h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Right, so...
My building's garage is below street level.
It rained.
The waetr from the street overspilled into the garage.
The pump that's supposed to avoid flooding didn't work (for some reason, possibly lack of maintenance?).

Long story short : when the firemen were done pumping the water out, there was about 1 or 2 centimetres of water inside my car (front and back, but driver side only, due to the inclination of the garage floor).

Is there anything I should worry about ?
Anything I should do ?
I've taken a few pictures, and will take more tomorrow when it's light.
Do I need to see a garagist ?
Or do I just call my insurance ?

Thanks for the advice, O People Who Know.

Considering all the flooding we've had in Texas recently, we're becoming experts.

http://abc13.com/automotive/do-you-know-what-to-do-if-your-car-floods/135206/

Thanks Baron Grim.

So basically, I need to dry it as soon as possible and it'll be all right.
There really wasn't much water inside (the pedals were dry), and it worked fine when I took it out of the garage to park it in the street, so I guess it'll be ok.
I'll still call my insurance in the morning, for good measure.

I don't have enough of the picture to understand it. Does the car start? If it starts, does it run?

Call the insurance in case there is a claim, get yout local garage to check your car (Ask if there is a chance of the water getting into your cars oil, an oil and filter change may be a good idea), the breaks may be affected. The water in the car may cause the carpets to smell cover the wet areas with newspaper that will help.

You should be allright please let us know

Yes, paulh. It starts, and it runs.

So yeah, it seems my worst enemy right now is going to be mould.
Not that bad, considering...


On the plus side, the underside is now clean.

PS, is you have breakdown cover with you insurance, get them to come out to check the car before you start it, it is best to play safe.

I'm glad it runs. Maybe the hardest part will be getting it cleaned up.

Take it to a garage ASAP.

You really shouldn't have started it before doing so.



It might be fine, but if water did get into your crankase or oil, you may have done damage.

Maybe not, but it would have been safer to have it towed and a mechanic replace the fluids, not that expensive. If water didn't get in, you saved a hundred quid or two. If water did get in the engine may be shot.

You're probably OK, but it would have been better to have it checked first.



OK. Now let's assume the engine's fine. Mould is now your enemy. You need to dry that interior out quickly. I'd recommend finding a reputable body shop or auto upholsterer to pull the seats and dry the carpets.

If you leave it and hope for the best, mould may grow to a point you can't get it out. Or at least not affordably.

Flood damaged cars are pretty much worthless on the market.



Which brings to the third option.

How good is your insurance? Will totalling your car get you into a new one? If so, leave it be. Replace it.

If water could easily get into an oil-pan or engine - then oil (under pressure) would already be spitting out in volumes.

In many parts of North America, auto floors get soaked frequently by snow melt - often not entirely drying out until spring. (Freezing yes, drying - no) I'd not worry about mold.

I would suggest it be dried out reasonably soon though - I can't guess at the quality of the floor metal of foreign cars and how quickly they might rust.

Ok, I've called my insurance, they say i'm covered and would only have 80 euros to pay.
(It seems that's probably cheaper than having it cleaned without getting the insurance involved).

I've managed to find a garagist that was open *and* not going on holiday any time soon.
They say if it started and ran correctly, it's probably fine, just needs drying.
They can take a look at it Monday, and get an expert in if needed.

It's not a new car (13ish years old), so no eletronics under the seats. That clearly helps.


So what's happening now is :
My parents are driving back from their holiday this afternoon, and passing through my town.
So they're taking my car with them and taking it to the garage on Monday morning.

They have a garage with a roof so can leave the windows open over the weekend to avoid moulding. Also they live in a tiny village so even leaving the garage door wide open shouldn't be a problem.


I'll just have to go without a car for a week or so, until I can take the train back to my parents' and drive home in my newly cleaned, nice smelling car.
(not a problem as I live in the town centre and can go to all the essential places on foot)

Once it's almost dry try sprinkling coarse sea salt on any damp patches, then rub with half a lemon, dry and nicely scented!

Salt onto wet carpet (and then metal floor)? Winter road salts are the primary rot and rust concern of our cars, followed by the salt in the air anywhere in our Maritime provinces. Stuff that eats the wiring insulation and connections, and the rest of the metal body. Just saying ...

This post has been removed.

Sorry, posted from the wrong account. Re-posting.

My OH and I had this problem back in November 2012. We had several inches of rain in a couple of hours one night, and enough water came into the car to soak parts of the carpet. We had to use a shop-vac (one of those heavy-duty vacuum cleaners that's designed to suck up water) to get all of the water up, and then took it to a body shop to have it treated to prevent mold. It *still* smelled musty afterward. (That problem was solved when we had a much worse flood in April 2013; most of the surrounding neighborhood was under three feet of water after the river broke its banks, and the car was a total loss then... )

But my point is that I second Baron Grim's suggestion to do anything you can to dry yours out as quickly as possible. I don't mean to sound like a Negative Nancy, but parking it with windows open might not be enough, especially if the weather is humid. It will be very costly to fix if mold sets in and you have to tear out and replace the carpet and upholstery. You have my sympathy, it's not something nice to go through.

What the rest of them said.

Coarse Sea salt crystals ( a handful at most) will help absorb the moisture from the carpet fibres and can be vacuumed off when they become slightly damp, well before they eat through a carpet and into the chasis. Rock salt used on winter roads by the ton, mixed with oil, grit, rain or snow and then applied liberally to the bodywork on a 13 year old car would indeed cause rusty havoc. Apologies if I wasn't clear, good luck SF.

Give it a wee tap.







Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week. Enjoy the veal.

Speaking of giving it a wee tap.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB890fs3GMU

I got my car back yesterday.
It is now dry, with no lasting damage, and doesn't smell (well, not worse than before ).

Thanks all for the support and advice.