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Car surgery with Marxist
posted in Off Topic
1
#1
0 Frags +

So in case this should ever happen to you - I'll post about a recent adventure I've had and maybe it will help you in the future or be an interesting story lol.

Background: Some years ago I purchased a 99' Cadillac Seville for myself. I wanted something newer at the time, but riding in it, it felt like you were riding on air, had heated seats, and was nice and spacious which is ideal for me being fairly tall and having a kiddo to haul around. It makes an impression too lol. It's red. It also has a pretty glorious surround sound system that was added by a prior owner. The other upside is that it's a huge boat-like car, which is nice for the winter (Indiana winters can get INTENSE lol). So tl;dr I love this car.

Unfortunately, a week or so ago we got rather intense storms and flash flooding, and I did a stupid thing. I was driving back from my destination (dropping off kiddo). It was pouring rain and I could barely see, but I was tired - having stopped several times already to wait out the rain, so I just kept going despite the fact that I could barely see. I was going about 35 mph so as not to run off the road and die - when I hear the worst possible sound; a sort of splashing ker-plunk noise. The engine dies. Now that I've stopped I see I've managed to find a washed out road - not that I could've seen that. The water is approximately 1/4th of the way up my door when looking out to get my bearings. My foot is still on the brake, so I pull the gear shift into neutral - because I'll obviously need to be towed. I climb out of the passenger side window because there appeared to be higher ground there (not wanting to open the door and hasten the inevitable flooding of my interior). I also snatch everything i can from inside the car.

I call a local tow truck guy that I know (like I said winters here can be intense so almost everybody has been towed at least once lol). I also call the police to inform them of the flooded road - they tell me to mark it myself because they don't think they can be out for a while (due to many other roads being impassable). I do so with road flares that I had in the trunk - though they wouldn't work for long. Tow truck guy arrives after about 20 minutes of me standing out in the rain. He takes a brief look at the car and informs me that it's totaled and that I can sign it over to him right then and there or do so later at his shop if I need my insurance company to look at it. I know my insurance doesn't need to because I have minimum coverage so they could care less lol. I tell him that I think I can save the car since I didn't run it in that *that* high of water for that long (it died almost instantly) and I never attempted to restart the car in the water (also important lol). I was encouraged by this assessment because the water wasn't up into the grill. He actually got kind of shitty with me and told me I was being an idiot and that he'd be happy to hold it at his place for free - and recommended I take a day or two to think about my options. I told him that wouldn't be necessary and that he could take it back to my home where I would pay him in cash.

About then a friend I'd called to come pick me up arrived in their much heartier SUV. Here was mistake #2, being soaking wet, I make sure they know how to get to my house, and leave the area. Before I leave, tow-truck guy tells me he'll have to haul it on a flat-bed truck because it's so inundated with water (in the intervening 20 minutes or so the whole interior had flooded up to the seats). I'm ok with that.

Several hours later they arrive at my house with my car. I help them push it into my garage - being as its still raining and the window I escaped through will no longer go up because the fuses have all tripped due to the water. The guy tries to give me a MASSIVE bill of like 400$ for the tow + haul, and tells me I can avoid the whole thing if I just sign the car over to him. This is when I look into the interior one last time (as he is telling me that the flooding out of the interior means the car will never run again) - I notice that the panel below the steering wheel has been pulled out of the dash. So, in the intervening hours they had MOST CERTAINLY checked the electronic parts of the car and the car's computer to see if the car's electronics and computer were FUBAR, and were now attempting to fuck me by way or trying to extort me for 400$ lol.

I inform him that I have 0 intention what so ever of paying him 400$ for a tow - particularly when they've obviously picked through my car's interior - and the car was on my property now so I wasn't about to allow him to just run off with it. He apologizes - and presents me with a new, much more reasonable bill (120$), with this sly kind of "you caught me with my hand in the cookie jar" look.

So I walk the mile to my nearest able-neighbor (RURAL LIFE) and ask if she has any house fans, box fans, etc that I could borrow. She loans me 2. I called a few more people for fans and they brought them by. All told I ended up with 4 box fans, a few house fans, and 2 large industrial fans lol. I used a bucket to get the water out of the interior (which came rushing out when i opened the doors) and the trunk. Then I pulled up the carpet through the whole interior and shop vacuumed it again, and again, and again, and again. Until it was mostly dry on both sides. I rigged up the carpeting and floor mats on a clothes line and set them in front of fans. I then went to shop vaccing' the interior some more - but it was quite wet. I then pulled out the seats (which were soaking wet) and left them by a fan to dry - after trying to get water out of the cushioning by squishing them bunches of times lol. I call it a night after setting up my fan array to create a wind vortex in my garage.

Day 2, I take the whole dash apart (a job already begun by my helpful tow-truck friends lol) and give it the shop vac treatment (water never got up there, but it was moist due to condensation). More shop vaccing, I push it out into the sun to dry better and remove the battery - which is inconveniently placed under the back seat and is 100% dead (I checked this by way of trying to turn the key slightly and seeing nothing happen)

Day 3, more fans and more sun, but it looks like everything is mostly dry, collapse in exhaustion do nothing.

Day 4, I open the 2 fuse boxes - most of the fuses are blown. The interior fuse box is wet - I used a baby eye dropper, a syringe, and q-tips to dry it out. I buy new fuses on ebay.

Day 5 car is totally dry. Take battery to autozone - it's fucked. It also begins to overheat during recharging so it got water in it. Buy a new battery.

Day 8, fuses arrive from ebay. Put in new fuses.

Day 14, brother-in-law (a mechanical engineer) stops by for the moment of truth. We pull out the spark plugs first - it's a v8 so there are 8 of them, and remove the engine cover. We check the spark plugs for water - if they're wet that means likely dead car. But it's SUPER important that you don't attempt to start the car with water on the spark plugs because the engine won't be able to compress the water and may explode, resulting in a VERY dead car lol. Only 3 of the plugs are wet. Put in the new battery to compliment the new fuses, and turn over the engine with no spark plugs. Water is ejected from the engine - lots of it. Water comes pouring out of the air-intake. Air filter is still wet, remove it and throw it in the trash. Check the oil for frothiness. if the oil gets foamy that means there's a lot of water in the oil and you'll need to immediately change the oil before proceeding further. But in this case our oil is mostly fine. Continue to turn the car over without spark plugs, check for frothiness more, watch more water get ejected from the engine.

So in case this should ever happen to you - I'll post about a recent adventure I've had and maybe it will help you in the future or be an interesting story lol.

Background: Some years ago I purchased a 99' Cadillac Seville for myself. I wanted something newer at the time, but riding in it, it felt like you were riding on air, had heated seats, and was nice and spacious which is ideal for me being fairly tall and having a kiddo to haul around. It makes an impression too lol. It's red. It also has a pretty glorious surround sound system that was added by a prior owner. The other upside is that it's a huge boat-like car, which is nice for the winter (Indiana winters can get INTENSE lol). So tl;dr I love this car.

Unfortunately, a week or so ago we got rather intense storms and flash flooding, and I did a stupid thing. I was driving back from my destination (dropping off kiddo). It was pouring rain and I could barely see, but I was tired - having stopped several times already to wait out the rain, so I just kept going despite the fact that I could barely see. I was going about 35 mph so as not to run off the road and die - when I hear the worst possible sound; a sort of splashing ker-plunk noise. The engine dies. Now that I've stopped I see I've managed to find a washed out road - not that I could've seen that. The water is approximately 1/4th of the way up my door when looking out to get my bearings. My foot is still on the brake, so I pull the gear shift into neutral - because I'll obviously need to be towed. I climb out of the passenger side window because there appeared to be higher ground there (not wanting to open the door and hasten the inevitable flooding of my interior). I also snatch everything i can from inside the car.

I call a local tow truck guy that I know (like I said winters here can be intense so almost everybody has been towed at least once lol). I also call the police to inform them of the flooded road - they tell me to mark it myself because they don't think they can be out for a while (due to many other roads being impassable). I do so with road flares that I had in the trunk - though they wouldn't work for long. Tow truck guy arrives after about 20 minutes of me standing out in the rain. He takes a brief look at the car and informs me that it's totaled and that I can sign it over to him right then and there or do so later at his shop if I need my insurance company to look at it. I know my insurance doesn't need to because I have minimum coverage so they could care less lol. I tell him that I think I can save the car since I didn't run it in that *that* high of water for that long (it died almost instantly) and I never attempted to restart the car in the water (also important lol). I was encouraged by this assessment because the water wasn't up into the grill. He actually got kind of shitty with me and told me I was being an idiot and that he'd be happy to hold it at his place for free - and recommended I take a day or two to think about my options. I told him that wouldn't be necessary and that he could take it back to my home where I would pay him in cash.

About then a friend I'd called to come pick me up arrived in their much heartier SUV. Here was mistake #2, being soaking wet, I make sure they know how to get to my house, and leave the area. Before I leave, tow-truck guy tells me he'll have to haul it on a flat-bed truck because it's so inundated with water (in the intervening 20 minutes or so the whole interior had flooded up to the seats). I'm ok with that.

Several hours later they arrive at my house with my car. I help them push it into my garage - being as its still raining and the window I escaped through will no longer go up because the fuses have all tripped due to the water. The guy tries to give me a MASSIVE bill of like 400$ for the tow + haul, and tells me I can avoid the whole thing if I just sign the car over to him. This is when I look into the interior one last time (as he is telling me that the flooding out of the interior means the car will never run again) - I notice that the panel below the steering wheel has been pulled out of the dash. So, in the intervening hours they had MOST CERTAINLY checked the electronic parts of the car and the car's computer to see if the car's electronics and computer were FUBAR, and were now attempting to fuck me by way or trying to extort me for 400$ lol.

I inform him that I have 0 intention what so ever of paying him 400$ for a tow - particularly when they've obviously picked through my car's interior - and the car was on my property now so I wasn't about to allow him to just run off with it. He apologizes - and presents me with a new, much more reasonable bill (120$), with this sly kind of "you caught me with my hand in the cookie jar" look.

So I walk the mile to my nearest able-neighbor (RURAL LIFE) and ask if she has any house fans, box fans, etc that I could borrow. She loans me 2. I called a few more people for fans and they brought them by. All told I ended up with 4 box fans, a few house fans, and 2 large industrial fans lol. I used a bucket to get the water out of the interior (which came rushing out when i opened the doors) and the trunk. Then I pulled up the carpet through the whole interior and shop vacuumed it again, and again, and again, and again. Until it was mostly dry on both sides. I rigged up the carpeting and floor mats on a clothes line and set them in front of fans. I then went to shop vaccing' the interior some more - but it was quite wet. I then pulled out the seats (which were soaking wet) and left them by a fan to dry - after trying to get water out of the cushioning by squishing them bunches of times lol. I call it a night after setting up my fan array to create a wind vortex in my garage.

Day 2, I take the whole dash apart (a job already begun by my helpful tow-truck friends lol) and give it the shop vac treatment (water never got up there, but it was moist due to condensation). More shop vaccing, I push it out into the sun to dry better and remove the battery - which is inconveniently placed under the back seat and is 100% dead (I checked this by way of trying to turn the key slightly and seeing nothing happen)

Day 3, more fans and more sun, but it looks like everything is mostly dry, collapse in exhaustion do nothing.

Day 4, I open the 2 fuse boxes - most of the fuses are blown. The interior fuse box is wet - I used a baby eye dropper, a syringe, and q-tips to dry it out. I buy new fuses on ebay.

Day 5 car is totally dry. Take battery to autozone - it's fucked. It also begins to overheat during recharging so it got water in it. Buy a new battery.

Day 8, fuses arrive from ebay. Put in new fuses.

Day 14, brother-in-law (a mechanical engineer) stops by for the moment of truth. We pull out the spark plugs first - it's a v8 so there are 8 of them, and remove the engine cover. We check the spark plugs for water - if they're wet that means likely dead car. But it's SUPER important that you don't attempt to start the car with water on the spark plugs because the engine won't be able to compress the water and may explode, resulting in a VERY dead car lol. Only 3 of the plugs are wet. Put in the new battery to compliment the new fuses, and turn over the engine with no spark plugs. Water is ejected from the engine - lots of it. Water comes pouring out of the air-intake. Air filter is still wet, remove it and throw it in the trash. Check the oil for frothiness. if the oil gets foamy that means there's a lot of water in the oil and you'll need to immediately change the oil before proceeding further. But in this case our oil is mostly fine. Continue to turn the car over without spark plugs, check for frothiness more, watch more water get ejected from the engine.
2
#2
14 Frags +

Then, assured that most of the water is ejected from the engine, we replace the spark plugs and put the engine cover back on. The dash and digital display still aren't working at all, but that's a problem for later days - and superfluous if the engine is knocking or explodes.

I put the key in and turn... the car tries to start... and then immediately dies. I hear the sound of rushing water. Lots and lots of water was ejected from the exhaust system. Turn the car over again, confirm yet more water is coming out of the exhaust. So, I get out my handy-dandy jack, make at least 2 jokes about my state of jacking, and get the car tipped up backwards. Continue to turn the car over, it will run for about 2-3 seconds and die, but it sounds fine.

I assume it's behaving this way because the sensor in the exhaust is reporting a plugged exhaust and killing the engine. Repeat for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Finally, after all this treatment the car comes to life and stays alive. Still nothing on the dash, but the engine sounds fine.

So, I look for wires I've disconnected somehow in my shop-vac furor. I find a single orange wire that is detached from wherever it belongs. I find the bundle of wires and the contact that I believe it goes to near the battery (again where the back seat usually is). It try to put it back on its contact but it won't go, so i strip the wire a bit and get to splicing it into the bit of orange wire dangling from where it ostensibly used to be. I get it in but nothing happens. I ask my brother-in-law to check my splice job, because what do I know, my History and Econ degrees are useless to me here lol. He assumes I'm a dummy who can't splice wires together, so he redoes it. Still nothing. He works himself into a confused and angry state at this single wire. Eventually proclaiming "FUCK YOU" and gives the car a solid kick. SUDDENLY, the A/C and dash comes to life, and the radio turns on to the station I had been listening to two weeks prior at the volume I had been listening to. The driver's seat mechanism also comes to life and starts trying to set the driver's seat to my preferred position - despite the lack of a driver's seat. Apparently, it really does pay to be an engineer.

I put the driver and passenger seats back in (they'll have to be removed again later to put the carpet back in). Turn the car back on, it's still alive, everything checks out - I push every button. Everything is great. I take it for a spin, even pushing it near to its top speed - having been shut up in the house for two weeks, and relying on relatives to deliver me food, had put me into an ultra-cabin fever zone.

Drive the car to autozone, buy new oil, new oil filter, new fuel filter, new air filter, and some "heat" for the engine to burn off any left-over water + "clean" it. Upon returning home, proceed to run around the yard ecstatically screaming IT'S ALIVE IT'S ALIVE and cackling maniacally.

My car is alive and well. The only question is - should I drive it to the tow-truck man's scrap yard to taunt him?

- Hopefully you've found this to be mildly helpful should you ever find yourself in a similar state :D

Then, assured that most of the water is ejected from the engine, we replace the spark plugs and put the engine cover back on. The dash and digital display still aren't working at all, but that's a problem for later days - and superfluous if the engine is knocking or explodes.

I put the key in and turn... the car tries to start... and then immediately dies. I hear the sound of rushing water. Lots and lots of water was ejected from the exhaust system. Turn the car over again, confirm yet more water is coming out of the exhaust. So, I get out my handy-dandy jack, make at least 2 jokes about my state of jacking, and get the car tipped up backwards. Continue to turn the car over, it will run for about 2-3 seconds and die, but it sounds fine.

I assume it's behaving this way because the sensor in the exhaust is reporting a plugged exhaust and killing the engine. Repeat for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Finally, after all this treatment the car comes to life and stays alive. Still nothing on the dash, but the engine sounds fine.

So, I look for wires I've disconnected somehow in my shop-vac furor. I find a single orange wire that is detached from wherever it belongs. I find the bundle of wires and the contact that I believe it goes to near the battery (again where the back seat usually is). It try to put it back on its contact but it won't go, so i strip the wire a bit and get to splicing it into the bit of orange wire dangling from where it ostensibly used to be. I get it in but nothing happens. I ask my brother-in-law to check my splice job, because what do I know, my History and Econ degrees are useless to me here lol. He assumes I'm a dummy who can't splice wires together, so he redoes it. Still nothing. He works himself into a confused and angry state at this single wire. Eventually proclaiming "FUCK YOU" and gives the car a solid kick. SUDDENLY, the A/C and dash comes to life, and the radio turns on to the station I had been listening to two weeks prior at the volume I had been listening to. The driver's seat mechanism also comes to life and starts trying to set the driver's seat to my preferred position - despite the lack of a driver's seat. Apparently, it really does pay to be an engineer.

I put the driver and passenger seats back in (they'll have to be removed again later to put the carpet back in). Turn the car back on, it's still alive, everything checks out - I push every button. Everything is great. I take it for a spin, even pushing it near to its top speed - having been shut up in the house for two weeks, and relying on relatives to deliver me food, had put me into an ultra-cabin fever zone.

Drive the car to autozone, buy new oil, new oil filter, new fuel filter, new air filter, and some "heat" for the engine to burn off any left-over water + "clean" it. Upon returning home, proceed to run around the yard ecstatically screaming IT'S ALIVE IT'S ALIVE and cackling maniacally.

My car is alive and well. The only question is - should I drive it to the tow-truck man's scrap yard to taunt him?

- Hopefully you've found this to be mildly helpful should you ever find yourself in a similar state :D
3
#3
1 Frags +

Did you get it to work?

As in, be safe enough for the road

Did you get it to work?

As in, be safe enough for the road
4
#4
3 Frags +

Post got too long so I had to make second post :( lol

Post got too long so I had to make second post :( lol
5
#5
12 Frags +

SSS ranked story teller.

SSS ranked story teller.
6
#6
10 Frags +

>tfw you need 2 posts to tell a story

>tfw you need 2 posts to tell a story
7
#7
-8 Frags +

couldnt u just order food and have them deliver to you?

couldnt u just order food and have them deliver to you?
8
#8
12 Frags +

I don't even get pizza delivery out here :(

I don't even get pizza delivery out here :(
9
#9
5 Frags +

How much did all the parts you replaced cost ya?

Also you should absolutely taunt the tow truck dude

How much did all the parts you replaced cost ya?

Also you should absolutely taunt the tow truck dude
10
#10
0 Frags +
MarxistMy car is alive and well. The only question is - should I drive it to the tow-truck man's scrap yard to taunt him?

I'm pretty sure he knows that it was fixable. So it depends on how much the whole ordeal cost you.

[quote=Marxist]
My car is alive and well. The only question is - should I drive it to the tow-truck man's scrap yard to taunt him?
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure he knows that it was fixable. So it depends on how much the whole ordeal cost you.
11
#11
0 Frags +
MarxistI don't even get pizza delivery out here :(

indiana problems

i'm about 3 miles outside of the delivery area of the closest pizza place :(

[quote=Marxist]I don't even get pizza delivery out here :([/quote]

indiana problems

i'm about 3 miles outside of the delivery area of the closest pizza place :(
12
#12
7 Frags +

truly a pimp car

give us a picture of your ride bro

truly a pimp car

give us a picture of your ride bro
13
#13
2 Frags +
Marxist.
- Hopefully you've found this to be mildly helpful should you ever find yourself in a similar state :D

He's moved on from in-game tips to real life tips.
There is just no stopping his helpfulness.

[quote=Marxist].
- Hopefully you've found this to be mildly helpful should you ever find yourself in a similar state :D[/quote]

He's moved on from in-game tips to real life tips.
There is just no stopping his helpfulness.
14
#14
4 Frags +

@10 Well his assessment that it was totaled *was* correct - because had I paid somebody to do all this it would've surpassed the total value of the car. Because a cleaning crew getting paid minimum wage to set up fans, and then some mechanic "inspecting it" at 30-40$/hr + parts probably would've gone well over the value of the car pre-flood damage lol.

@9 - the total cost of replacement parts is is somewhere around 190$ + the tow lol - the fuses off ebay were cheap, oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter - all that general maintenance stuff is pretty reasonable - the expensive part was the new battery :(. I *may* have to replace the spark plugs which will run 60-70$, but that's still well below the value of the car :D Also slightly higher electricity bill thanks to my fan array :D

My FAVORITE THING owl is that there is a cable for cable TV hanging off of a telephone pole at the end of my road just dangling there taunting me like "HAHAHA YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE GOOD INTERNET WOULDN'T YOU? WELL TOO BAD I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE!!!"

I may post something x3 once I get it all put back together - I thought about taking pictures along the way, but I was under the assumption that there was a 50/50 shot it would just be dead lol.

@10 Well his assessment that it was totaled *was* correct - because had I paid somebody to do all this it would've surpassed the total value of the car. Because a cleaning crew getting paid minimum wage to set up fans, and then some mechanic "inspecting it" at 30-40$/hr + parts probably would've gone well over the value of the car pre-flood damage lol.

@9 - the total cost of replacement parts is is somewhere around 190$ + the tow lol - the fuses off ebay were cheap, oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter - all that general maintenance stuff is pretty reasonable - the expensive part was the new battery :(. I *may* have to replace the spark plugs which will run 60-70$, but that's still well below the value of the car :D Also slightly higher electricity bill thanks to my fan array :D

My FAVORITE THING owl is that there is a cable for cable TV hanging off of a telephone pole at the end of my road just dangling there taunting me like "HAHAHA YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE GOOD INTERNET WOULDN'T YOU? WELL TOO BAD I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE!!!"

I may post something x3 once I get it all put back together - I thought about taking pictures along the way, but I was under the assumption that there was a 50/50 shot it would just be dead lol.
15
#15
0 Frags +

Marxist's life is a tv show.

Marxist's life is a tv show.
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