Flood Salvage, Water in the Engine

[78F350]

How to proceed?

I have a flood salvage 2004 Boxster. There was water in the engine when I drained the oil. Lots of water, and less oil than I expected. It looks like the missing the oil had seeped out into the exhaust. The oil filter had good clean oil and no debris. The engine would not have been cranked or turned at all since the flooding, just occasionally rocked and jostled in transportation. Today, I drained all the oil and water and put in about 10 quarts of oil. I have still not even tried to turn the crank. Everything is still installed and intact in the car.

 

I'd like to get the engine running again. Not sure if it's a lost cause, or similar to an intermix that can be cleaned up and driven again. What are your thoughts?

Reference to my thread on the 986 Forum: http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/70709-houston-04-se.html

[txhokie4life]

Assuming you don’t want to tear down the engine and replace the bearings...

 

i would pull pull the plugs, pull the fuel pump

fuse put some diesel motor oil in the plug holes,

fill the engine with oil... and crank the engine first from the crank pulley bolt a few revolutions to make sure it turns freely

than I would crank it over with the starter until I built oil pressure.  Don’t crank for more than 30-60 sec so you don’t hurt the starter.

do this several times.

than drain the oil.

 

you should be able to refill, put the plugs and relay back in and then try it o start it.

 

flood water is probably better than an intermix, the cleaners and antifreeze itself are caustic to bearing material.

that shouldn’t be present in just flood waters

 

good luck,

 

mike

[78F350]

Thanks for the reply. That's what I'm hoping for. Tearing down the whole engine is not part of my plan, but I'd consider it if it's the only likely way to save it. My hope is that most of the ferrous metal would have held a light coating of oil. I'm thinking of rods, bearings, chains, and bolts. I suppose if I follow your steps and crank it first by hand with the plugs out, I'll get an idea of corrosion from the resistance.

[78F350]

Today I removed the spark plugs. Some oil with a trace of water came out of bank 1, but bank 2 was dry. The primary O2 sensors were removed the to drain oil and water from the exhaust. I sprayed in fogging oil into the cylinders until it flowed back out. Next I removed the throttle body and T, then sprayed fogging oil in both sides of the plenum. The engine turned easily and smoothly by hand. I'm not comfortable powering up the car yet (I need to check all electronics for flood damage), so I jumped the starter with a battery pack. At first, it turned so smoothly and quietly that I though the solenoid wasn't engaged. To get the oil flowing, I did plenty of on and off turns for about 20 minutes.

I'm going to work on flushing oil next. A good marine oil was recommended for initial treatment. After I verify there is clean oil coming out when I drain it,  I'll close it all back up, install the new immobilizer box & DME, check the fuel (probably drain and refuel) and try a run. There's still a long way to go before knowing if it's going to be a good engine

[BufordTJustice]

Today I removed the spark plugs. Some oil with a trace of water came out of bank 1, but bank 2 was dry. The primary O2 sensors were removed the to drain oil and water from the exhaust. I sprayed in fogging oil into the cylinders until it flowed back out. Next I removed the throttle body and T, then sprayed fogging oil in both sides of the plenum. The engine turned easily and smoothly by hand. I'm not comfortable powering up the car yet (I need to check all electronics for flood damage), so I jumped the starter with a battery pack. At first, it turned so smoothly and quietly that I though the solenoid wasn't engaged. To get the oil flowing, I did plenty of on and off turns for about 20 minutes.

I'm going to work on flushing oil next. A good marine oil was recommended for initial treatment. After I verify there is clean oil coming out when I drain it,  I'll close it all back up, install the new immobilizer box & DME, check the fuel (probably drain and refuel) and try a run. There's still a long way to go before knowing if it's going to be a good engine

 

Also consider using StaBil 360 Marine. It has about 4 times the dosage of water remover as the std 360. I would treat the tank heavily.

 

Do you have an inspection camera you can shove into the chambers? Harbor freight even has them now.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Canada-Eh]

Just my 2 cents on the immo and DME/ECU:  You likely don't need to replace them as most dry out okay.  If they give you problems remove and submerge in Isopropyl alcohol. as that might clear up the problems you were having.  Also note the DME is pretty high on the rear firewall so it might not have been submerged.  

 

As for water in engine:  sounds like you've done all the right things.  I had a car with a blown head-gasket and to be honest it ran fine other than loosing coolant and the white smoke.  In other words, having water mixed with oil in the engine won't really hurt it in the short run or stop it from starting/running.  

 

You might want to pour some fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank as that will do a good job of taking care of any water still in the fuel system.   

 

I might also be inclined to pull the fuse or whatever else I needed to disable the airbags.  If there is a short on start-up you don't want them blowing.  Very low risk I would say but hey, pretty easy precaution to take.  

 

Lastly, if the car was claimed (insurance) as flood damaged you likely won't be able to get a rebuilt title for it.  At least here in Canada once a car is flood damaged it can never go back on the road.  I don't agree with that rule, but it is what it is.  

 

I'm sure she will fire right up with no problems.  Let us know.  

 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by Canada-Eh

[78F350]

11 hours ago, BufordTJustice said:

 

Also consider using StaBil 360 Marine. It has about 4 times the dosage of water remover as the std 360. I would treat the tank heavily.

 

Do you have an inspection camera you can shove into the chambers? Harbor freight even has them now.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good suggestion, and yes, I have a cheap eBay scope-camera. I'll give that a try.

[78F350]

9 hours ago, Canada-Eh said:

Just my 2 cents on the immo and DME/ECU:  You likely don't need to replace them as most dry out okay.  If they give you problems remove and submerge in Isopropyl alcohol. as that might clear up the problems you were having.  Also note the DME is pretty high on the rear firewall so it might not have been submerged.  

 

As for water in engine:  sounds like you've done all the right things.  I had a car with a blown head-gasket and to be honest it ran fine other than loosing coolant and the white smoke.  In other words, having water mixed with oil in the engine won't really hurt it in the short run or stop it from starting/running.  

 

You might want to pour some fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank as that will do a good job of taking care of any water still in the fuel system.   

 

I might also be inclined to pull the fuse or whatever else I needed to disable the airbags.  If there is a short on start-up you don't want them blowing.  Very low risk I would say but hey, pretty easy precaution to take.  

 

Lastly, if the car was claimed (insurance) as flood damaged you likely won't be able to get a rebuilt title for it.  At least here in Canada once a car is flood damaged it can never go back on the road.  I don't agree with that rule, but it is what it is.  

 

I'm sure she will fire right up with no problems.  Let us know.  

 

 

The immo was pretty bad. I cleaned it anyway just for fun and it looked good until a few of the tiny corroded resistors fell off. I have a new complete set, so no worries.

Steering wheel airbag is removed - I put an old 4-spoke steering wheel in until the major work is done on the car.

All fuses are removed and I'll only put essential ones in for the first start.

Here in Oklahoma, for a car over 10 years old, I just have to show receipts for repairs to put the car back on the road - and drive to Canada.

[Canada-Eh]

Right on!  Time to watch the 928 fall in the water again in Risky Business!  The most important part of car stories is embellishment. So make sure you have a good one to tell about how the car ended up flooded in the first place.  Maybe Sharknado landed right on it!  

[Canada-Eh]

Any update on this 78F350?

[78F350]

The car now has a 'rebuilt' title and is running well. If I was to do it all over again, I would start by pulling and cleaning the sump plate before trying to flush the engine with oil. There was some moisture and fine sediment outside the baffle, that will never drain just by flushing oil through.

The crank and internal engine appeared to be very clean other than the sump plate.

I have put about 200 miles on it now and will be doing an oil change soon. As for the rest of the car, much of the electronics, most of the relays, and almost every motor (top motor, trunk opener, spoiler, HVAC blower...) were all bad. Having a good collection of parts from a collision damaged on hand made it easy to correct all that.

[mckinlay]

There is nothing cooler than taking a "piece of junk" and making it run again.  Congratulations on your work.  I am sure it was not easy but you will have a much greater appreciation of how the Boxster is engineered and how it works.  Probably would have been easier to total it out and buy a new used one but, in my opinion, there is nothing like the sweat equity that the people who use this web site invest in their cars.  It is part of what makes a Porsche a Porsche.

[78F350]

Just a little follow-up for anyone interested. My oil change at about 600 miles looked good. Clean looking oil with no debris. There was a trace of fine dust sized particles on my filter magnets - less than I get with a normal 5000 mile oil change.

Other problems have come up with the car, as expected.

• -The steering rack developed a leak and had to be replaced. I suspect that water intrusion with the fluid damaged the seals.
• -The brakes started sticking. a little water had leaked into the brake booster and started to corrode it inside. This DIY article came in handy:
• -On a couple occasions the throttle went dead (no response to the gas pedal) for a moment. That problem seems to have cleared up by cleaning the connections on the throttle transducer above the pedals behind the dash.

All together not an easy or inexpensive project, but it has been very rewarding in the experience and joy of making something broken and discarded into a magnificent machine.

[Jager]

Congrats and thanks for the update. I was wondering how it was going.