neil1981

Hi Everyone, first time poster living in Chicago who owns a 2006 Acura TL. Long story...

So 2.5 - 3 weeks ago (when the remnants of Hurricane Ike were rolling through the country) we got a ridiculous amount of rainfall here in the city, it rained for 3 days straight. The street I live on didn't have heavy flooding that I know of although I may have driven through a couple small puddles...nothing too deep that I can recall...

For the next 1.5-2 weeks I didn't notice any issues with the car. Then last Thursday afternoon I noticed that there was a whooshing sound coming from the passenger side whenever I made a hard left turn. After parking the car I found water leaking through the floorboard which made the floormats damp. I took it to Acura dealer A on Friday morning but they told me they were too busy and couldn't take it. So I called Acura dealer B but didn't have time to drop off the car so planned to do it Monday. They said the drain where the A/C water drains from was probably clogged and just needed to be unclogged to fix it...

Then on Sunday I started my car and moved ~25 feet. My car suddently shut off and I got a "TPMS System Error" message. My tires were inflated, my battery seemed fine, but no matter what I couldn't restart the car (just got the grinding sound as long as the key was turned). Also I heard a clicking sound every now and then when the keys were in the ignition...



I got the car towed to Acura Dealer C Monday morning. (nearest to where the car stopped). On Monday afternoon the service person calls to ask if the car has gone through any flooding because there is a bunch of what looks like water damage (he says some has seeped through the floorboards in the back as well). I said besides for the storms a few weeks back there wasn't anything that I recall and even then at worst I went through a few big puddles. He says a lot of cars were brought in for flooding issues since the storms. He also tells me that a bunch of the wiring and circuits in my car are fubar'ed and it's really difficult to find out exactly which ones are shorted since the circuitry is so screwed... He tells me that I need to call my insurance company and get an adjuster out to the dealer to take a look because the cost of repairs may be too high to justify fixing and instead they may just have the car totaled.



!! I don't see how this could happen? It's not like I was driving or parking the car through waist high water (nothing even close). Has anyone else run into issues like this? Flooding due to driving through puddles or being parked outside during heavy rains? I asked whether the drain where the A/C water goes through could be so clogged that it could back up water and cause this and the service guy said he doesn't think so.

I'm waiting for the adjuster's take on it but I'm worried that I'm going to lose my car and this just doesn't make sense to me. Any ideas, similar stories, technical opinions, etc.. would be appreciated.

YeuEmMaiMai

well if the A/C drain was plugged, the water will wind up in the cabin under the carpet....


However that would not cause any problems unless you drove for a very long time without fixing it..

are you SURE that the car didn't get flooded when it was parkd and the water drained out?

neil1981

Thanks for the response.

After I started hearing the sounds Thursday I drove probably ~100 miles. The first dealer I went to was ~30 miles from my place (around my work). I guess I kept driving partially because neither the dealer that rejected my car for service and the other dealer I talked to on the phone told me I needed to stop driving or suggested the issue was urgent (maybe I should have known this anyways but the second dealer said he saw this all the time..).

As far as being SURE the car didn't get flooded when it was parked...I guess I'm not 100% sure. There weren't any flash floods in my area. However I park my car on the street and there is a slight tilt to the passenger side fwiw. Not sure if that was the actual reason for the water accumulating on that side?

mmade22

Just let us know what happens. You definatly have water damage and once that happens, the car will never be the same. See if the dealer has any 08 tl-s on the lot. They are giving them away.

kenny5

One of my friends had a fairly new Camry and he drove it through a big puddle during a heavy downpour. He continued driving the car for about 10 blocks until it died on him. The dealer told him that the engine was flooded, the damage was extensive and the cost to repair would be expensive. He ended up junking the car and bought a SUV, hoping that the higher ground clearance would avoid similar problems.

carlos9827

iTrader: (2)

Are you sure the car below isn't your car...?



jk..sorry to hear about what happened

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...81#post9994181