Trunk Flooded and Now the Engine Will Not Start

Four days ago, shortly after a hurricane. I tried starting my car and it wouldn’t start. The lights, radio, and AC would turn on but the engine wouldn’t make a sound. I left the car at my father’s for four days without looking at it. I open the trunk to check the battery, and the well with the battery and spare tire is filled with water. The battery was almost completely submerged except for the top inch of the battery where the cables are connected. There is a metal connector between two cables that is completely rusted from the water.

My question is, what do I need to do/get in order to get my car running again. If anyone has any ideas then I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

First you need to empty the water that is in the battery compartment. Then charge the battery on a charger over night. You say that the water was almost up to the top of the battery, but it may have gone down to that point before you opened the compartment. It may have been well over the top of the battery at some point.

Lights, readio and Ac fan takes little voltage to run those items. The starter takes much more power and the battery may not have had the amps to run the starter motor.

Yosemite

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Concur, first thing to do is remove the battery , clean all the connectors and the battery posts (with a battery tool) , then charge it with a shop charger. You may discover it won’t take a charge doing that, in which case you’ll need a new battery. Or it may take a charge but still is no good, a load test will determine that. In the meantime, dry that area out, and figure out why it leaked in the first place. Yu probably need some new window or door gaskets.

For more help, please provide the year, make and model of vehicle…Okay, I see it, a Saturn Ion…If, at some point, the battery was completely submerged, it’s safe to assume the entire car was semi-submerged at some point, right? Did you find water in the foot-wells inside the car?