Risks in buying flood affected vehicles?

[nsgnomad]

What are the risks in buying a flood affected vehicle? What do you think would be the electrical items that would need to be replaced? Ok, cleaning and the carpets/seats etc. would be an obvious but what about the not so obvious? :confused:

[PhilipA]

EVERY electrical connection.

I have a friend who is an insurance adjuster. He writes off NEW Commodores if the water got to dash level.

BTW, this may change in NSW from next month when there is no economic write off as insurance companies will not write off as many cars, as there will be no recovery value. ie it will be more economic for the company to fix a car if severely damaged as they factor the wreck value into the total cost of claim.

BUT they will still write off most dunked cars as problems will continually arise as months go on.
Regards Philip A

[chazza]

Don't forget that it will not just be water that has got into everything but abrasive silt as well.

If you want to re-use the vehicle, the engine; gearbox; drivetrain; etc would all need to be stripped and cleaned and reassembled, in addition to just about every electrical component.

Imagine the time needed to do a thorough job on something like a Range Rover, or Discovery :eek:

[Homestar]

Don't do it. As Phillip A said, you will be chasing electrical problems for ever. It will make owning a Rangie look like a stroll in the park. Had a friend who drowned his VL dunny door, got it going again, then spent a weekend each month hasseling me for help to get something on it going again - usually the engine, as all the electrical connectors kept on corroding and stopping it. Something really old with bugger all electrics in it may be ok though...

[bee utey]

I helped rescue an XE Falcon sedan that had been flooded in a shed to halfway up the doors. Basically everything electrical, including the instrument cluster, starter and distributor, had to be stripped right down and repaired. Brakes survived, but the main problem was the interior.

It stank.:mad::mad::mad:

The car was effectively worthless but it got a mate out of trouble. I wouldn't dream of doing it to a more modern car.

[101RRS]

25 years ago I drowned a Suzuki Sierra on Fraser Is - ended up 10' under - drove it back to Newcastle three days later - when it got covered the battery was disconnected so no power running through.

On the way home contant missing due to drops of water still making its way into the carby - charcoal canister suck up the salt so tank had no breather and was being sucked in as fuel was being used and engine starved of fuel - drove home with the fuel cap off.

When home the lining inside the tank started to come off and continually block the fuel filter. Then the clutch started making noises - the release bearing seized up - as the Suzuki was only 3 months old the tank and clutch was replaced under warranty.

The tacho stopped working due to corrosion and the movement was replaced by one from Kmart - a good dose of WD40 kept the other instruments going. It took about 6 months for the foam in the seats to dry out which meant a wet bum for a while. Salt constantly oozed from the seats. After about 3 months the steering went funny as the bearings all started to sieze - easily replaced. Every piece of gold and grey cad on components disappeared before the car was pulled out of the water.

At about 12months the seat frames started to collapse due to them being rusted out - all reinforced with concrete reo rod.

The body never developed rust and I sold it 4 years later in good going order - I never developed electrical issues.

The reason I never developed electrical or body rust issues is because of actions I did before and after the incident - power off saved electrical components. When I got the car over to Harvey Bay I went to a 4wd hire place and asked what they do - answer take the car out to a farm dam and push it in and leave it there submerged for a view days to neutralise the rust. I did not have a dam so I used the caravan wash bay at the park to completely wash down - soak the entire car with fresh water - did this repeatedly over 24 hours to wash all the salt out - also it was a new car so all the paint etc in the inner panels etc was still good and not cracked.

I do not know why I did not claim on insurance - maybe because I was worried about being knocked back for being offroad - but if I had my time over again I would claim.

I would definitely not buy a flood damaged modern vehicle.

Garry

[CraigE]

Does not take much water to do damage and damage on vehicles you would not expect. Water crossing here in 2009 Nissan Patrol Ute (fire appliance). Water was up to bonnet, but was only a 40m crossing and only that deep for 20m. Day shift did this, as it was due for service next day requested all fluids replaced. Had done 40kms since crossing. Result is gearbox is US. :o

[JDNSW]

I would only buy a flood affected vehicle for parts - and then it would want to be cheap!

After the 1974 Brisbane floods numerous cheap cars appeared in southern states, and those who bought them often had severe disappointment. And cars today have far more electronics than then.

John

[Bundalene]

I wouldn't even buy such a vehicle to dismantle, anything with an electrical connection will more than likely be dodgy for years to come.


Personally I think a lot of these vehicles, in Land Rovers, any with an ECU, BCU, ABS, gearbox controller, .... should have been stat write offs. Just think of the people who unbeknowingly buy such a vehicle from a dealer, after a quick fix and clean-up. No doubt problems for years to come.


A small example - about 5 years ago, a friend of ours who had a D2 had his windscreen replaced, after which it developed a tiny leak on the drivers side. Water went down a loom and onto the back of the inside fuse box, which corroded some of the terminals on the plug. The symptoms of the fault were that every now and again, every dash light would come on. Took ages to find, and this was water on only one connector.

So unless it is a reasonably low tech (electrically) vehicle, get it very cheap, do an extremely thorough tidy and then expect things to go wrong, avoid it.

Erich

[pfillery]

In Qld, any written off vehicle will need a WOVI report which costs a few hundred. They need this if they are a repairable writeoff, even if it is just hail damaged (you don't actually have to fix the hail damage, but you have to still get it checked to make sure it is safe to drive). It also goes on the car's "record" so if someone does a Vcheck or similar history check, which dealers have to provide in basic format when they sell a vehicle, if it is a repaired write off, this will be logged. It is worth the $30 it costs, I think a lot of people who don't do this will get caught in years to come.

The auctions have already started, saw a defender at one on Saturday. A lot of auctions won't let you start the vehicles so you really have no way to be sure of the condition. Buyer beware.

I'd buy a water damaged series for parts, but that would be as far as I'd go.

[tony66_au]

Apart from the mechanical issues the foam used for interiors soaks up flood water and stinks.

I helped a mate with a GTiR pulsar that was flood damaged and we ended up throwing the whole interior out and replacing it because even the Dash stank after being washed, disinfected by a 3 day soak.

Personally?

I wouldn't.

[Basil135]

This just in:

Buyers warned about flood damaged cars | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/buyers-warned-about-flood-damaged-cars/story-e6frfku0-1226003725424)

[350RRC]

I know a guy who has a 70's 2 door RRC who was up to a bit of mischief years ago and the (then near new) Rangie rolled into a dam........... water up to the roof.

He and his mate found a farmer with a big 4WD tractor and got it pulled out, pulled the plugs etc, got it going and drove 250 k's home.

Over the next few days all oils got changed and the interior dried out. The motor went for another 800k k's, gearbox had some issue at about 500k k's and that was about it.

He doesn't drive it much anymore but AFAIK the motor still runs OK.

cheers, DL

[PhilipA]

Just to give the reason for my earlier post as it is quite topical.

During the 74 flood, my brother's Vauxhall Viva was stuck in the garage of my mother's house at 63 Ashfield St East Brisbane, as the garage was about 1M above the front yard and by the time we got there the water was 100MM deep in the garage so no go to get it up to the back yard which was much higher.
Some blokes came in in a speedboat, and we all lifted it up under the floor and stacked breeze bricks under it.
The water came up to about 50CM from the floor and went I went down after 3 days the water had come up to about 1/2 way up the windows of the car.
I had sealed the petrol cap with glad wrap and ditto the carb and taken the battery upstairs, so I then went about getting it going. After draining about 25 litres of water out of the engine, changing all the oils, and running WD40 through the generator and starter I got it going.

This was a bit difficult as I had entrusted my 12 year old nephew to dry and clean the dizzy, impressing upon him the need to do one wire at a time, and not to mix them up.Needless to say he didn't do that.
So after towing for a few Ks and numerous backfires , I figured it out.

Now my older brother took the car over when the owner brother died and had the car in his family for 20 years, and he commented to me many yeas later how the car always had electrical problems from then on, with the light sockets corroding and switches falling apart.

I find it hard to believe that a 70s RRC did not have electrical problems after being in a dam as they were crap even without dunking. Even the basic cars of those far gone days were crap after dunking. The engines and trannies were OK, it was and is the electrics that were and are the problem.
So believe me. been there done that.
Regards Philip A

[350RRC]

I'll ask him about the electrics after the weekend. He should be home from sailing his yacht back from FNQ.

Cheers,DL

[HPLP]

Ive worked on a 'submarine' 90 and the bloke i work with is the guy that recovered it.

Basicly it was parked at the top of a slipway, the owners got out and strolled down to their dingy and it followed them into the sea. This was a 200tdi....

Now it was recovered and from what I was told, it was completely soaked with freshwater as there wasnt a lake or river nearby to push it into, the chassis and other metal components (inside of doors and bulkhead) were coated in oil.

The engine was drained and flushed and all other fluids were changed.

And finally all the electrical connections had to be pulled apart and washed and oiled.

Now the vehicle probabily lasted shorter than if it hadnt been swimming in the sea, but it was better than scrapping it and leaving corrosion take hold of the components.

I would have thought that it would get a whole lot harder in a td5 disco onwards but easily done on a earlier one.

There were only a few problem connectors that were forgotten about or not properly connected.

H

[Hamish71]

Yes, Buyer Beware!.....Im the buyer, and I cant wait til these auctions really kick into gear!
Buy the way, if you are sellers, than everything is ruined....ruined I tell you! Scrap value only. :)

Shopping List:

Camper Trailer (d'uh....to camp in)
D90 (to start another project...I dont have enough at the moment!)
Series 1/2 RX7 (parts for project)
KTM 300 EXC (restore)
Subaru Forester XT (parts for project)

[tony66_au]

Just spoke to a mate about this as he was an insurance assessor and he said there were 3 basic rules.

Fresh water = Maybe

Salt water = Probably not

Flood water = Definitely not

His reasoning being coz that's what the insurance companies generally go by unless its something very valuable or rare.

And because flood water is nastier than salt water for contaminants and usually contains biological waste such as raw sewerage.

The Age = simplicity rule also applies.

Cheers,
Tony