Floods! Victim or surviver?

Izso

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In light of recent events, I thought it'd be prudent to talk about flooding and how it affects us - the motorheads.

Generally speaking, water + engine = BAD

Not referring to those water/methanol injection kits, those inject very small amounts of water into the intake and usually as a mist. I'm talking about copious amounts of water that seep into your engine bay through your cold air intake (CAI) or through vents on your hood or fenders. Or worse, if the water seeps into your cabin!



Multiple things could happen if your car get flooded or is driven in flooded areas.

- Cracked manifold and/or exhausts. Hot metal + cold water is not a good combination. Enough said.

- Wet-dog-like-smell-cabin disease. Apologies to the animal lovers, but that's what it smells like when your carpets get soaked to the bone and stays soaked for a week! Worse - puddles of water collects and stays hidden under the carpet.

- Fried electronics. ECUs, amplifiers, wiring, alarm modules, all were not manfactured to be waterproof. The first generation Altis had the ECU hidden in the wheelwell area and everytime you drove over a flooded area, many Altis' suffered catastrophic failure because of a shorted ECU.

- Rust galore. Any metallic part of the car exposed to water too long will result in rust (iron oxide). Rust is like that horrible rash that never goes away. It'll spread everywhere and make it itch like hell. Fortunately for us we can apply some steroid cream to cure the rash. Unfortunately for our cars, rust usually means replacement of the whole metal panel. Rust on the chassis however means much worse - unreliable crumple zones, unreliable flex points making your car generally downright unsafe.

- Hydrolocking. The worst of the lost. This is when copious amounts of water gets sucked into the combustion chamber and your piston tries to compress the water. Can you spell : E-n-g-i-n-e R-e-b-u-i-l-d?



July 1st, Drexchan posted an epic rebuild of a Satria Neo that suffered hydrolock-related damage.



One of our very own ZTH member @ detailer muyo recently rescued a flood victim from the stench of death and hopefully prevented the rustedlikecrapitis disease.

Early 2006 I stripped bare my own Kelisa right down to the bare metal because it was driven through flood waters and water had seeped in covering half my shin in murky flood water. Unfortunately I had fried the ECU that was hidden behind the center console and my steering column had started to rust. The rust was just a simple matter of sandpaper and paint, but the ECU was a costly replacement.

Even earlier in 2004 a few friends and I worked on a complete rebuild of a Putra. That was seriously a sad case, the car was rebuilt inside and out, paint was done, everything was new and the owner managed to submerge the car in a hidden water-covered pothole.... twice. Rescued twice. After all that fuss and close to RM40k spent on the rebuild and rescue, the car was stolen. Sigh.



So with that I give you Izso's tips on how to survive floods.
  1. Remove that CAI or relocate it higher. Most folks hook up their CAIs to the bottom of their bumpers. Bad idea. That's where the water is when you drive through a flooded area. Find a higher up area to suck in that cool air.
  2. Vents and scoops in your hood look cool but they allow water to flow in freely. If there's an extremely heavy downpour, you might want to check your manifold for expansion/contraction cracks. Otherwise consider a custom manifold cover or ceramic coating.
  3. If there's a suspiciously large puddle, don't freaking drive over it. It might be deeper than it looks! (Read my earlier Putra story)
  4. Change your canggified super-turbo-lowered-500bhp-monster for a 4x4. Or a boat. :biggrin:
  5. If you're caught in a flooded area and your car hasn't stalled, keep on driving!! But drive constantly and at medium speed so you don't agitate the water too much which might flow into your engine bay.
  6. If you survived a flooded road and want to fix up your car, don't shut off your car immediately. This is my personal view : Quickly dry up whatever wet electrical bits in your car with a dryer and cloth. Once that's done and you're confident it's dry, switch off your engine and start taking out the seats, carpets and whatever that got soaked in the rain.
  7. If you had amps or whatever electrical components under your seat, check your warranty for flood coverage.
  8. If you haven't already, consider flood insurance.
Lastly, keep those umbrellas and raincoats handy. According to the meteorological department we're in for a wet wet end of year. That isn't a bad thing for the new years eve countdown though... wet... tee.... shirts... *ahem*

:biggrin:


Sources :
Paultan.org
TheStar.com.my

Pictures courtesy of :
Drexchan's hydrolock rebuild
Muyo's Altis flood rescue
Paultan.org
 

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Kevin Lee

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Very cool and informative post as always Izso. I hope non of the members were affected by the freak flood yesterday.

Anyways, I really wonder if the Proton Saga owner below really knows what he is doing

serious flood at kuantan - YouTube
 
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bladerunner

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Well, the proton did make it didn't he?!?!

So we wonder if you really know what you're talking about??? Furthermore, why do you have to include the original post all over again??? Which leads to the next question, do you really know what you're doing???
 
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Izso

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Kevin : I don't know about the saga, but I would appreciate if you didn't quote my whole entire post. It takes up a lot of space la.
 

Kevin Lee

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Well, the proton did make it didn't he?!?!

So we wonder if you really know what you're talking about??? Furthermore, why do you have to include the original post all over again??? Which leads to the next question, do you really know what you're doing???
Even if he did, refer to the post by Iszo, basically the car would be drenched with flood water. Your chassis and interior would have been stained with flood water.

I only accidentally press quote. That's all I did, you could have told me nicely about that one.
 

AD_EG

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nice post bro Izso. a friend of mine just got his 4g18 jammed too from hydrolocking thanks to his CAI.

car went through a small flood...and stalled. car couldnt crank at all...like 0. we helped dry up the car...open up the CAI...inspected saw some water drops in the TB ...bad sign...so we attempted to jump start the car... sure enough. jam. towed the car over.

Result?

2 bent conrods and a slightly damaged liner. total damage around rm1k++ just for repairs with 0 performance upgrades. wtf man...nature is freaky.
 

skazareth

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"5. If you're caught in a flooded area and your car hasn't stalled, keep on driving!! But drive constantly and at medium speed so you don't agitate the water too much which might flow into your engine bay."

I always do this without shifting gear. Just maintain and constantly press the minyak. But i wonder how if it is automatic transmission. What does the effect of gear shifting to this scenario? can we just do the same like manual one? I mean if we use D instead of "2" or "Over Drive". Just askin.
 
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Supra_Fanatics

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Nice info on the First Generation Altis, at least now I guess I better not risk driving
through floods in that car...:top:

Izso, sorry if it is a dumb question, but got once I forgot there is a pool of water, and
couldn't brake in time, I went through it at around 80km/h. Manage to brake a little
before I hit the pool of water and let go the brake and control my steering when I hit it.

Damn, was a big splash, is like as though my car had jumped into that pool of water :banghead:

Would this cause any damage on any parts of the car? Like you said, could be rust
somewhere if there are water there...

I just remember after that day, realised that my car is losing fuel slowly,
end up checking, my fuel tank got a small hole fuel leaking...one spark
from the road could have killed me...stupid me...:banghead:
 

kcng

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Nice info on the First Generation Altis, at least now I guess I better not risk driving
through floods in that car...:top:

Izso, sorry if it is a dumb question, but got once I forgot there is a pool of water, and
couldn't brake in time, I went through it at around 80km/h. Manage to brake a little
before I hit the pool of water and let go the brake and control my steering when I hit it.

Damn, was a big splash, is like as though my car had jumped into that pool of water :banghead:

Would this cause any damage on any parts of the car? Like you said, could be rust
somewhere if there are water there...

I just remember after that day, realised that my car is losing fuel slowly,
end up checking, my fuel tank got a small hole fuel leaking...one spark
from the road could have killed me...stupid me...:banghead:
i dont think that will cause any problem because car manufacturers will take into that kind of situation while designing the car....
i could be wrong... lol

P/S - kev, just lay low or u will literally have a bulls-eye on your back
:)
 

Supra_Fanatics

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Not sure man, but suspect the impact from the hit, might be the caused
of my fuel tank cracked. But be warn, A mech told me Saga BLM, im not
the only case with fuel tank has a hole in it, as in cracked.

Really dangerous la if car that part got any sparks, would have died in explosion...

:banghead:
 

Supra_Fanatics

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Not kebal also, if kebal wont crack also the fuel pipe/tank i cant remember haha
 

EvolutionZ

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usually i just remain the same gear for manual...2nd gear. auto is L or 2. then move at moderate speed until u go thru all...
 

Izso

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"5. If you're caught in a flooded area and your car hasn't stalled, keep on driving!! But drive constantly and at medium speed so you don't agitate the water too much which might flow into your engine bay."

I always do this without shifting gear. Just maintain and constantly press the minyak. But i wonder how if it is automatic transmission. What does the effect of gear shifting to this scenario? can we just do the same like manual one? I mean if we use D instead of "2" or "Over Drive". Just askin.
I think as long as you maintain the revs it's fine whether you're using D or 2 or OD.


http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/munyoong/Toyota Altis/DSC03207.jpg

Is every car the same in terms where the carpet can be removed as a piece and there are no glue/adhesive that stick the carpet to the metal body of the car?
Should be! Unless you decided to soundproof your car with the adhesive Dynamat then sorry la!

---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 11:35 PM ----------

Nice info on the First Generation Altis, at least now I guess I better not risk driving
through floods in that car...:top:

Izso, sorry if it is a dumb question, but got once I forgot there is a pool of water, and
couldn't brake in time, I went through it at around 80km/h. Manage to brake a little
before I hit the pool of water and let go the brake and control my steering when I hit it.

Damn, was a big splash, is like as though my car had jumped into that pool of water :banghead:

Would this cause any damage on any parts of the car? Like you said, could be rust
somewhere if there are water there...

I just remember after that day, realised that my car is losing fuel slowly,
end up checking, my fuel tank got a small hole fuel leaking...one spark
from the road could have killed me...stupid me...:banghead:
No question is a dumb question if it's not an obvious answer!

The cars exterior is generally treated with antirust and coated with paint or some extra stuff. I don't know what they use for the undercarriage but it's definitely protected too. It's the inside of the car that I'm concerned about since it wasn't designed to be soaking wet in the first place.

Look at Muyo's rescue of the Altis. One week with water and the metal was already rusting even though it was coated with paint. I suspect they use different qualities of metal for different parts of the car for cost saving reasons. Doesn't make sense to use more expensive material for the inside when it's not likely you'll be soaking your car in water on a normal day right?
 

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