Mother Nature Hates Me

[vonteego3 0]

Tropical Storm Erin is rolling in, and everybody at work is expecting to get sent home early... what sort of responsible management doesn't send their people (who aren't doing anything anyways) home when a tropical system is coming in, right? Around 2:30, we still haven't been let go, and it's raining as hard as I've ever seen it, about 4-5 inches an hour (double what my wife is used to). As we're standing around watching the parking lot flood and joking about various potential flood damages, my wife calls... she never calls me at work. "The car is under water, and we're being evacuated, and the ceiling is sagging, and I don't know what to do!"So besides begging for pity for my horrible luck, I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with flooded vehicles. The water was up over the seats, halfway up the backs... someone pushed it out of the water (it had begun floating) and started it and moved it to a dry spot. When I finally got there 3 hours later (2.5 miles away), the engine was dry and most of the water had seeped out of the car, so I started it up and it ran fine. The check engine light is on, but mechanically, it felt fine. I vacuumed it out as soon as I got home, and it's currently air-drying before I try vacuuming again. Anything particular I should look for? I figure reporting it to the insurance company would be a bad idea, since my deductible is $500 and if there are any electrical or mechanical problems the warranty will pay for it... if I have to get it detailed, it still won't come close to the cost of the deductible. Thoughts?

[speedz99 145]

Thoughts?

Superbad is probably going to be hilarious.

[ajs510 122]

Paging Beans and Shane, since I'm dead positive this has come up sometime in their varied collective pasts.

[bdc30 0]

I'm no expert on warranties, but I'd have to think they don't cover stupidity or natural disasters. If you drove your car in to a swimming pool, do you really think you can just drop it off at the dealership and expect them to fix the engine? I think the warranty is more for mechanical defects, not nature's wrath or your wife's poor choice of parking lots.

[vonteego3 0]

I'm no expert on warranties, but I'd have to think they don't cover stupidity or natural disasters. If you drove your car in to a swimming pool, do you really think you can just drop it off at the dealership and expect them to fix the engine? I think the warranty is more for mechanical defects, not nature's wrath or your wife's poor choice of parking lots.

I don't know what she was thinking parking in the lot at her building, because she should have known we'd get an insane amount of rain in a short period of time.

[bdc30 0]

http://www.cnn.comhttp://www.nhc.noaa.govDid you not know there was a fking tropical storm coming? Hmm honey, there's a foot of water in the parking lot. Do you think I should maybe go and MOVE the car, or just leave it there for a couple hours while the rain continues to fall?Look - there's another one coming in about 6 or 7 days - true story - make sure the car isn't parked at the bottom of the same parking pit againhttp://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_a...l?5day#contents

[mase_gotsem 0]

wow u get rain that high thats nuts , your gnna def get mold inside and prob the floor boards will start to rust if its older and inside the trunk also those are very costly parts to fix and rot very qucik make sure to check id prob set it on fire and get a new car ..sw the last part

[vonteego3 0]

http://www.cnn.comhttp://www.nhc.noaa.govDid you not know there was a fking tropical storm coming? Hmm honey, there's a foot of water in the parking lot. Do you think I should maybe go and MOVE the car, or just leave it there for a couple hours while the rain continues to fall?Look - there's another one coming in about 6 or 7 days - true story - make sure the car isn't parked at the bottom of the same parking pit againhttp://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_a...l?5day#contents

Were you this much of a douche in your first 4574 posts, too?Weather channel was predicting 1-2 inches this morning. Sometimes when people have jobs, they have to go... she had to park somewhere. Maybe we should have moved everything we own a few hundred miles away, because there was some rain coming from a barely-on-the-scale tropical storm and we're only 100 miles from the coast. Do you think she sat in her office and looked out the window, watching the water rise? I'd imagine she was concentrating on her job. And since you have those websites handy, see if you can find the definition of a "flash flood." Most notably, the "flash" part.

[bdc30 0]

id prob set it on fire and get a new car ..

Oh, you mean the warranty doesn't cover fire damage?

[princeof56k 0]

Did you not know there was a fking tropical storm coming? Hmm honey, there's a foot of water in the parking lot. Do you think I should maybe go and MOVE the car, or just leave it there for a couple hours while the rain continues to fall?

Its probably a bad idea to move the car. When it starts to flood like that, there's rarely a safe place o go nearby. And by driving in the storm, you face the chance of getting stuck in it. By the time you notice that your car is about to be flooded, its too late. You just pray it doesnt actually happen.To the OP, your car is basically screwed. Cars that have been flooded are never the same. Weird electrical or mechanical problems will come up all the time. When I sold my old car in Houston to Carmax, I had to sign something saying the car had never been flooded and they still inspected it. A car getting submerged in water does serious longterm damage.I'm not sure about your insurance policy, but you might want to check what coverage you have. If your lucky, they'll total it.

[mase_gotsem 0]

Oh, you mean the warranty doesn't cover fire damage?

if the dmage exceeds the worth of the car u get money from insurance to buy a new car

[bdc30 0]

Were you this much of a douche in your first 4574 posts, too?

Zomg - have a bit of a sense of humor man. I thought people had a little thicker skin here in ot./shrug

[bdc30 0]

if the dmage exceeds the worth of the car u get money from insurance to buy a new car

Jeezus, do I have to bloody SW everything?

[mase_gotsem 0]

Jeezus, do I have to bloody SW everything?

LMAO it was a sw remark to your sw comment relax guy try some anal

[beans-n-icewater 18]

So besides begging for pity for my horrible luck, I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with flooded vehicles. The water was up over the seats, halfway up the backs...someone pushed it out of the water (it had begun floating) and started it and moved it to a dry spot. The check engine light is on, but mechanically, it felt fine. Anything particular I should look for? I figure reporting it to the insurance company would be a bad idea, since my deductible is $500 and if there are any electrical or mechanical problems the warranty will pay for it... if I have to get it detailed, it still won't come close to the cost of the deductible. Thoughts?

The car will never be the same....Hundreds of wire connectors have been exposed to water and started corroding as soon as they started drying. Most will hold dampness for several months after you think its all dried out. Alot of them were still "hot" with twelve volts when the water came in, causing cross feeding to other circuits that shouldnt be hot.The ECM and several other onboard computers (depending on the model and options) was soaked, causing the check engine light to be activated. Most dont realize it, but many operations of a modern car is controlled by a computer.... even power windows, ABS system, air bags, gauges, etc.... And theres a good chance that all of them took a bath in your car if the water hit mid-seat level...Also, every relay in the system (relays are used to switch high voltage items like the starter, headlights, MAF burnoff, etc with low voltage power so the car isnt overburdened with large wires running all over the place) is more than likely ruined.In summary, the car will be an electrical NIGHTMARE in the future....Add in the wet insulation thats hidden under carpets, doorpanels, underhood, in the trunk, and other hidden locations with the fact that mold and rust is forming as we speak, you can see why its basically a junker now.Oh, and if someone started it while the air cleaner was under water, odds are strong that you have a bent rod or two. Water wont compress like air does.Get rid of it anyway you can....

Paging Beans and Shane, since I'm dead positive this has come up sometime in their varied collective pasts.

It was close...Youre thinking of the time we ran the boat ashore and it was filled with air...Smelly air at that...

[vonteego3 0]

The car will never be the same....Hundreds of wire connectors have been exposed to water and started corroding as soon as they started drying. Most will hold dampness for several months after you think its all dried out. Alot of them were still "hot" with twelve volts when the water came in, causing cross feeding to other circuits that shouldnt be hot.The ECM and several other onboard computers (depending on the model and options) was soaked, causing the check engine light to be activated. Most dont realize it, but many operations of a modern car is controlled by a computer.... even power windows, ABS system, air bags, gauges, etc.... And theres a good chance that all of them took a bath in your car if the water hit mid-seat level...Also, every relay in the system (relays are used to switch high voltage items like the starter, headlights, MAF burnoff, etc with low voltage power so the car isnt overburdened with large wires running all over the place) is more than likely ruined.In summary, the car will be an electrical NIGHTMARE in the future....Add in the wet insulation thats hidden under carpets, doorpanels, underhood, in the trunk, and other hidden locations with the fact that mold and rust is forming as we speak, you can see why its basically a junker now.Oh, and if someone started it while the air cleaner was under water, odds are strong that you have a bent rod or two. Water wont compress like air does.Get rid of it anyway you can....It was close...Youre thinking of the time we ran the boat ashore and it was filled with air...Smelly air at that...

Most disappointing Beans post of all time?Seriously though, a combination of replies here and the last 3 hours that I've spent taking the entire inside apart hopelessly attempting to clean it out leads me to my next question...What are the odds the insurance company will total it? It's an 04 Sentra SE-R, if that has any effect on it... I have GAP insurance, so I should probably be rooting for a total, right?