Photo in the DT shows the whole site which is twice a large as shown below.
sipejantangguh.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/long-island-airport-used-to-store-15000.html
They suggest 200.000 cars were water damaged.
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I'm sure I read that a million cars were damaged by Katrina.
A bit horrifying for future potential owners that they think many of these cars can be repaired.
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Why can't they be repaired if all it is water damage then if cheap enough to fix then fix it.
A house can be fixed if flooded a car can be with a stripped and repaired engine new electrics & clean carpets etc etc.
It's probably not economical to fix if a garage is doing the work as they will want to replace most of it thats why there scrapped or stripped.
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My cousin makes a very nice living swapping car body shells for a body shop. All above board.
Last time I saw him, he'd just done a BMW 7-series. It had been rolled at 2 weeks old, and was being reshelled. Over a couple of weeks he was swapping most of the parts from the old to the new body shell.
He can't work with anyone else - he has a photographic type memory and can remember where everything goes. If someone tries to help him he loses the ability to put it back together correctly first time!
I suspect the problem with flooded cars is the amount of electric circuit boards which have been damaged and need drying out properly if they are not to give problems down the line.
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>> Why can't they be repaired if all it is water damage then if cheap enough
>> to fix then fix it.
The mechanical parts fine (as long as the water is drained out properly and they haven't had time to rust). I would suggest the electrics are a different story.
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What a choice, part or fully submerged in relatively clean salt sea water or otherwise inland water mixed with sewage and other cocktails.
Might have been tempted once when cars were relatively simple, but seeing its hells own job to keep a well cared for driveable computer running trouble free without such damage, no chance.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Wed 2 Jan 13 at 10:34
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Nonsense.
If it was a $100,000 car for $10, would you buy it? Of course you would.
So its a matter of price, not a matter of some kind of anti water damage, higher principle.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 2 Jan 13 at 14:05
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If you had the time and the parts cheaply (e.g. accident damaged car) so wiring looms, ECUs etc are available then it must be a viable fix. But a risk someone will just do the minimum and problems arise years later. And the worst affected cars will be scrapped - but what parts may enter the spare parts chain....
On some modern cars, the ECUs all need programming to the car - so might not be a job without the proper tools.
Would I buy one of these after they are fixed? No. Not worth the risk. But providing they are sold with the history then fine.
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>> On some modern cars, the ECUs all need programming to the car - so might
>> not be a job without the proper tools.
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There was someone on one of the Mercedes forums who bought a registered but unused C Class that had been flood damaged while parked. He couldn't even get the MB tool, StarDiagnose, to interact with the car so didn't know where to start.
He paid what seemed like quite a lot for the car - £14K, IIRC.
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>>Why can't they be repaired if all it is water damage then if cheap enough to fix then fix it.
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Apart from potential future electrical problems, if the water was contaminated then the car is supposed to be destroyed.
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Fair enough I suppose if they are sold off cheap.
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Anyone fancy car seats contaminated with sewage and then surface washed?
And electrical problems through contact surface corrosion can take months to surface and months to find...
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All OT equipment lent out by councils for personal use are treated as hazardous until decontaminated when returned. Everything from walking sticks and Zimmers to toilet seats.
No way I would contemplate a flood damaged car (or house). Hepatitis anyone?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 2 Jan 13 at 16:31
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A former colleague drove his 4-year-old Mondeo into 5ft of floodwater a decade ago. The insurance wrote it off because of the infection risk from the water.
I would've thought an unregistered £14k Merc would be alright after £2k worth of scrapper-sourced replacement interior and 24 hours in a paintshop low bake oven.
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18 months ago, I went to look at a suspiciously cheap, immaculate, low mileage Audi A8 in Autotrader and Piston Heads.
On the photos in Autotrader there was what looked like a tide line on the carpets and the footwell looked silty but the photos were low-res.
At first glance it looked stunning but it took me 5 minutes to see that these hand-carwash/kebab-vendor types selling it had bought a flood damaged car and thoroughly washed and dried it. Many things didn't work properly such as electric seats. There were non-original wires sneaking from behind the front wing past the door hinges and door seal and into the gap behind the dashboard. "Probably an alarm innit bruv". There were EML lights on and they said it just needs a service.
When I removed the spare wheel, there was muddy water in the bottom trapped in plastic 'cells' in the insert in the bottom. "ah it's the valets bruv gettin' the water inside"
Needless to say I gave them the length of my tongue and left.
It probably sold to some berk though as the adverts were gone a few days later.
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>> I would've thought an unregistered £14k Merc would be alright after £2k worth of scrapper-sourced
>> replacement interior and 24 hours in a paintshop low bake oven.
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I looked back and found the thread. The last problem he was reporting, before he disappeared, was that he couldn't get the key out of the ignition.
On a Merc, the EIS (Electronic Ignition Switch) operates with electronics and motors once you invert the "key" (lump of plasic, not a key in the conventional sense). Of course, if the EIS fails it's replaced as a unit. As you might imagine, it's not cheap - although the upside is at least you don't need new keys, the new unit is coded (by the dealer of course) to the car and the existing keys.
Earlier in the thread he said the interior cleaned up fine. However he was being told the airbags and seat belt pre-tensioners needed replacing as they'd got wet. I think there's 10 airbags in a C Class.
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Wet American cars stored - for sale - Bill Payer
