Houston tx, officially sucks.

My car got flooded tonight along with 20x other cars. Luckily my car shut off and didn't bog and I have a feeling my motor may still be good. I know that I have to take off my spark plugs and drain the oil and replace it with a new filter and try to see if the motor will still crank. If it does then I don't have to go through insurance and file a claim and have a salvage title. My question is, does anyone know how to change the spark plugs on our F cars. I'm pretty sure oil is similar to an is350 but the spark plugs I know is deff diferent. If anyone knows or has a diy write up on oil changes or spark plug changes can you please let me know asap. I need to work on my car asap! Also the interior is screwed but I'm hoping I can get the carpeting steam air dried if possible. Any help would be great guys!

 

Have you contacted an insurance rep? That would be my very first action.

 

Low Offset

That sucks. I live in Houston near Friendswood. I took my Dodge truck to work yesterday and left my ISF at home. Karen left her BMW 335i at home too, and took her old Expedition. I have lost two cars to flooding here in Houston over the years, the first was a Cadillac Eldorado and the second was a Ford Taurus. The Eldorado had water all the way up to the dash and the engine was hydrolocked. Didn't really damage the engine but took four weeks to dry out the inside of the car. Whatever you do, get the inside dried out today.

Did you get water up the dash? That would worry me with all of the electronics we have in our cars.

Pat

 

no the water came up to the floor board. I'm hoping I can save this car. I'm going to go get it from the shop right now and bring it back to my house.

 

If the water only came up to the floor board then you shouldn't have any in the engine. I would certainly get the car home and dried out today. Remove the seats and floor lining and dry it well!

 

So sorry to hear! At least Texas has those giant coin operated car washes - vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. I accidentally left the top off a Del Sol in heavy rain at night before in Dallas, I vacuumed all day and shampoo twice, then I got two standing fans and let it blow into the car the whole next night - everything went back to normal.

 

Even if my car shut off by itself? You don't think I got water into the engine? Our cars are pretty low. The flood was just about 2 or 3 inches under the head lights. Although all the lights were still working.

 

Well if water made it above the grill somehow (splashed in?) and into the intake track there is the possibility. I wonder if the engine shut off as soon as water hit the air filter causing the car to stall out form lack of oxygen. As long as you didn't try to restart and draw in more water I think you should be on the safe side.

Good luck and keep us posted. I'm really sorry to hear this happened to you and I certainly don't envy you right now.

 

How long do you think I should wait before I tried to crank it? I still have no help on how to change the spark plugs and I'm pretty much dumb founded without it. I don't want to turn the car and bend some valves. Right now it's been about 12 hours since the incident.

 

Someone else will have to chime in and give you pointers on exactly what you should do. I've never changed out the plugs on any 2IS and I'm not exactly sure what else you should do before cranking up the car. I'd send a PM to both Lobuxracer and Carchitect and see if they can give you some guidance.

 

thanks cayman i'll try that!

 

Why not have it towed to a dealership and have them check it out carefully, and at the same time contact you insurance carrier.

 

My recommendation is not to try starting it until you have removed the spark plugs. My Taurus bent a rod when I tried to start it after flooding it. totaled the engine. If you have water in the intake, you could suck water into the cylinders when you tried to start it. removing the plugs will give the water a place to go if it does get into the cylinders. Water is non-compressible.

I would also suggest that you change out the fluids in the transmission and the rear end before you drive it very far.

Pat

 

sorry i am going to chime in on this one...

ARE YOU CRAZY? DO *NOT* DO ANYTHING TO THE CAR YOURSELF.

Call your insurance company....then have the car towed to Lexus.

LET THEM DEAL WITH IT.

No freaking way you should be worried about "saving" the car.

Flood damaged vehicles may be fine... for a while... but you have no idea where water went and whether it has all been removed once it's cleaned. Water in an electrical connector (especially water from Houston) may not manifest itself for 6 months - then all the sudden things stop working....

it's a nightmare for sure, but i vote 100% NO NO NO on doing anything yourself.... chances are that *if* you damage something (like the motor) after trying to fix it yourself... your insurance company is going to wash their hands of you, your car and your claim....



doug

 

wow that's crazy...doesn't really flood much in So Cal...but good luck on gettin the car back to it's beautiful self!