911 underwater

scottjkolb · 09-05-2011, 10:10 AM

A flash flood in the catskills deposited 8"of water in my garage and proceeded to flood out a 1992 911 C4. The water came 1"higher than the door sills. When i got to the car the water had receded. I was told the horn was going off at one point during the flood.
The battery was disconnected as soon as i got to it and I have had the car parked on an incline and have used a wet vac repeatedly on the interior with an industrial fan blowing air through the interior to help dry it out.

So does anyone have any suggestions on things to do before connecting the freshly charged battery and trying to start it? I do not know much about 911's.

Thanks,
scott

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Did interior get wet? Checking the DME would be a good idea....

scottjkolb · 09-05-2011, 11:22 AM

Yes the interior got wet up to the top of the door sills.
Ill look at the DME, thanks.
scott

dad911 · 09-05-2011, 12:10 PM

964 DME is under the driver seat, alarm module, and another(I don't remember what) are under the passenger seat.

May be water in trans fluid if it got over the transmission vent.

bazar01 · bazar01's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottjkolb

A flash flood in the catskills deposited 8"of water in my garage and proceeded to flood out a 1992 911 C4. The water came 1"higher than the door sills. When i got to the car the water had receded. I was told the horn was going off at one point during the flood.
The battery was disconnected as soon as i got to it and I have had the car parked on an incline and have used a wet vac repeatedly on the interior with an industrial fan blowing air through the interior to help dry it out.

So does anyone have any suggestions on things to do before connecting the freshly charged battery and trying to start it? I do not know much about 911's.

Thanks,
scott

Do not connect the battery yet. Make sure the DME computer and all the electronic components under the seats are completely dry. If you can pull the seats out, the better so you can disconnect the electronic components, open them up and get as much moisture as you can from the insides. Buy a can of moisture displacer and spray the insides and let it dry. WD-40 is a good mositure displacer. Good luck.

BoxxerSix · 09-05-2011, 07:09 PM

Yeah we got nailed by the hurricane farther up north from you(I'm minutes from schoharie/middleburg)

You might want to check the front end too. Not sure exactly how high up the breather is on the front diff, but if it submerged you'll want to drain the front end and put fresh fluid in prior to driving it.

Transaxle vent is up higher than the front diff IIRC, but couldn't hurt as well.

I would pull the seats/carpet out and dry the interior. Pic up one of those small cheap electric ceramic heaters and put it on low in the car floor, with doors opens and seats/carpet removed of course.

Pop the covers off the DME and whatnot as well and dry them out. Any water in them when you connect the battery could short and destroy the electronics.

maxnine11 · maxnine11's Garage

You should contact your insurance agent if you haven't done so already.

Best of luck .... water in a modern car can be very bad.

scottjkolb · 09-06-2011, 06:03 AM

Thanks everyone!
I will be pulling the electronics for inspection tonight and verifying if water breached oil vents.
I'll keep you posted as to what i find.
Cheers,
Scott

RSTarga · 09-06-2011, 01:37 PM

The computer for these cars is under the seat, if it got wet, you need a new one, even if you dry it out you will have corrosion problems later. Claim on insurance NOW!

Don Settergren · Don Settergren's Garage

PM me so we can chat. I revived a flood damaged 964 and know my way around what gets damaged.

Battery unplugged - #1 priority. Stop the corrosion!!!

Quickly pull the seats and shop vac under the carpet. Heck, pull up the carpet and the heavy sound deadening pads as they hold a ton of water. Remove all the electronics and open them up so you can clean with electonics cleaner. Don't forget the power seat motors. Pull the covers and clean them. They are robust - only one of mine failed after being submerged like yours.

Head to the cargo area. The ABS pump was most likely under water as well. Pull it and clean the electronics...

PM and call me for a number.

Tall02 · 01:14 PM

Hey Scott

Sorry to hear of your water damage. I am on the other side of the Hudson from you. I was over in Windham on Labor Day helping with the Disaster Relief and saw a Porsche 914 in the mud. My heart sank.

One thing you must address is all your ground connections on the floor. They can corrode easy. Make sure you clean your electrical connections and grease your pivot points around your peddles.

Plus on 964s there is thick foam padding under the carpet in both front and back flooring. Make sure you carefully peal this back and dry out the moisture or it can rust or rot the wiring cable under the foam under the passengers feet.

Let me know if you have any trouble I can drive over an assist...I have a 964 also.

scottjkolb · 09-11-2011, 01:54 PM

Thanks again for the additional responses. Pulling all parts today and tomorrow. We have had an industrial fan blowing air through the interior all week.
Insurance is not an option.

Cheers,
Scott

RW964 · 09-13-2011, 09:46 AM

This is what I like about this forum and others someone has a problem how to do something and like Don Settergren says PM and call me for a number and Tall02 says
Let me know if you have any trouble I can drive over an assist...I have a 964 also PPL with these P cars go out of there way here and at home to help.

redturbo911 · 09-14-2011, 05:55 AM

Keep us posted on your finds and pictures as well.

johnmc825 · 09-20-2011, 01:26 AM

my 92' 911 got flooded also - inside a body shop. insurance adjuster just came out, wants to total it, we had about 18" of water. i'll be interested in what they want to pay for it.

K24madness · 09-22-2011, 03:51 PM

Remove DME and open the case. To dry out the components use a 40 watt light bulb facing the PCB. Close enough to get slightly not hot. I would do that for several days and leave out in the sun on sunny days.

scottjkolb · 02-17-2012, 02:14 PM

After having pulled the ecu and carpet / sound deadening and properly dried the car out, it has sat patiently waiting since September until we had a bit of time to sort this problem out.
We now have time.
I need to remove the seats but can not figure out how to do it without power.
Any thoughts??
Thanks
Scott

group911@aol.co · 02-17-2012, 04:44 PM

Pull the seat wiring connector under the seat and supply 12 to the red wire and ground to the brown and you can move the seat.
Too bad you didn't pull and clean the parts right away. Much easier to clean water than corrosion.

Don Settergren · Don Settergren's Garage

I agree with group911, waiting means you'll be replacing not cleaning your wet parts.

You can pull the flexible cables to the seat mechanisms and drive the seats with a cordless drill or screwdriver or ratchet wrench. Search the forum for multiple posts on power seat removal.