flooded cars

[celica2004]

I am wondering whether or not to buy flooded cars from New Orleans.

Do any one know what kind of problems they generally have ??

Is it worth?

thanks.

[gLok]

Depends what you want to do with the car. Have you seen the condition of some of those cars? You would pretty much have to gut it to a bare frame and start over, great for a project car or race car.

Back in the early 90's when Andrew hit Florida, we had a lot of flooded cars but none that sat under water for weeks. One got donated to my high school. Although it didnt sit under water, the windows broke out and the inside flooded. There were water marks halfway up the door panels. We gutted it, chopped it in half and made the car shorter. You could sit in the rear seat and drive the car.

[TcmaBoy]

At the very least it will need a new interior, the engine will be hydrolocked, and there will probably be signifcant electrical issues. If you are a good mechanic you can refurbish one. A few years ago I helped fix up a flood damaged Jeep Cheroke. It seemed ok at first. We put a new carpet and seats in it. It ran great. After about a year things started acting up. It turned out that most of the wire harness along the floor pan had rotted. If you are looking for a cheap project car go for it. I wouldn't be looking to use it as my daily driver though.

[powderblue91]

is that water salt water? i wouldn't get one if it was.

[Cyorke]

I have a freind that bought a flood car one time jsut to have a cheap car to daily drive. THey basically changed every fluid and stripped the car down to bare metal amost. After about 2 years of driving he was still having mud come out of the a/c vents and the wiring was shot. He did some work onthe wiring harnesses but never got everything right. As far as the engine hydrolocked, as long as noone tries to start the car you should be ok jsut drain all the fluids ad refill then pull the plugs and crank it over with no plugs to force the water out of the cylinders. IF it has been sitting for a while you may want to dump a little oil in the cylinders jsut to get some to the rings and such.

Unfortunately there is no way to tell exactly what you will need to do to the car. You may put some work into it and not spend much money then 6 months or a year downthe road the whole thing may rust out from underneath you. Like someone else said if it has been sitting in salt water I would stay away from it completely.

[Pineapple]

Its not just salt water, its everything from the sewer.
I'll said they're good for parts only. Make sure you clean and disinfect everything.

[jhbhatia]

Simple cars like tercel, echo, sure why not for a couple of hundred dollars. More complex vehicles like m/benz or lexus with a lot of electronics stay away...they are more prone to problems. Keeping in mind if you see a reconditioned vehcicle...its all SUPERFECIAL (or super-fecal...LOL).

[Michael vanhaag]

The salt water will corrode everything but the glass.You will have a electrical nightmare as well as corrosion on all metal parts.
The only thing that can be reused is the glass and that will need a good cleanup.