Flood Damaged Cars?

[woodsy109]

Has anyone had any experience with flood damaged cars? There is a lot of cars up for sale at auctions at the moment and I was wondering what sort of things were needed to get one back on the road and what sort of problems I could expect?

[Professor Farnsworth]

Originally Posted by woodsy109

Has anyone had any experience with flood damaged cars? There is a lot of cars up for sale at auctions at the moment and I was wondering what sort of things were needed to get one back on the road and what sort of problems I could expect?

electrical electrical electrical... and some electrical issues. Not to mention the destroyed fabrics/stained plastics.

All depends how much water it's been subjected to, and how it was done.

[MadMaximus]

Yeah stay away I reckon.

The electrics will be knackers for starters, the engine could be toast if it was driven into the water. Then you can go into the hubs etc etc.

Mate you dont know what you are getting so unless they are real cheap I would stay away.

[TRRTRY]

one flood will keep deteriorating things for years, you will find annoying problems will keep emerging due to corrosion in electrical connections that may not become evident for a few years!

i say give it a miss unless its a short term vehicle...

[Dazza XLT]

According to a truck driver on the UHF, there's a heap going to auction early next week.
They were cross-loading most cars at the local railway siding. Heading from Mackay to Townsville.
One of the dealers in Mackay wrote the whole yard off, so there's plenty to choose from. Even a Chrysler 300C amongst them.
Some are not so bad (Only an inch through the interior) others have been right under. Ford Territory there with water-marks on the top of the dash!!

Cheers

Darran

[ZA-289]

Bad idea..... ball joints, steering rack, wheel bearings, all electrics, carpet etc etc will all destroy themselves over time, the car will be a lemon for life. This goes for cars that have been under 1 -2 feet of water for even a few days.

[LUXO_8]

they're great to use for parts to rebuild other cars....and thats about it, honestly, once they've gone for a swim they're stuffed

[wicksy]

car yard in mackay wrote off 180 cars...... thats alot of cars

[woodsy109]

The pickles auction is on in Townsville on Monday and they have heaps of cars. I would expect that a lot will go REALLY cheap because of the sheer quantity of cars being sold. Was just thinking about it and thought it might be a cheap way to get a project car. The future corrosion of electrics would be an issue though.

[xr8man83]

i would just be staying well away you probly wont even save that much money anyhow

[LUXO_8]

Originally Posted by woodsy109

The pickles auction is on in Townsville on Monday and they have heaps of cars. I would expect that a lot will go REALLY cheap because of the sheer quantity of cars being sold. Was just thinking about it and thought it might be a cheap way to get a project car. The future corrosion of electrics would be an issue though.

you may get lucky, but if you get one that needs to have all wiring looms replaced, and realise that they cost more than the price of a good, non water damaged car to replace them all, you'll kick yourself.


wiring and such is painfully expensive to buy as a service part

[stitty]

initially you can expect that foul damp carpet smell along with swollen door trims etc. Over time, expect squeeky suspension components before eventually the electrics start to play up. (srs and abs lights are common due to where the ecu's are usually mounted). Corrosion is nobodys friend.
Thats my personal experience anyway.

[v8falconsrule]

hang on lets consider a different approach...for a road car they will present problems....however for a project base or the beginings of a race car they'd be perfect (especially drag/speedway/circuit racers) where a lot of the problem items would be ditched- door trims airbags, or upgraded -brakes ecu.

just a thought, i know if i could persuade the missus into letting me go curcuit racing this'd be where i'd start looking.

[Russ]

Personally I wouldn't go near them they would be more trouble than their worth. Apparently the dealers, wreckers and smash repairers from Qld buy all the flood damaged stuff from all the other states as well and because they are written off by the insurance companies they ship them up there unregistered, dry them out as best as possible and still whack a fairly hefty resale price on them. I have been told by a few different car dealers in N.S.W. that unlike the other states Qld doesn't legally have to disclose that these vehicles have had a nice long bath or about any other damage they may have sustained during their ordeal and thus unless you are prepared to really do your homework and try to find out the proper history of the vehicle you won't really know what sort of problems your buying, electrical or mechanical. If you are buying one as a wreck for parts or even a project car it could still backfire and work out pretty expensive in the long run. Best of luck anyway !!

[FTGAutosalvage]

I drive a flood damaged repaired car, I have freinds with flood damaged repaired cars and I also race one.
I have never had an issue with them, you just need to make sure you pull the trim out and clean everything up. pull wiring plugs apart and spray some wd40 into them all. you will need to replace airbag modules and depending on the depth you will need to change airbags aswell.
Qld have come inlne with the rest of the states and need to declare written off vehicles and they need VIV reports aswell. one thing with a written off vehicle is that it is listed on a register for the life of the car.

personally if you buy carefully and you have the knowhow to pull it apart , clean it all and re-assemble , i would go and grab a bargian

I have a turbo territory ghia that we are cleaning up at the moment , car was flood damaged to the dash , we will replace what needs to be done . strip everything thats been wet and flush everything with clean water. I will then drive it for a while to make sure everything is OK before selling.
as for steering & ball joints they are subject to water everytime it rains, they survive OK

this isnt just someone guessing , I have repaired lots of flood damaged cars, I think they are the best ones to fix.

[Bobman]

Saw a flood damaged BF XT - Ex NSW Police (was still in service when it was written off). Went for $15,000 at Fowles, just last year.

On another note, there were heaps of flood damaged B Series Falcons and late V Series Commodores at Pickles earlier this week.

[dazzle260]

ive repaired flood damaged cars. there are so many variables when it comes down to the nitty gritty. ive seen a 2003 landcruiser troopy submerged in 12 feet of fresh water for 3-4 hours, pulled up (alot of work!) had all the oils dropped and replaced to over full then had all everything wound over by hand a couple of times and it come up a treat, didnt even have to make an insurance claim. still drives it 2 years later. do your home work before buying, some cars if not looked after right when they are dried out will bite your bum on the other hand you could grab yourself the bargain of a lifetime and drive it for years without a problem

[The Yeti]

put simply there ghost's they will hount you for years to come

[woodsy109]

Originally Posted by FTGAutosalvage

I drive a flood damaged repaired car, I have freinds with flood damaged repaired cars and I also race one.
I have never had an issue with them, you just need to make sure you pull the trim out and clean everything up. pull wiring plugs apart and spray some wd40 into them all. you will need to replace airbag modules and depending on the depth you will need to change airbags aswell.
Qld have come inlne with the rest of the states and need to declare written off vehicles and they need VIV reports aswell. one thing with a written off vehicle is that it is listed on a register for the life of the car.

personally if you buy carefully and you have the knowhow to pull it apart , clean it all and re-assemble , i would go and grab a bargian

I have a turbo territory ghia that we are cleaning up at the moment , car was flood damaged to the dash , we will replace what needs to be done . strip everything thats been wet and flush everything with clean water. I will then drive it for a while to make sure everything is OK before selling.
as for steering & ball joints they are subject to water everytime it rains, they survive OK

this isnt just someone guessing , I have repaired lots of flood damaged cars, I think they are the best ones to fix.

Thanks for your input. Good to see someone has another perspective on things. I was aware that all flood damaged cars are a stat write off so will affect resale later on. Unfortunately my house that is being built won't be done for a little while yet so at the moment I have nowhere to store a car if I buy one so it looks like i'll have to give it a miss. I'll just have to hope there is a big flood next year as well so there will be plenty more cars for sale :

[BlackLS]

If you can source a smashed write off at the same time, strip the waterlogged car and put the electricals from the smashed car in it.

[HenryV8]

Originally Posted by FTGAutosalvage

I have a turbo territory ghia that we are cleaning up at the moment , car was flood damaged to the dash , we will replace what needs to be done . strip everything thats been wet and flush everything with clean water. I will then drive it for a while to make sure everything is OK before selling.

I would have thought a Territory would be the last car you would want to do this with? Those things seem to rust straight off the showroom floor, let alone with water soaked into cavities and crevices that nobody would normally dream of being exposed to moisture.

[Ringo]

I had the joy of working on flood damaged older generation luxury car once.

We had the job of replacing the carpet and underlay because it stank like wet dog.

The story we got was that the car had been under water for a fee days in a basement carpark of a building in central Vic (when Vic got rain circa 1993)

It was getting onto 12 months post flood and we yet still found a lot of moisture in the car. If you tapped the window switches with you had you got water spatter out of them....stinky dank water.

In the end it visually it looked OK and it drove fine but we couldn't help feeling that the car had trouble all over it but the bloke that owned it loved it, and couldn't have afforded it any other way.

FTG's post is an interesting one and its sound like if you can pick a "good flood damged one" with prompt and proper attention they are worth the risk.

But that what it come down to isn't it....Risk vs Reward

[nj351]

The car yard at where i work have bought many flood damaged cars and havn't had any trouble with them just go over them heaps if there isn't any water in the headlights it shouldn't be to bad.
ba/bf falcons are a steal at the moment and are easy to fix.

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by Darran

According to a truck driver on the UHF, there's a heap going to auction early next week.
They were cross-loading most cars at the local railway siding. Heading from Mackay to Townsville.
One of the dealers in Mackay wrote the whole yard off, so there's plenty to choose from. Even a Chrysler 300C amongst them.
Some are not so bad (Only an inch through the interior) others have been right under. Ford Territory there with water-marks on the top of the dash!!

Cheers

Darran

Only a few, 7oo in brizzy & 1oo in townsville. Most of the water damaged cars go for good money.

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by woodsy109

Thanks for your input. Good to see someone has another perspective on things. I was aware that all flood damaged cars are a stat write off so will affect resale later on. Unfortunately my house that is being built won't be done for a little while yet so at the moment I have nowhere to store a car if I buy one so it looks like i'll have to give it a miss. I'll just have to hope there is a big flood next year as well so there will be plenty more cars for sale :

I bought a VE GTS for a mate of mine who wanted one, it was a brand new car off the show room floor which had about 3 foot of water through it. They stripped the trim & carpet out and rolled the car into a paint both and left it over night, not sure what temp it was set at but it worked a treat. He ended up selling it to his cousin & so far hasn't had an issue.

[vanman_75]

guess i should sell my patrol i take it in water ? most of them cars will be fine just lapped at carpet etc . it will be pretty obvious if its had more , if it soaked for a couple days yer stay away , get a mech to check before you buy should be some great bargains to be had ,

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by vanman_75

guess i should sell my patrol i take it in water ? most of them cars will be fine just lapped at carpet etc . it will be pretty obvious if its had more , if it soaked for a couple days yer stay away , get a mech to check before you buy should be some great bargains to be had ,

So you park your patrol in th water and go away for a day or so??? I dont think so, theres a very big difference in backing the boat in or doing a rivver crossing and getting dunked in a flood, even if its only enough to wet the carpets (that will be come floor sized sponges) but to get to that stage all your wheel brgs steering rack diff breather etc will all have been submerged for some time the cances are the ECU will also have now been submerged along with the magority of the wireing that runs along under the carpet.

Unless your planing on wrecking the car our run dont walk away form it

[vanman_75]

i give up ! dont buy it im just gunna be negative from now on also !

[The Yeti]

theres a time to be postive and flood damaged cars aint it, it wouldnt have been sold at auction if it wasnt buggered lets face it theres times like some MVA damaged and hail damaged vehicles where they can be economicly viable after bening callsed as a total loos by the insurance companys but flood damaged adds a compleat new set of problems to the repair ones that cant be easily over come

[XRQTOR]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

theres a time to be postive and flood damaged cars aint it, it wouldnt have been sold at auction if it wasnt buggered lets face it theres times like some MVA damaged and hail damaged vehicles where they can be economicly viable after bening callsed as a total loos by the insurance companys but flood damaged adds a compleat new set of problems to the repair ones that cant be easily over come

So why do hail damaged cars get sent to auction, they arn't buggered. If there was such an issue they would be stat writeoff's now wouldn't they. Ever thought that if they decided to fix rather then writeoff 700+ cars that it would swamp the industry, esp in smaller areas.