While offroading today i got into to deep of water "found a ledge". While trying to reverse out of the whole i found myself in the vehicle died. Yes the intake was part way under water, tried imediate restart to no avail. After breaking 2 straps, it took 2 jeeps and a winch to finally get me out 45min time in water. While in water, water came inside front passenger compartment filled up to bottom of glove box. LR3 was in low gear, DSC turned off at time, in offroad position. Never got car restarted towed home to dry out going to tear into troubleshooting tomorrow. At current time disconnected battery and ran wire from positive to negative let sit for 15min, hooked back up got power to windows, radio, all doors, but nothing as far as engine crank and i mean nothing no sound or anything. Going to check all wires trough firewall and check controller behind battery in morning. Getting a parking brake fault, transmission fault limited gears, and cant get outa low gear, no terrain response controls are working, or suspension controls. At 83k miles and no warrenty so i have to do all work myself. Can anyone suggest other things i need to check?

 

How is your project going?

 

did you open up the airbox and intake tubes to get all the water out of there?

 

if you can do everything yourself and you had to ability to go offroading in water without the aid of a snorkel then common sense would have to take the entire carpet out of the vehicle and take out all the interior trims and wash and dry every electrical part. At this point its a right off. Why cause there are about ten modules and miles of wiring that needs a completely dry environment to keep from shorting out. No dealer or independant will touch this because unless you are willing to spend thousands of dollars until the vehicle is fixed. I mean seriously, the entire vehicle harness will have to go thru to make sure the splices are damaged. Plus you have to hope and prey there isn't water in the engine.

Its a right off, you failed to acknowledge the number one rule of offroading. Walk the course to make sure the way ahead is clear and not dangerous for you or your vehicle. Failure means death either you or the vehicle.

 

Harsh pill to swallow.....

 

Offroading isn't about owning the highest vehicle or the most capable, its about knowing how to and how not to offroad. Its about understanding the environment you are in and the vehicle you are driving and what it takes to accomplish your goals.

The biggest and best vehicles will not get you out of a bad situation if you don't use common sense in the first place.

 

Well, IMHO you are in a good position to effect repairs. Soggy carpet will need to be removed to dry. Every connector will need to be opened, checked over, and blast dry with compressed air. There are lots of relays that may be full of water, the ones in my Disco do not appear to be "hermetically sealed." Some modules may have survived getting wet, others may have to be replaced, dry them and see. Hair dryer on very low may help.

First order of business is to stop trying to crank engine until you have dealt with water that may be inside. Go ahead and change oil and filter. Remove each spark plug. Take a small plastic hose and attach with duct tape to your shop vac, and stick in each cylinder to vac out any water you can find. Don't want to rust piston rings. Squirt a tablespoon of oil into each cylinder, it will go to the low point, hopefully displace some of the moisture, and provide some protection until repairs are complete. When you finally do crank, it will smoke for a minute or so. Also use vac to remove water trapped in intake hose from air box on each side of MAF. You could have water trapped inside intake, above valves that are closed, waiting to dump into a cylinder when you crank truck.

Tranny vent inlet is at firewall, and should have been above water line if it just got to glove box. But you may want to check, and if needed, drain and refill tranny.

This won't be done in an afternoon, you have a project. Take the RAVE and go system by system.

What about insurance? I have a friend, Danny, who drove a new Subaru on trails the first weekend he owned it. Decide to splash a puddle. It was 12 feet deep. Car was submerged, pulled out by wrecker. Insurance paid off, and he bought the salvage title to the car for $1200. Towed it home, cleaned it up, and had 150K on it when he worked with me.

 

Who among us is perfect and has made no mistakes? Screw-ups is one of the ways we all learn. Avoidable? Absolutely. Valuable? Unquestionably.

Perhaps we can start from where he's at...

First, WD-40 is your friend. It was engineered by the military as a water displacement fluid for tanks, aircraft and vehicles. It has dielectric properties and serves as a temporary sealer to protect against corrosion, along with temporary lubricating properties. Use it judiciously but liberally.

Second, the most expensive bits, such as the computer modules and sensors are sealed, so water shouldn't be an issue. Your focus should be on the wiring harnesses, connectors, relays, motors, switches and non-sealed actuators, solenoids and breakers. Also, the engine's induction and ignition systems.

Step 1: Pull the battery OUT. Pull carpets, panels, and removable covering from anything at the water line and below. This includes the seats, carpets and dash. Do it today.

Step 1.5: Pull the plugs and fog the cylinders with WD-40, followed by a couple of squirts of oil.

Step 2: Dry anything you can reach, use shop vac to suck the water out of anything you can reach with a wand, including connectors. Open connectors and relays, and clean them up with emery cloth and WD-40, then hit everything else you can reach with a hairdryer, carefully.

Step 3: Close the vehicle in a garage and heat the garage with a propane heater -- yes, I know it's summer but the goal is to keep the space 10 degrees or so above ambient to reduce the relative humidity in the space. Alternatively, use a dehumidifier. Keep it warm (safely) for 2-3 days, if possible.

Step 4: Put the battery back in and try the electrical accessories first. Check for any popped breakers and fuses, and verify operation of each.

Step 5: Crank the engine and keep your fingers crossed.

Dave

PS - don't use WD-40 for electric motors or anything with rotating parts - it will dilute the lubricant in the bearings and cause them to fail prematurely.

 

Open the owners manual and read the section about offroading. Alot more useful then tuning into offroad shows that show six inch raised vehicles. Or better yet, go to a land rover offroading school where you can learn to offroad better then a two inch lift kit. Sorry but mistakes happen cause people offroading get stupid cause they think they don't need to get out of their vehicles. This is the same instance as the idiots you see on tv in those rescue shows getting rescued from a flooded street cause they decided to go down it even though they knew better. Maybe its hubris on the guys part or maybe its just dumb stupidity or just not learning how to offroad.



oh and being a month already I bet the vehicle is completely junk by now. smells to high heaven and all the splices have started to rot away.