flood damage - hydraulic or not?

[350matt]

So then Peeps

I've have had something of a tumultuous morning pulling out of my village I was in full autopilot and ran headlong into deep floodwater

the car gamely pushed through most of it and then engine stopped suddenly and the starter will no longer turn just 'click'

so I think I've properly hydraulically locked it....


has anyone else done this to theirs ?

my thoughts are when I get home after work ( car was recovered this morning)

pull plugs and hand crank

then spin over on starter
then compression test

[Nickp47]

It doesn’t sound good. It’s not difficult to do in these conditions, I have bought quite a few MX-5s recently that have suffered the same thing.
Fingers crossed for you though

[qwakers]

Rotarys are particularly resilient to this by design, no rods to snap or valves to bend. That's not to say you have 100% change of it surviving but there is a chance. Your methodology is correct. I'd also change the oil.

[MightyCondor]

Doesn't sound promising, but hopefully the inability to restart is a starter issue rather than a locked engine, even if that's me trying to be optimistic.

Do you have a standard intake or something that draws air from a lower position like a Revi scoop or AEM?

I had an interesting conversation with Scott at RRP last month, where he suggested that oil burps can have a similar hydro locking effect and can cause seal damage as the oil still has to go somewhere... So even if it's not enough to fully lock the engine, there may be damage.

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[Dr. FrankenRex]

As someone who has done it, that'll be hydrolocked, yes...

Your plan is a good way to go about it, and as James has said it is hopefully not terminal :/

[SprintRX8]

Check the air box (If you have one) for water ingress.
And or the inlet.
Are the carpets wet?

[warpc0il]

Add to that list
- check resonator box on side of intake hose, as that may also be full of water.

[350matt]

thanks for the advice chaps

so plugs out, and not the torrent of water I was expecting , but yes they were very damp

tried turning by hand - no joy
Scott at RRP advised putting in 6th and rocking it back and forth as he's seen this before where the carbon gets shocked off the rotor and wedges it all up

this worked I could then turn it by hand

plugs back in and it started up!

very rough though

after running for about 30 seconds
there was a cough and lump of red hot grot flew out the back which turned out to be cataylst brick material....

so stopped running and now need to remove the exhaust downpipe and run it again ( open pipe - will be loud) just to check it runs properly

anyone got a decat pipe of any description?

[warpc0il]

Thermal shock or just pressure will break up the cat core.

Your best "decat" is the de-cored original cat.

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[350matt]

Well I don't have one of them


however nothing to stop me dropping the current pipe off
hammering out the remains and then put it back on

[Conan]

That’s the best bet Matt

[Dr. FrankenRex]

As has been said, smash the existing cat - no value in it now anyway.

Sounds like it'll survive, though, so that's a positive!

[350matt]

Haven't had a chance to get on it today and was working off site and got home about an hour ago...
hopefully tomorrow
I reckon its 50 /50 its OK or not
as the rough running is hopefully the blocked up cat and not a blown side seal
fingers crossed.......
find out tomorrow

[warpc0il]

If the cat collapsed, when removing check the catback for any chunks that may have broken off.

Otherwise, you wouldn't be the first to find that they still have classic symptoms of a blocked cat, having decatted.

[New Duke]

Crossing all me fingers and toes for you Matt.

[350matt]

thanks chaps, will be Friday evening now as I've been away with work since Wednesday

[350matt]

well the verdict is in

dropping the exhaust off and on the front of the cat (what's left of it) are two bits of apex seal.......

so thats b'ggered then.....

[warpc0il]

Oh dear.

At least you know.

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[HarSc]

just a fyi, thats a valid insurance claim.....

[Conan]

Really sorry to hear that Matt you’ve had a long relationship with that car
As said it is an insurance claim though
Condolences
Pete

[350matt]

thanks chaps, off to see Nick later today about a replacement

lets see what kind of pittance my insurers say the car is worth, claim kicked off...... and I'll keep the 'wreck' to break for parts

[Dr. FrankenRex]

Oof. Sad times.

But you join an elite group, which consists of me. Lol

[350matt]

so just collected the replacement from Nick, a very clean Winning blue 231 with 62K on the clock, so virtually new compared to my old girl

now need to move all my good bits off rexi 1 onto rexi 2, might take awhile
strange how different it feels really

[350matt]

insurance have come back with an offer for rexi no. 1

£1100...... sheesh

and thats going to have some taken off as I want to buy the 'wreck' off them
so Copart will be asking for some pics apparently...

rather oddly the key demoninators on deciding the value were
1) milage - fair enough 164K is pushing it a bit for these cars
2) service history - at this age and milage they're lucky to have partial
3) but the last one is how many keys do I have for it ???

really? keys ?

[Dr. FrankenRex]

I'd have lied and said I had 48 keys for it - if each key is worth a decent chunk that should help!

Joking aside, I don't think 1100 is bad given the age etc. - unless there's some mega mods that would be insured and declared and haven't been taken in to account?

Interested to hear how much copart wanna charge you to keep it