zidenx

iTrader: (1)

Well this evening, we had a huge storm come through our town. Streets were flooded and I ended up getting stuck in the flood.

So a fire truck pulls up to me, tells me to stay in my car until the water levels down. I tell myself that I'm not going to crank up the car until I get it out of the water and try and suck out the water before I do anything. I call my brother and he comes by. Fireman and the cops wont let him get near me because the water was to high.

I sit in my car for about 2 hours waiting and finally the water get low enough, but the cop still wont let my brother near the car. Before, the water was up about half way above my door, by now the water is running under my car. My brother gets a little pissed and keeps telling me to start the motor it might start up and I can drive out of there. I kept saying no, but 10 minutes into it I decided to try it. I start it up, I hear a clunk, clunk, clunk and the motor dies. Try it again and the motor doesn't crank at all. About 20 minutes later the cop finally lets my brother and a couple of my buddies get to the car. They push it into the parking lot and I try to crank it again since I know the motor is dead already. Same thing, I hear a click and that's it.

Well that was my night...

hotpinoy69

damn that sucks...engine rebuild should be fun

xenonhid

Yeah for reals, Cali and Arizona got some crazy weather there lately, looks like the Seattle weather went over there.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

i'm just hoping that my insurance company would cover this.

aaronng

Yeah, the insurance should cover it. My friend did something similar with another car. Was covered.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

thing is, I have a comptech icebox.. I'll swap it out tomorrow and call up my insurance company.

kabota

Thats not right.

LukeaTron

1) You might not be in to terrible shape if the motor never started. Pull the plugs and take a look in the cylinders. Get something to suck the water out like a turkey baster with piece of hose stuck on the end. After the water is out, spray a bunch of WD-40 in there and then suck that out. Take your air filter out, disconnect the intake tubing and make sure there's no water left in it. With the plugs out, see if it will turn over. If so, keep cranking it for a bit to get as much of the moisture worked out as possible. Put the plugs back in and see what you got.

2) If you're going to try and defraud your insurance company, I hope you get caught and sent to a federal pound me in the ass prison.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

I mean come on. I know it's a bad thing to do but geez, I'm stuck here. I have no cash, I have no way of getting to work. I've been with my insurance compnay for the past 6 years and have not claimed anything since I've been with them.

northbridge

wow.

fokkerfitch83

I think you might be ok. I was caught in a storm on the way to work last year. I went through a "puddle" which was more like a pond but, I couldn't tell how deep it was from all the rain. Anyway I get half-way through it and my car just clunks and shuts off. I immediately was thinking WTF so I tried cranking the engine 2-3 times which was a no-no. I call AAA which argued with me @ first because they said they would not tow me until the water subsides. I told them if they make me wait any long my car could be ruined and the water was only as high as to half-way up my rim. No dice so I called the cops and a cop helped me push my car to a little higher ground then I called Acura Care and the guy towed me to the dealer.

The dealer was immediately saying things like" OHH Its gotta be Hydrolocked. You're looking at $5000 here." After shitting my pants the service rep said they would like least try to crank it out first. About 6-7 hours later I got a phone call and they said she was good to go and the mechanic just cranked out the water/moisture by hand and test drove the car on the Parkway. I picked it up the next day. The price - $425 which I paid for out of pocket as I dint want my insurance getting any higher. Well worth it IMO.
I forgot to mention, have an AEM CAI installed and I was doing about 20mph when I went through the puddle.
In regards to taking off your intake. Forget it. I thought about the same thing. If your read your warranty booklet Acura wont cover you for a hydrolock even if you had the stock intake on. Which is why I left my CAI on. I just drive more carefully and get paranoid as hell when it rains

visuelz

Actually, if your car was that much submerged in water, intake or no intake, you're still going to hydrolock.

MMsTSX

well you shouldn't have been so stupid.
and you shouldn't have listened to your idiot brother.
he should be paying for this if not you.
start you car sitting a flood? are you serious?
then try to make someone else pay for it?

I'm not a fan of insurance companies, let's get that straight.
but I am a fan of taking responsibility for your own actions and stupidity.
this was your fault. period.

shmork53

your engine wont turn over at all because your rods are mangled up not allowing the engine to turn. If you did not have your comptech icebox on you would have not hydrolocked your car because the air intake is up high behind the headlights. For just parts new pistons rings rods (for all 4) crank and all the bearings that go with it you are looking at $2500. You got a lot of work ahead of you. I don't agree with abusing the insurance company, it just everyone pay more in the long run. It sucks a lot, also who knows if you have water damage in your electrical system anywhere. Good luck.

CarbonGray Earl

That sucks. Best of luck to you.

Where in cali were you? Is it desert monsoon season already?

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

first of all i don't know why you're getting so piss off for, calling me names and all. alright i'm stupid, i made a mistake, it was my fault i think we figured this part out along time ago. sorry i wasn't thinking about you when i got into this incident. didn't mean to piss you off so much.

second the water was below the body of my car when my bro told me to start it up.

if anyone has any recommendations for a shop in southern california to rebuild my motor i would appreciate it.

CarbonGray Earl

^^Try team honda in buena park. They've done work on my integra and my TSX for a couple of years now, and the owners' always been upfront and cost efficient with me.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I think the rods are bent up. The motor wont even turn at all. I just hear a knock and that's it. I tried turning the crank pulley bolt but it wont budge.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

I'm in the high desert. Adelanto, Ca.

Thanks man I'll look into that shop. Pro Street Import was recommended to me also.

LukeaTron

Did you pull the plugs out and empty the cylinders before you tried turning it over? Engine damage or not, it's not going to budge until you clear the cylinders. If you were at idle RPMs when it sucked in the water it's entirely possible you didn't break anything. Do what I said in my post above before you take it anywhere, it could save you a lot of money.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I've tried what you told me to do. Pulled the plugs cleaned the cylinders as much as i can and I'm still getting the same thing. Just a knock when I turn the key. I haven't tried spraying WD-40 yet though.. I've already put everything back together.

I was just moving the car from the stop light when this happen. I would say it was about 2k-3k rpm.

shmork53

I understand where you are coming from, I ended up hydrolocking my car Fing up the TB coolant bypass. No one is mad at you. We all make mistakes, mine was a big one, and yours too. If you learn from it and fix it right then its just money out the door. Lucky when I did the work myself I did it all myself with some help from my dad so labor was free. One mistake in rebuild i make was not getting the crank check out. Turned out I got a flat spot and it spun number 2 cylinder's rod bearing. I ended up buying a new crank an that fixed the problem. Just sucked cause I had to do the work twice. So what I am saying is if in doubt get the part checked out, or buy new ones. once again, good luck. here is a link to my mistake. https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43522

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

Thanks man.. I thought about rebuilding it myself, but I don't have the time and I'm scared of working on the block. I've taken motors apart and put them back together before, but I've always let someone else work on the block.

Glad everything turned out ok on your rebuild.

kabota

The reason people get mad is that your being very unethical if you put the stock intake on and act like nothing happened. We all end up paying for it (higher car prices, higher insurance rates) when people fraud the insurance and car makers. So we have a right to be mad.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

why do people insist on driving through puddles? Is it that hard to turn around or stop and try a different street?

CarbonGray Earl

Adelanto out by victorville? Buena park is 80 miles away from you in north OC. You might want to look into shops in the high desert or even San Berdoo/Riverside before you get your car towed all the way to the shop I recommended. I would imagine it would be expensive and time consuming to get your car there.

PACman

Where the OP lives, it's not easy to just drive around the puddle or choose a different street. Most of the roads are 1 lane, with elevation changes making rain water easier to collect. Some streets have no water drainage at all. The area is a desert, so it's surrounded by dirt and sand.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

alright guys just stop this. it's always the same speech over and over. I'm stupid, insurance goes up this and that. i know i know it's wrong no need to keep telling me. i called my insurance today and they didn't even ask me about the intake. even if i had the stock intake it probably would have been the same outcome.

I'm usually against insurance fraud, there were a few times that my friends wanted to pull some fraud with their insurance company and I wanted nothing to do with it. I've always hated it, but it comes a time when one needs the help. it's not like I went out and f*cked up my car on purpose to make some money from my insurance company. I'm not getting anything out of this, I just want my car fixed.

as for driving into the water, I panicked a little and didn't know what to do. there were a bunch of cars behind me at the light. i did stop for a few seconds and wanted to turn back but there was no where to go. the car behind me kept getting closer so i had to switch lanes real quick into the right lane and there was another car coming towards me. all the cars in front of me made it through so i thought i might get lucky so i took the chance.

zidenx

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I know, I'm still looking around. If I can find a closer place it would be nice. But I'm willing to drive far to have my car fixed the right way the first time.

SoCaliTrojan

That's your first mistake. You should have known you were driving a modded car.

The second is trying to start the car after you know it's been submerged. The water molecules won't come alive and jump out of your engine when the water recedes.

The third will be defrauding the insurance company. They'll probably look at your stock filter and wonder how you hydrolocked when the stock intake is perfectly fine.

therein60mins

DAMNIT!.... u shoulda known A LOT better when you installed the CAI.....
you took the chance..... im on your TSX's side.. and your TSX is telling me to be pissed at you!... but i wont do "name calling".... your brother is s-m-r-t..

visuelz

Though I haven't been in your situation, I can understand your feeling. Do what you think is necessary to fix your problem. Just don't let us know so that people cannot give their own opinion.

ThirdLane

Little harsh don't you think? Loosen up guy. He just f'd up his ride, I guess he's only looking for sympathy.

808havok_tsx

dude, it shouldn't have mattered what the cars behind or in front of you did - if you were observant enough, you could've eyeballed that your car would NOT have made it through the "puddle". our cars sit pretty low as it in stock form compared to other sedans. i would've just stopped right there and turned around or pulled over to the side and waited it out...

but that's all in the past. what's the use of talking about would've-could've-should've. hope things work out for you...

so, for those of you who are familiar with the Icebox, many of you said it would be near impossible to hydrolock your engine with it. would you say in this instance, his car would've hydrolocked with stock intake too? if so, he has a chance with his insurance. experiences like this makes me hesitant to install the j-pipe portion of the icebox; i'm still running around with the large airbox only...

808havok_tsx

i just re-read this part - you had water THAT high and you STILL tried starting your car??? icebox or stock, you would've hydrolocked your motor either way!

SoCaliTrojan

I'm curious...if the water was halfway up your door, was water leaking in? In other words, were you sitting in water? Or was the car sealed well?

Halfway up the door isn't high enough to flood the icebox I think. I mean, the filter practically sits at the same height as the bottom of the window....

I don't know if the insurance will cover it. If the car was parked, then yes they would. But if you intentionally drove it into a "river"... And I think changing intakes would be a bad idea...they'll notice that it's not water damaged, and will assume you had a CAI installed (even though you only had a SRI).

aaronng

The plastic horn sits around bumper level and that sucks water in.

At least with my insurance company, I have told them that I have an aftermarket intake and suspension. I pay a little bit more on the insurance premium, but at least I am still covered if shit happens.

TSX-phan

+1

808havok_tsx

just curious - how much more do you pay?

sw20td06

Hey Bro,

Sorry to hear about your car again. I was the guy that stopped by you when your car was being put on the flatbed and asked what happened. I live up in Adelanto as well. I always see your car near Stater Bros, you're the only other TSX I see around. Nice exhaust BTW, what kind is it?

Anyway, that's one of the reasons I don't want to lower my car. It looks super high, but it gets terrible up there when it rains. I guess my stock suspension and 19s help during the rain! Good luck fixing your car!