I was hoping anyone could give me advice, I got caught in a flooded street and it was bad enough that water went inside the car over the floorboard in both the front and back. Luckily I got through it but the yellow engine on the panel that looks like a genie lamp went on, I checked the manual and it just says "engine malfunction light." Does anyone have any guesses as to how I screwed up the car, and how hard it would be to fix it?

Thanks,

Doug

 

Well how you screwed up the car is driving it though all that water. If the lamp you are talking about is the MIL malfunction indicator lamp or check engine light, it all depends on what the DTC is you could have damaged alot of things maybe even sucked up some water.

 

go to an autozone and they can pull the code for you, or take ot to acura and have them check it out.

 

Hey Doug,

I assume it was fresh water and you were able to drive through it. Step one, dry out the car and step two, do as csmeance suggested!

You could use a shop vac to suck up most of the water in the carpet and then use a couple of commercial type carpet drying blowers (you should be able to find them at any tool rental shop). You might want to hose off the under side of your care to clean off any mud or silt.

The little yellow engine icon lit on your dash is the "engine check" light and a lot of things can make it turn on. Don't panic! Could just be a simple thing like a false reading due to the cold water bath. Start with getting the code and go from there.

Let us know what you find out, OK?

Happy Motoring!

 

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it. My car is being towed to the dealer as we speak, I should have the good or bad news later today

 

I don't know diddly about cars but even I know it's not a good sign when the first thing the mechanic says is "I hope you have insurance," he said that they ran tests and among other things, "all the cylinders misfired," whatever that means, and he said there was a milky white substance (no jokes please) coming out of something, the carburator I think. The guy basically made it sound like it was totalled.

I did have a question for all the people who are leasing cars, I have comprehensive insurance but if they try to screw me out of coverage by saying flood damage isn't covered, do you think the dealer might have some way to let me trade this one in and get a new one, if I pay some money (not the whole lease amount of course - I have 2 years left)

 

the TL is a fuel injected vehicle. I don't think that FI cars has a carburetor...

hmm... if you try to trade in your car before making the repairs, the dealer will include the cost of fixing the car as part of the payment due to them. The reason is because you are responsible for returning the car back at the end of the lease in good working order. the car is obviously not since the check engine light is on. so regardless if the insurance will pay to fix the damage or not, the damage HAS to get fixed before you can return the car as part of the lease deal.

 

Hi dude2007,


pandaman1784's got a point about the return condition of your TL and the TL has a throttle body not carb.

Now the rest of this post is FYI... it is not meant to frighten you or anything like that. You should know what you’re possibly dealing with so you can make good decisions as to the best way to deal with the outcome.

1) Now about "flood" insurance.... IMHO, this is not really a situation relating to a "flood" per se. If you car was parked and the river over flowed and it got caught, that's flood related. This sound more like you drove into/through an extremely large "puddle” so I believe this is not "flood" related.

2) I think what your mechanic was relating to on the milky substance is when water and oil are mixed together the oil becomes "milky". The misfires could be attributed to water fouling within the cylinders and the fact the TL is a "crank fire" engine and alot of the engine electrical got wet. You know what they say, water and electricity don't mix...

3) The main question is how much water was ingested by your motor while running. When a motor sucks in a large amount of water while running it can become "hydro locked" and this condition can do massive amounts of damage to the moving parts of the motor (I.e. bend the rods). This happens because water does not compress much under pressure and once inside the cylinders it literally becomes a solid object stopping all movement instantly.

4) On the other hand, best case is, you might have gotten some water in the engine, it mixed with the oil but it's possible after removing as much water from the cylinders and changing the engine oil and letting thing dry out, things might be OK.

5) My concern is how deep the water was because water could have entered many of the moving parts of your car contaminating the wheel bearings, CV joints or transmission as well.

6) If you've already contacted your insurance and it sound like you have, work with you adjuster, stay cool and don't mention the "Flood" thing. Even if it seems you’re getting little satisfaction, play smart and don't try to play hardball with your insurance or the dealer! They can and might hold you 100% accountable if you piss them off.

You have our thoughts and hopes that you resolve your situation favorably

Good Luck!

 

CAHobbs thanks for the detailed post, today the insurance adjuster is supposed to go inspect the vehicle in the dealership so I shoudl find out what the damage is. As far as coverage, thankfully my insurance company already said I'm covered. I talked to a friend of mine who is pretty knowledgeable with this stuff and he thinks the insurance company probably will not total the car, since it looks like the electronics stuff was not damaged - he said that even if they have to replace all of the carpeting and the whole engine, that would not be enough to justify them totalling the car - at least from their point of view... If they take that route, I just hope the car doesn't stink after they are done

 

Off topic but might be related - I was checking the spare in the trunk for air pressure and when i took it out, i found rings of clay underneath it, similar to the side of the bank of a lake when the water starts to recede. Any idea how water could get in there ?
The carpet in the trunk did not show any signs of moisture. Is it possible something else is leaking and water ends up underneath the spare?

 

Hi binTL,

Are you the original owner or is this a previously owned TL?

Anyway, finding dirt or clay inside the spare location doesn't necessarily mean it's been in water. If you are like the second owner, then the first owner might have gotten a flat and the spare got dirty while it was being used and placed back in the trunk without being cleaned.

If you bought it new, then it is possible that the spare was removed for some reason by the factory or dealership and again it became dirty then placed back into the trunk.

This might be a little far fetched but, there is an access panel in the trunk leading to the top of the fuel tank but unless you’re driving through a lot of watery wet clay, it's unlikely that it leaked past this panel onto the trunk. Then again, if it is leaking.....

If you’re worried that your TL has been in deep water, look for signs of water intrusion in the car (rust or corrosion) on brackets and other exposed metals and inside the electrical connectors close to the floor.

Happy Leak Finding!

 

Thanks CAHobbs.
It is my wife's car which she bought new before we got married. She has never used the spare. She was rear ended once (10K worth of damage while the car was 6 months old)and some body shop had worked on it. So I am assuming the work was not done right and could be leaking but couldnt figure how there could be dirt in there. I had inspected the car several times when it was up on the racks for oil changes and stuff and never noticed any corrosion underneath but i was never looking directly underneath the spare area. I guess when i take it to the dealer whenever that maybe, i will point it out and ask them for an opinion. Thanks again.

 

This just happened to me today as well. The car was stalled in water up to the doors for about 3 hours. There was about two inches of water on the floor and it wouldn't even come close to starting up again. I just left it with the dealership to get the damage checked out.

How did this work out for you? I have an 06 with 16K miles. It was running so great, but now I'm worried.

 

I had 9k worth of damage (or so my dealership said), they had to replace "the lower part of the engine" and remove the carpeting and padding (they replaced the padding but re-used the carpeting after shampooing and drying it), it's running fine as far as I can tell, i go about 80 mph regularly on the turnpike and haven't experienced any problems. and the car doesn't smell funny or anything

 

Wow, Last Tuesday I Came Out Of Work And It Started To Rain Very Heavy You Could Not Even See The Cars Right Next To Me.
I When Over Some Nice Big Puddle Of Water The Car Did Not Stall Got Home Ok. The Next Day I Turn The Car On And Tried To Shift The Car Into Reverse And Got Notting Could Not Even Get The Car Into First Gear Or Second No Gears. I Hope I Did Not Get Water In The Transmission But I Think That Inposible Because It Seal. I Call The Insurance Company And Reported The Claim. I Hope I Can Get My Baby Back Soon Does Anyone Have Any Idea What Happen To The Car?

 

Could it be this -- ?

In the winter, after you brush off the car with the snow brush and dig out a path with the shovel, you throw them in the trunk and forget about it. A few months later, there's a small puddle under the spare. Had this happen once or twice with my old cars.

If you don't live where there's snow, it's not this.

 

Nope, no snow where the car was.
I dont think she ever used the spare. That reminds me, i need to pump up the spare to 60 psi. Its a pain to get in there..