Flooded Yaris

[gswell]

Very high tides from the bay (salt water) have flooded my Yaris about a week ago. Insurance totaled the vehicle and we bought it back as a gamble.

I removed the complete interior and the only the carpet was wet below all of the electronics. The floor pan has about 10-12 rubber gaskets which can be removed opening to underneath the vehicle. I removed these, cleaned and drained everything with fresh water and WD-40 where appropriate. I think we will be reusing the carpet as its been washed and is almost dry now. There was about 4 pieces of insulation that I'm replacing because they won't completely dry out.

Just wondering is anyone has any other suggestions.

I'm also looking to add some insulation because of the road noise. Here's what I'm thinking.
http://www.soundprooffoam.com/automotive-sound-dampening.html

[Sabretooth]

hmm Good luck foremost...

So are you hoping after you 'fix' the car that you come out on top from the insurance check?

[gswell]

hmm Good luck foremost...

So are you hoping after you 'fix' the car that you come out on top from the insurance check?

Insurance paid me the full value of the car and we bought the car back for a fraction of that price. I'm running the vehicle now with just the two front seats installed and no carpet or padding. It runs fine just needs new padding. I think the insurance company was worried that salt would corrode the electronics and engine because they have to warranty all repairs related to the flood for as long as we own it. Honestly I think the car is fine but it is a gamble.

[Sabretooth]

pretty decent gamble, only time will let you know 2-3 years down the road.

[thebarber]

nice deal, dry that mofo out...

[127.0.0.1]

ur electronics will start to crap out and die. bit by bit....over time

[Betrivent]

You never know. Depends how high up the water got. But otherwise, lift that yaris up and wash the underside of the car and whatever you can get at to remove the excess salt.

[AmyV]

Good luckers, dude!! :smile:

[tomato]

Worse case scenario, the car demands hugely expensive repairs down the road? You can always part it out :iono:

Good luck with it.

[ozmdd]

I would go through every single electronic connection and clean them with contact cleaner, then apply dielectric grease before you reconnect them, where its appropriate. You'll probably never get all of it out, and the electrics will probably fail before their normal lifespan, but you can probably delay it quite a bit.
On the other hand, I'd be very concerned about the airbag sensors in the bumpers, and anti-lock sensors on the brakes (if you have them),a nd would think about spending the $$ to have the dealer or a high-end body shop inspect/replace them.

[TinyGiant]

how flooded was it?

like up to the windows or something or lower?

[gswell]

how flooded was it?

like up to the windows or something or lower?

Maybe a foot but not totally sure...

I don't think the water came over the door sill but underneath through the rubber gaskets. None of the electronics or cables got wet.

I would say the water came up to at most a couple inches above the floor pan.

We immediately pushed the car out of the water and onto a dry part of the street. I thoroughly rinsed the outside, wheels and under carriage at that point.

[nemelek]

There were a lot of flooded cars from Katerina that were totaled that somehow got cleaned up and put back on the market. If you are worried about it, clean it up and sell to a privet party. Use that and the insurance to buy a new one.

[TinyGiant]

id say you'd be fine then. thats no worse than driving through something really deep

[127.0.0.1]

id say you'd be fine then. thats no worse than driving through something really deep

incorrect


soaking causes water to invade all wire looms and electronics via capillary action. if any harness got wet (o2 sensor, abs sensors) you do not know how far the damage goes, and never will. that is why insurance companies write them off. they are 'not worth it' for a reason
....and that has been time tested year after year, flood after flood.

[CTScott]

I would really rinse it out well with fresh water. My ebay purchased totaled Yaris (Crashy) was exposed to the elements with only the damaged windshield and one rear window still in place. Every non painted piece of metal (seat frames, dash supports, ebrake assembly, etc.) is extremely rusty (and that was with exposure to rain water).

[supmet]

Maybe a foot but not totally sure...
We immediately pushed the car out of the water and onto a dry part of the street. I thoroughly rinsed the outside, wheels and under carriage at that point.

I would say tinygiant is correct and this is no worse than driving through a deep puddle.

I'd take it for whatever you paid in a heartbeat, and so would every person here telling you its not worth it.

I'm off to go park by a beach and wait for a big wave

[talnlnky]

i would've done the same thing.... but probably would've pulled all wire harnesses out that would have been submerged and weren't a complete pita to get to. multiple rinse and dry steps with fresh water of course, and of course make sure all lube is present where lube needed to be. Salt will corrode metals faster than normal... but really its the connectors that will corrode, not the conductor(metal) in underneath the insulation in the middle of a 5ft run of wire.

hand cleaning each connector including your fuse panels would be a good idea. There are multiple electronic contact cleaners made for purposes like this.

[gswell]

I would really rinse it out well with fresh water. My ebay purchased totaled Yaris (Crashy) was exposed to the elements with only the damaged windshield and one rear window still in place. Every non painted piece of metal (seat frames, dash supports, ebrake assembly, etc.) is extremely rusty (and that was with exposure to rain water).

Scott,
Thanks for the feedback, I was hoping for some input from you. I bought a product that is for rust and rust prevention that I have from a previous unfinished project (KBS-coatings.com) It's a 3 step process and I haven't used it so I comment on it (i think it's had some write ups in classic car mags tho). If I do it, I'll look to remove the stuck on pads on the floor pan which I guess are used for sound proofing. Then I can perform the full process and paint directly to the metal (and all the other metal pieces between the two front seats). For now I'll just drive the car until I make a decision on doing this rust seal application. It's probably best to do this application/paint and then put some new sound proofing material down.

I have some time to kill before the carpet insulation pieces arrive...

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Maybe you can find a wrecked yaris (or 2) in a junk yard and replace most of the electronics? Might be worth it...

[CTScott]

Scott,
Thanks for the feedback, I was hoping for some input from you. I bought a product that is for rust and rust prevention that I have from a previous unfinished project (KBS-coatings.com) It's a 3 step process and I haven't used it so I comment on it (i think it's had some write ups in classic car mags tho). If I do it, I'll look to remove the stuck on pads on the floor pan which I guess are used for sound proofing. Then I can perform the full process and paint directly to the metal (and all the other metal pieces between the two front seats). For now I'll just drive the car until I make a decision on doing this rust seal application. It's probably best to do this application/paint and then put some new sound proofing material down.

I have some time to kill before the carpet insulation pieces arrive...


It's amazing how much water those insulation pads can absorb. When I pulled the ones out of Crashy they weighed about 20lbs each.

The rust preventative, or at least a light coat of WD40 is probably not a bad idea on the bare metal parts. Since you have windows, I would suggest putting a household dehumidifier in the car an running it overnight (with the drain plugs back in). That will suck the moisture out of the harnesses, head liner, and all off the things that are a hassle to disassemble.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

It's amazing how much water those insulation pads can absorb. When I pulled the ones out of Crashy they weighed about 20lbs each.

The rust preventative, or at least a light coat of WD40 is probably not a bad idea on the bare metal parts. Since you have windows, I would suggest putting a household dehumidifier in the car an running it overnight (with the drain plugs back in). That will suck the moisture out of the harnesses, head liner, and all off the things that are a hassle to disassemble.

they also have these big tubs of Damp-Rid (http://www.damprid.com/) which would not need to be plugged in (also if cheaper if you you don't have a house dehydrator already) I think you can get them at hardware stores...

[birdman]

If the water wasn't too high too long it might be fine. I lived on the coast of Maine and was gifted a 5 year old '82 Honda Civic wagon that was in a beach house garage where a tidal surge came half way up the doors inside. I washed everything in place with Lysol and aired it out and drove that car without any related maintenance issues other than my front rear fender bottoms rusting apart. A couple of metal clothes hanger pieces and some longer self tapping sheet metal screws rectified that. After 12 years of reliable service I sold my somewhat rusty car to another eager owner. I think you lucked into a super sweet deal.

[ozmdd]

If the water wasn't too high too long it might be fine. I lived on the coast of Maine and was gifted a 5 year old '82 Honda Civic wagon that was in a beach house garage where a tidal surge came half way up the doors inside. I washed everything in place with Lysol and aired it out and drove that car without any related maintenance issues for 12 years before selling it to another eager owner. I think you lucked into a super sweet deal.

Good info, but remember that an 82 Honda is a different animal than an 08 Yaris, electronically.
I do agree, fundamentally, that a well-dried and cleaned-up water-damage car can live a long life.

[yaris-me]

I think you lucked out. Have fun!:thumbup:

[birdman]

The Yaris and Civic are different but I would wonder why a Yaris would be more vulnerable than the Civic.

[CtrlAltDefeat]

The Yaris and Civic are different but I would wonder why a Yaris would be more vulnerable than the Civic.

My guess is that more electronics = more vulnerable. An '82 civic is practically stone age compared to today's cars... Think about it, that was 27 years ago. If Moore's law applies (not sure if it does tho) and technology doubles every 2 years (That's exponential growth!), technology has doubled 13.5 times since '82. Even if Moore's law doesn't truly apply here, I would bet the Yaris has at least 1000 times more circuitry then that civic (by my calculations Moore's law says it's about 8,192 times as advanced as the 82 civic)...