Girlfriend has drowned her car

[Tomkenn]

My girlfriend decided to drive through a large puddle yesterday and seems to have killed her car. She drives a renault twingo and said that the water was coming over the bonnet. The car kept going and after she drove through the water she then drove about 15 miles down the m65. When she came back to the car after doing some shopping the car would not unlock with the key fob. The dash lights would come on when she turned the key but it wouldnt start. She called the RAC and he tried everything possible to get it started and had to get the car recovered to our house. The driver then said that the best idea would be to claim on her insurance for flood damage!

Anyone else been in this position before? Want to avoid going through the insurace if possible as she is 24 and dont want her to lose her no claims bonus.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

If you are lucky it's just water in the electrics, which may dry. If the engine has breathed in water and hydrauliced it's a whole lot more serious. (You can't compress a liquid, so everything gets a bit bent)

[Tomkenn]

Im thinking it will just be electrical as she was able to drive 15 miles after she drove through it. If she hydrolocked it would it just die straight away?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

In the old days we just took a hairdryer to the electrics...probably need to be a tad more careful these days

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Tomkenn said:

Im thinking it will just be electrical as she was able to drive 15 miles after she drove through it. If she hydrolocked it would it just die straight away?

True

[PositronicRay]

You could try removing any ECUs that look drenched and pop them in the airing cupboard to dry out.

[TooMany2cvs]

Tomkenn said:

My girlfriend decided to drive through a large puddle yesterday and seems to have killed her car. She drives a renault twingo and said that the water was coming over the bonnet.

<blink> Seriously...? She is very, very lucky.

Tomkenn said:

The driver then said that the best idea would be to claim on her insurance for flood damage!

Definitely water - and it won't be clean water - in the electronics. The initial moisture problems are going to turn into corrosion problems. And that's before the smells start from sodden sound-deadening and any interior trim that got wet.

Tomkenn said:

Anyone else been in this position before? Want to avoid going through the insurace if possible as she is 24 and dont want her to lose her no claims bonus.

Unless she claims, the best way to minimise her losses will be to list it on ebay - WITH FULL DISCLOSURE - and let somebody else have the ballache. Insurance will write it off for sure, and the only sensible thing to do is break it, but some optimist will probably think they can have a crack at masking the immediate symptoms for long enough to punt it on to some poor fool.

[Tomkenn]

The interior is fine as the she was only in the water for around 20 metres id say. I will try locating the ECU and try to dry it out.

[Twin1]

I know this sounds stupid, and this one might be a more serious issue, but I had exactly the same symptoms with my Twingo a while back.

The fix? Disconnect then re-connect the battery. This (somehow) completely sorted the issue. Maybe the RAC guy already tried but definitely worth a shot!

[steveo3002]

check theres no elecs in the footwells under the carpets that might have taken in water

id say if it carried on for 15 miles its something you can fix

[Jimmy Recard]

If it was hydrolocked, the engine would have seized, yes. It certainly wouldn't have continued.

Hopefully when dried out it'll be ok. It's hard to say - it might have shorted something or you might be lucky

[Super Slo Mo]

The ecu is probably sealed against water ingress. It's more likely that water has got into something else, like sensors or the HT system somehow.
It may dry of its own accord but if it's dirty water that's got in then it may not hurt to wash off the affected parts.
Contrary to popular opinion, water doesn't hurt pcb's provided it's clean and is allowed to dry off before the electronics are powered up.
I've actually washes salt encrusted camera electronics in a bucket of water before, with a toothbrush to remove deposits. They worked fine after, other than one that had shorted due to the salt.

[Mr Classic]

Friends Twingo had same symptoms of lights on dash but nothing happened when starting. Disconnect battery terminals and reconnect fixed.

[Willy Nilly]

As it's a Renault,the issue is probably nothing to do with the water at all and it's all a coincidence

[HughS47]

I drove my 330D through a ford that was deeper than it looked and killed the engine. Insurance paid out. Take the NCB hit.

[vtecyo]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

If you are lucky it's just water in the electrics, which may dry. If the engine has breathed in water and hydrauliced it's a whole lot more serious. (You can't compress a liquid, so everything gets a bit bent)

I did this in my Corsa back in 07. New engine required.

Folks were not amused. You are correct though. Hydrolock is instant death. I never made it out the other side of the ford.

Edited by vtecyo on Sunday 13th December 18:38

[Sheepshanks]

TooMany2cvs said:

Tomkenn said:

My girlfriend decided to drive through a large puddle yesterday and seems to have killed her car. She drives a renault twingo and said that the water was coming over the bonnet.

<blink> Seriously...? She is very, very lucky.

I guess that would just be the bow wave - the car would float if the water was that deep.

I really can't see an insurance company paying out on this - they'd want to see a specific fault, like a locked engine, and that's clearly not the issue here.

Interesting that a couple of people have pointed out the same solution - got to be worth a try. Unfortunately it's not good drying weather - ideally the car could do with being put in a nice warm warehouse etc to dry out.

[David A]

Soak the anything remotely electrical looking in the engine bay in wd40 or similar. Disconnect and leave battery off for 24hrs and make sure it's hit a full charge before trying again.

[Super Slo Mo]

David A said:

Soak the anything remotely electrical looking in the engine bay in wd40 or similar. Disconnect and leave battery off for 24hrs and make sure it's hit a full charge before trying again.

If it's all covered in mud or silt, I'd be inclined to give it a good rinsing off with a hosepipe first, then get the WD40 on it.

[saaby93]

Willy Nilly said:

As it's a Renault,the issue is probably nothing to do with the water at all and it's all a coincidence

May not be wrong
Can you get it to a Renault dealer? or someone that knows Renault or car electrics Hometune?