Life Hacks That Will Save a Flooded Car

Life Hacks That Will Save a Flooded Car. How to save a flooded car DIY with Scotty Kilmer (life hack). How to get a flooded car engine to start and run again. What to do and not to do if your car gets flooded out. Watch this BEFORE it happens to you. DIY car repair with Scotty Kilmer, an auto mechanic for the last 45 years.

⬇️Things used in this video:
6. Common Sense

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[scottykilmer]

⬇️Things used in this video:
6. Common Sense

🛠Check out my Garage to see what I use every day and highly recommend:

❗️Check out the Scotty store:

👉Follow me on Instagram for the latest news, funnies, and exclusive info / pics:

[meikasroom]

I like this guy. Short, sweet and to the point.

[scottykilmer]

hope you have full coverage, cause mainly they are totalled if water got high. If you don't have coverage, remove all the spark plugs and the air filter and try cranking, that would empty water out of the engine and then PRAY electronics aren't all trashed. good luck

[alanmanning]

Thank you so much for your advice, I rescued my car that I was told was a write off due to flood damage
It now runs better than before with no adverse affects
It was a bit of a challenge to dry it inside but why send a perfectly good car to the scrapyard due to fresh water
even my mechanics were not interested in sorting it out
Oil change, new plugs, new filters after spinning the engine over with the plugs out, a good spray with WD40 and she is fine
I do not think that soggy carpets are too difficult to fix
And I did it all myself
Nice one my friend

[flynnMN]

Never had to deal with a flooded car, but this is excellent knowledge so I know ahead of time. Watching that engine crank with the plugs out was freakin awesome!

[Zwikster]

These vids are all so awesome from the camera angles to the editing to Scotty's enthusiasm. Gotta love it!

[Deangelo]

Scotty Kilimer is so SMART!! I wish I was a PRO Mechanic just like him!!

[marctronixx]

@1:09 thats what she said... (sorry couldn't resist)...

[justinh]

Scotty was ahead of his time. A true legend

[hanskinslo]

2:10 - I'm horrified at the water shooting out of that car.

[auxiliaryschmidt]

Sad about that volvo, you can pick up both of the computers for that car for about $75 total. They last forever!

[scottykilmer]

@Taunuslunatic yes, the piston rods if you want to be more precise, they can bend, but the pistons themselves also can be damaged by breaking the wrist pins.

[drwisdom]

Back around 2008 it rained really hard while I was in bowling league. I came out to find the parking lot flooded and I had parked at the low point. The filthy water was 3/4 up the wheels and had been seeping in through the bottom of the doors. There was about 4 inches of water on the floor in my 2006 GTI. Everyone was wandering around and I asked two young guys with beers if they would help me push my car onto dry land. We rolled up our pants and waded in. I opened the hatch which was still above the water line and shifted the car into neutral. We pushed the car up next to the bowling alley where we shop-vaced out the dirty water. The next day I went back with towels and sopped up as much remaining water as possible and then let it dry in the sun for awhile. I hadn't seen this video so I started the car and drove it home instead of towing. I stripped out the interior (seats, console, trim, gas pedal, etc.) and extracted the carpet and insulation and washed them in my front yard in a kiddie pool. Put everything back and the car was as clean as new, better than before I got flooded. The only cost was my labor and I had to buy a new satellite receiver which is under the passenger seat ($20 off ebay). I don't use satellite radio, but the receiver is needed for the dashboard compass to work. I am still driving the same car today and it has never had a problem related to the flood. In fact in 11 years it has never had a problem requiring me to bring it in for service. Everything that had gone wrong I have been able to fix cheaply myself.

From this experience I learned that flooding might ruin a vehicle or it might just make it dirty and cause almost no harm. If it is the latter and you can get it for a low price, it is a very good deal.

[scottykilmer]

@fixinggrace yes, disconnect all the connectors, clean em out, and put dielectrical grease on em to prevent corrosion

[scottykilmer]

try the vac, but really, best to remove the seats and rugs and dry them outside the car. Mold will grow underneath otherwise

[tripsadelica]

Scotty...I love your videos. You always have a "don't sweat it / no stress" tone.

A couple of years ago a flash flood (during a really heavy downunder thunderstorm) sent water pouring down my driveway and into my garage to a level of about 60 cm. (around 2 feet). The water penetrated the door seals and water got into the car. The water did NOT get into the engine, thank God! I was at my wit's end as to what to do so I contacted Mitsubishi Australia (the car is an 2004 V6 Mitsubishi Magna...built in Australia and also exported to the US as a "Mitsubishi Diamante").
The Mitsubishi person I spoke to was an old-time mechanic who'd been with the company since the factory was owned by Chrysler back in the '60s. He gave me some great advice which I'd like to share with your viewers.

1/ If you know the engine is okay (following Scotty's guide above) the the quickest and safest way to dry-out your interior before any carpet rot sets in is to follow the directions to follow.

2/ Drop a quarter cup of toilet-type scented disinfectant (NOT BLEACH) into each footwell and swish the water around to mix it. This will kill off any bacteria in the water...important in stopping the rot process. After ten or so minutes scoop as much water as you can out by hand using a jug or whatever you can find to the job.

3/ Go and hire a carpet steam cleaning unit from your local supermarket or any place that hires them out. (In Australia, the big supermarket companies have them for hire at the front of the store) Use the unit to draw out as much water in the car's carpet as you can. Then use the steam function (with the supplied cleaning fluid) and steam the crap out of the carpets and any seat fabric which may have been doused as well. Do the whole cleaning process until hardly any more water is being dragged into the dirty water receptacle.

4/ Buy four bags of silicate kitty litter from the supermarket and put one bag in each footwell of the car (assuming it's a sedan). If you have a wagon put two extra bags in the load area. If you have a sedan and water got into the boot (the "trunk", as you guys call it) steam clean it and use another bag or so of the kitty litter.

5/ Leave the car parked in the sun with all windows cranked down about a half inch (to let evaporated water out) and your vents open. Give the kitty litter about two days to do the job of sucking the water out of the carpets and underfelt. If, after two days, you can still feel water in the carpets or even just a little moisture, then replace the kitty litter with a new batch. Shovel the old stuff out first and put it in your recycling bin. Wait another couple of days.

6/ Shovel the kitty litter out, vacuum up the remaining annoying bits and then sprinkle a few drops of "Nilodour" in the car. You should be good to go. To make doubly-sure you get all the water, put a couple of Damp Rid canisters into the car each night for three or four days.

Your car should now be bone-dry inside at this stage. The Mitsubishi guy told me not to worry about underfloor rust as most car companies used a type of sealing tar on the floorpanels these days before installing the carpet. The ONLY worry you might have (which will be evident if the car wont crank despite the engine being okay, or random "check engine" lights come on) is whether or not you car's ECU got water inside its case. If that's so, take the ECU out (most of them unplug), open the casing (DO NOT TOUCH ANY CIRCUITRY INSIDE...EVER), spill out the water and leave the unit to dry out in the sun for an hour or so and then buy a spray can of "Co Contact Cleaner) and spray the interior of the ECU liberally. Drain any remaining fluid and leave the ECU in the sun or in a warm room for a couple of hours. Reassemble it, plug it back in and see if the engine starts and runs without any further warnings. Also check that your brake light switch works by getting someone to look at your tailights as you hit the pedal. Most switches are a bit awkward to get out but their cases can be opened and cleaned with Co Contact Cleaner as well and then reinstalled.

I hope this long-winded diatribe helps folks in this situation. It sure helped me and my car is still running sweetly as these years later. Don't thank me...thank Mitsubishi Australia. :)

[boscopit]

the water shooting out of the engine was nuts

[cybaneticcybanetic]

hi Scotty, I am an electronics graduate. next time if the car is flooded, just remove the battery terminal as quick as you can, take out the computer box, open it and let it dry and it will work well after it has dried out, you might need to spray it with a corrosion protector after that so that the soldered joints won't corrode. the way water kills electronics is by short-circuiting them. what i said works for all electronics, even if your phone gets into the water, quickly switch it off or take off the battery if possible(way better) and then disassemble it and let it dry for at least a day and you'll be good to go.
im a big fan of your videos and i just had to add.

[topollillo]

Thanks scotty im doing this to my vehicle once it stops raining here in houston got flooded today

[FxHnd]

Love your videos Scotty, Im in Houston too (Stafford/Sugarland side). I remember that soaking we got in January last year, ended up hydro-locking my Equinox driving thru some high water.

I pushed it into a nearby parking lot and had my mother come pick me up (tow services everywhere where backed up for hours due to the flooding). Next day I came back with a new air filter, oil filter, oil, plugs, and a little diesel. 1 hr later it was running like a champ again. Lol