DuderItsOver

Hey guys,

Bought a 2008 350z two days ago and early this morning it rained HARD. Enough to come almost to the center point of the wheel hub. I opened the door after the rain cleared to see about an inch of standing water behind the driver and passenger seats. I'm going to attempt to dry everything out.

Anyone know of anything in particular I should be looking for in terms of damage (aside from the obvious water in engine/transmission)?

Thanks guys.

poopman123

Strong 1st post.

How did the water get in??

pbgrep

iTrader: (2)

glad to see another VA driver, and thats why my Z in sitting in the garage today. I doubt anything got into the engine, but i wouldnt go around driving it until it dries out for a few days, just me though. As for the interior dry it out as quick as possible, do you have somewhere you can put it thats not outside? If you let it sit in your car, it will stink forever... unless you replace the carpet

DuderItsOver

Unless there are unsealed wiring holes in the lower portion of the firewall, or behind the seats, I don't really know. The water was about half an inch above the door seal line, but all the trim and carpet at that level is completely dry. Makes me think the door seals did their job.

The water subsided enough to take a good look at everything. It seems like the worst is the driver and passenger pans, and the seats wicked up a tad from the standing water. Went ahead and turned over the engine too. Seems ok. There was a decent stream of water coming out of the exhaust pipes though. My guess is it never made it all the way up. The only thing that scares me is it hesitated a couple of times around 1k rpm in 1st gear. Still very new to the car, so don't know if that is too low of an rpm to get the car rolling. I'm used to a much older V8 that is just fine with letting the clutch out at 600 rpm.

DuderItsOver

I've thrown everything out of the garage and brought it in there. Using a wet vac as I speak to get everything as dry as possible. Working a lot better than expected. Fingers crossed.

JedixSole

iTrader: (5)

good luck bro.

whatZheck

WTF? Are everyone else's posts weak because they do not have water inside their car? I guess it would have been even stronger if his entire driveline fell out of the car.

midz350

iTrader: (4)

I would change the engine oil and filter ASAP.

pbgrep

iTrader: (2)

I would also think about doing this... it didnt sound like the water got high enough to enter the engine, but if ANY did its gonna ruin your engine sooner rather than later... whats 30 bucks compared to a new engine?



also really look at it when it drains... if it looks thinner than it should then you def got some water in it and i would take it to a mechanic

Junkster

iTrader: (3)

I HIGHLY doubt any water contaminated the engine or oil....sounds very minor, dry it out to avoid any bad smells and park it inside in the future when heavy rains are expected.

There are some fuzes to check out on the kick panel on the driver side though...but it doesnt sound like water got high enough to even come in contact with them, regardless you would have noticed something wrong right when you started it if that were to be the case.

Glex25

iTrader: (11)

Use a dehumidifier inside the car to remove all moisture once you are done with the wet vac after that use some baking soda to remove any other moisture or smell from the car

Junkster

iTrader: (3)

^+1

MikelHochst

it until it dries out for a few days, just me though.

rallysportdirect

iTrader: (3)

If it isn't too hard pull out some of plastic trim on the edges or what ever is needed to be removed to lift up the carpet and make sure the carpet padding underneath can air out and dry completely. Once it dries I would recommend using a carpet cleaner to clean the carpet as it will refresh/ and clean it and help with any smell or orders that could happen after some time if they are not cleaned or treated properly. I have had experience with cleaning cars with water damage and getting them as dry as possible will make all the difference in the end. You may want to also make sure that there is no electrical wires that run on the floor or car that could have been submersed under water as this could potentially lead to an electrical issue later down the road.

Thanks,
Dallin

DuderItsOver

Great suggestions, went ahead and did everything except take it to a mechanic (don't have time during the work week).

Everything is now dry as a bone as far as I can tell. Didn't get the carpet completely up, but far enough to see the padding was dry. So far, no odors other than the new car smell it came with.

The oil's consistency looked good, and no oil/water separation was in the pan. Definitely wasn't new oil though, so changing it was good even if it hadn't been flooded.

Functionally, everything seems to be working well. The only thing I noticed is if the engine is still warm when you start it up, immediately after the initial RPM surge from ignition the RPMs dip down to ~200, then go right back to normal. Not sure if this is how it should do a warm start.

Also found a new thing to look for when buying a used car: Since the car was in the garage I decided to get every inch of it as clean as possible. Took out the air filters to give them a glance and noticed seeds jamming the entire driver-side filter. Looked down and there was a big handfull of eaten seed sitting in the air filter pocket. I guess the car had set for quite a while at some point and a mouse used the pocket as its home. Nothing in the engine bay was damaged/gnawed on though. Air filter isn't usually something I think to check on a 15k mile car.

Hell of a first week of ownership...

Thanks for the suggestions guys!