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2000 Corolla Flooded, any ideas?
In Mid-December, we were getting torrential rain here in New Orleans. I was coming home from work and wound up stalling out in very deep water. I did not turn the car over. The water kept rising, and I abandoned ship when I was sitting in water. I had to leave the car there overnight, so the water may have gotten higher.
The next day, I towed the car home, and began vacuuming out the interior. The interior has actually come out quite well, and it barely smells at all. I wound up starting the car later on that day, and it started up sluggishly, but would only stay running if you gave it gas.
I checked all fluids, and I could not see any bubbles on anything. The car flooded on the 12th, and I wound up taking it out on the 18th. I drove about ten miles, in an urban and suburban area. When I took a U-turn, the car stalled. It would not turn back on for the rest of the day. However, the next day the car fired right up.
Over the course of the next two days I worked on it a lot. I turned the engine over w/o spark plugs and NO water came out. I replaced the spark plugs, changed the air filter, changed the oil, and cleaned the MAF sensor.
On the 20th, the car ran for hours. I desperately needed groceries since this is my only car, and I drove it all around town. On my way home, I took the interstate. It was about a 7 mile drive. The car drove fine! Until I got off the exit ramp, and took a right turn. The car stalled, and would not start again for the rest of the day. But the next day, it fired right up.
During this time, the weather still wasn't pretty. It rained a lot, and the car didn't really have the time or weather to dry.
I adjusted the idle to run a little higher the other day. Since then, I have been driving it in urban and suburban areas. I have even got it up to interstate speed, and taken a U-turn with it. It seems to be running great, but is there something else I should be doing? I imagine I may have problems down the line, but I've heard some long-term success stories from a few friends about flooded cars. Any ideas on why it was stalling when I turned? It stalled once going left, and the other time right. Since the 20th of December, it has been very sunny and somewhat dry. I am hoping I only had problems earlier because the car was still kind of wet.
Bear in mind, I only have liability insurance, so I can't claim this. Also, when this happened, the entire city was basically underwater, and there was nowhere I could go to get away from it. Having a truck or SUV would have really helped, but I really can't afford that right now. Thanks for your help!
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