1986 88 -- Underwater in Katrina

[geo6382]

On August 29, I watched helplessly from my front door as my 1986 Olds 88 went underwater in the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina here in Biloxi. For the last six weeks, I've been more occupied with taking care of the damage to the house, but have now reached a point where I am hopeful of turning a little more attention to the car. My question is this:

Although it's been six weeks, can I still do anything to get the engine/transmission/electronics back in business after all of it was covered with salt water? Since the storm, I have only removed the upholstery items and left the doors & deck lid open to facilitate drying.

I guess I'm looking for any advice available to drain and clean the engine to a point where I can safely turn it over, and what I need to do to the transmission. And any suggestions on what I can do to get the electronics back in service, if that's even possible. I've not attempted to turn over the engine at all, and the battery has been disconnected since the day after the storm. So, wherever the moving parts were before the storm is exactly where they are now - except that I have pushed it into the driveway from the point where it floated to - about a half block away.

I realize my desire to get it up and running may be asking too much, but you have my thanks in advance for any advice or help you might have to offer...

[maxwedge]

It's done, saltwater will eat up every electronic component that was submerged, you will have one failure after another, give it up before the nite mare starts with this car, been there done that, I assume it was up to the dash inside?

[geo6382]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

It's done, saltwater will eat up every electronic component that was submerged, you will have one failure after another, give it up before the nite mare starts with this car, been there done that, I assume it was up to the dash inside?

Well, aren't you just full of good news!! j/k...

Seriously, though, I do appreciate the insight. I was hoping against hope I believe that I may be able to do something with it. I sure like/liked that car. Looked good, ran good, got great mileage - you know, the works.

The water line is about four inches up on the windows above the upholstery on the doors, so yeah, it got everything behind the dash too. Guess if it was about 20 years older, it'd be no problem, huh. The bottom line of what you're saying though is no matter what I can do with the mechanics, the electronics are gonna do me in.

Well, my wife will be happy - she'd rather see me working on the house than on the car anyway!!

Damn hurricanes...

Thanks again!

[SpitAndDirt]

You could always rinse the whole car off in fresh water including under the dash. Then get yourself a gas powered leaf blower and dry it. I wouldn't say the car is toast, but hey, it's worth a try right?
What do you have to lose? I would see if the thing even starts first. First thing is to check all your fluids. See if the oil dipstick shows the entire motor being filled with water and oil. You may find that it's not as bad as you think. I would drain out the oil and just put some "99 cent special" oil in. Same thing goes for the tranny. Pull out all the spark plugs in the motor, toss the air filter into the trash and crank the engine until you can't get anymore water out. You don't want hydro-lock. Throw a bottle of Heet into the gas tank(Red Bottle). This is assuming that the gas cap held back water from entering the tank. You shouldn't have to replace the plugs IMHO, but that's your choice. As for the comment about salt water destroying everything, well, that's very true for anything not sealed. This means that your vehicle computer(located under the dash) should be removed and disassembled, rinsed in rubbing alcohol and put back together. If you can already see corrosion on the circuit board, you have a chance of the board burning out when you apply power. You may also get lucky and the components are sealed in potting compound. This is just my 2 cents. Hope this isn't a total lost for you. -Good Luck -Chris