1995 Geo Prism? Stick a fork in it. It’s done!
Tester
And according to the OP, it’s STILL underwater…
“Fortunately it does not have an electrical package.” Yes it does. It has a computer that controls the engine.
Was the dashboard underwater??? Was the water over the windshield wipers??
The windows and doors don’t matter. They are mechanical. The car’s engine is controlled by a computer. That computer has now been submerged in dirty water.
Hope springs eternal, but I think you’re hoping for the impossible. I wish you the best of luck with this car. Maybe you’ll be lucky.
The car was worth $1500. There is no way $1500 will restore this car…If you can’t afford another $1500 car, you can’t afford to fix this one…
Really would love to hear Tom and Ray’s opinion. But getting our mechanics opinion is of primary importance at the moment. I am getting a little tired of folks rubbing salt into the wound. Dastardly situation though I was not seeking sympathy, I would have appreciated more constructive information.
Desperate:
Tom and Ray do not answer questions in this forum or participate in any of these discussions.
The number of places where flood damage can cause your car problems are seemingly endless.
The replies you’ve received on this forum were not meant to be “rubbing salt into the wound”. I’m a little surprised that you view the replies that way.
The authors who gave you feedback in this thread collectively have a VAST amount of real world experience. Virtually all are answering your question with utmost sincerity - trying to help you. Yet you seem to have a high disregard for the input.
Many of the experienced contributors to this forum do try to learn from each other. Can you help us understand why you don’t seem willing to?
Probably because I was hoping that the car could be saved. But my mechanic agreed with your assessments.
Daughter has decided to live without her own wheels and borrow one of our cars when she needs to do so this summer. Won’t have one at campus in the fall, but in the spring she will be going to a semester abroad anyway. We’ll help her get one when she gets back as she is going to need one for graduate school.
Sad week. But life goes on
I apologize if I offended anyone.
Has anyone tried to start the car? does it crank? will it fire? It may be smelly and not so reliable but see exactly why it won’t run (put a limit of 1hr labor just to make it run) and go from there.
There sure have been a lot of “swimmers” put off on unsuspecting people so they can be made to at least run.
This sort of happened to my 2007 audi q7 but the water only puddles and I had no problems except bairing replacement and a good cleaning but your car is all the way up to re window that’s almost the whole car I would rather buy a salvage car than fix it u can get good deals on them
Hubby tried to start it up just to see after mechanic said it wasn’t worth fixing. Water shot out and it tried to start but didn’t. Have to go back to get the license plates before we have it towed to a salvage yard. I’ll try to get it started then but doubt at this point that it would work. Thanks though.
Trying To Start It And Having Water Shoot Out Was Not Good.
Where did it shoot from? The spark plugs should have been removed and the engine cranked over first. This could have broken parts of the engine. The thing the car had going for it was that it was not running when flooded.
Anyhow, I’ve always wondered what would happen if someone found an auto body shop with a paint spray booth/oven that gets nice and hot, and pushed a flood car in there until “done” to dry things out quickly and then tried to start it. Kind of like a doctor sending an elderly patient in poor health to live in Arizona. Know anybody at a body shop that would like to be part of an experiment?
CSA
I realize this information is posted a few days too late but I figured I would put it in here for those who come across this thread in the future. While Tom and Ray do not post here, they do have the below article on CarTalk at the following link:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/flood/
I have included the text most relative to this thread from that article below, which describes vehicles flooded in Hurricane Katrina:
“Is a flooded car necessarily junk?”
“TOM: Pretty much, yes. There are some obvious problems, as you can imagine. If water gets access to one of the cylinders, either through the air intake or the exhaust system, that cylinder can fill with water. Then, when the engine is started, that cylinder will hydro-lock (water can’t be compressed like air can), and everything connected to the cylinder will break or bend.”
“RAY: But even if the water is pushed out safely before the car is started, that cylinder has already had water sitting in it for a week. And those cylinder walls and rings are probably already rusting. So that engine’s going to burn oil like crazy and run unevenly.”
“TOM: Water can get into the transmission through the transmission fluid dipstick hole. And if that happens, you’ll be lubricating the transmission with one part transmission fluid and two parts water, or something like that. So kiss the transmission goodbye, too.”
“RAY: Inside the car, lots of manufacturers now put electronic components, like computers, under the seats, or under the dashboard. So even if only a modest amount of water was sloshing around the floor of the car, you may need a new computer?or several new computers, depending on your car?which can cost $1000 each.”
“TOM: And if the water gets a little higher up, it can wreak havoc on electronic seat controls, electric windows, ignition switches, and airbags. And more and more cars have seat belt pre-tensioners now, which use pyrotechnic devices housed where the seat belt attaches to the bottom of the door pillar. Pucker up and kiss those goodbye, too.”
“RAY: And then there’s the whole issue of mold. When a car is filled with water, and then closed up and baked in the sun for a week, you’ve got mold spore heaven. And that’s not only a health hazard, it’s nearly impossible to fix.”
“TOM: So we’d say if water got any further than the floor of the car, it’s junk.”
Well, actually this posting is best as it came at a time of–to use psychobable “closure”. I saw the car for the first time yesterday evening and it made be physically ill. From the outside it appears to be a beautiful little car without a scratch on its body. But open the door and you know that it has been totaled. Let us let Tom have the last word on this when he says: “So we’d say if water got any further than the floor of the car, it’s junk.”
The logistics of managing the summer without it will be difficult. Funny that I grew up in a family in which neither of my parents drove and we had no car, of course. We managed just fine as we lived in Cleveland, Ohio with good mass transportation. Now we have 2 cars and 3 drivers in the house and we aren’t sure how we will work this out. Suburban sprawl! But then that is another subject entirely.
For now, I want to thank all of you for taking an interest in my tale of woe and providing guidance even when I was annoyed by the advice. Is it too trite to quote the Stones that you don’t always get what you want… Well I guess I don’t have to finish that as those of us boomers will hear the rest in our heads and those youngsters—well…
So let us close the book on this subject of Laura’s Geo Prism and let it rest in peace–or in pieces–in whatever salvage yard that it is towed.