

You need to find out what you should be doing asap and start doing it, but if ever there was a time to total a car, this might be it.

[Xlot]

Yep, as above, your best option at this point is to stick the motor into a car that has suffered thrust bearing failure or some other catastrophic engine failure.

Even if things seem to work ok once you've opened all the relays and electronic control units, you'll find stuff stops working as corrosion continues.

Plus water will have got into all kinds of awkward places, like inside the steel frame.

Also, if you haven't yet, drain the oil from the engine, change oil filter, take the plugs out, turn it over a few times by hand to make sure there's no water in the cylinders, refill with oil, and then use the starter motor to turn the engine over and re-oil the engine, before sitting water causes engine issues. You can activate the starter either using a switched/fused test lead off a car battery - but disconnect the rest of the car's electrics from the starter first, and make sure the car's own battery is disconnected.

[rhjames]

at this point, I think you should shop for a new body to put your recently built motor into. the more I think about the labor and parts list you will be involved with, I would ONLY attempt this if it was a low # production or a car of some historical value.

even cleaning your motor is not going to be cheap. 5 hours to pull it, a few more to disassemble it, and then, even if you only clean/re-gasket/rebuild it you're looking at a minimum of 10-15 hours, maybe much more--depends upon how much silt got in the motor. Gasket kit could set you back about $500 or so, and the labor $1000-$1500 or more.

Now, you may get to $2000 (min) just to have the motor ready for another car, so......any car you get should be priced below what you've got in your motor and the costs to put in it another car (add another 5 hours).....

considering today's 928 pricing, take the insurance (again, if you had any on it) and buy another ride. You could then buy back the salvage on you current swamp buggy, and then part it out.

there are no good alternatives to this deal other than parting and acquiring another ride.

--R

[Baenzi]

Danglerb is correct. This engine was rebuilt due to thrust bearing /torque tube issue thrashing engine. Bought it for salvage cost, 3000.00. Motor was immediatily drained and oiled. Car ran extremely well, strong and fast. Engine was installed by Porsche certified mechanics. Hopefully engine is OK.
Electrical, starting to go thru everything one by one. I love to waste my time restoring Old muscle cars so I think I will try this one because I will make this an ultimate challenge.
I Love 928's.
Can anyone recommend any good salvage yards or sellers of parts cars?

[DMRK]

Long road ahead. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Might try Mason with 928 Worldwide.

[Danglerb]

I don't think this will be a challenge, just a waste of time. Many many hours into this it will get worse, water in places water has never gone before will start rusting out areas that normally never rust. On warm humid days mold will wake up from a long sleep and thrive in unreachable spots, but easy to smell. Unless the motor is completely torn down and hot tanked trapped pockets of silt will eventually come loose and run through the cylinders and wreck the bores. Wool Slivernet carpet is ruined by water. With a LOT of work you might be able to save the chassis, which has almost no value, mine will shortly go to metal scrap.

Find a another car and take what you have that can be cleaned and transfer it over.

[Landseer]

928's International on the west coast has salvage parts + a long history of ethical business.

[Baenzi]

Danglerb you are ruining my drive on this project. Based on everyones comments, Anyone interested in buying this car for 3000.00?? If interested, email and I can take and send some pic's. 1989 S4 Black/Tan auto. Seats are out, entire fuse block removed to dry, ECU , Jetronic out to dry. Slight body damage along passenger side from going into pond.