Hi all.

I managed to get water into my engine in last week's floods, and I've no doubt destroyed it. I'm wondering what the forum thinks about how to proceed.

My car is a 1.9TDi Ambiente estate. It's done 106k and I've owned it from almost new. I adore the thing and I'd really love to get it back on the road but the official costs are of course far more than the car is worth. I can claim on the insurance, but apparently I've got a £600 excess and no doubt the insurers will offer me £2k tops, less the £600, leaving me with around £1400.

I can't replace it for anything like that price. My local garage has two '51 plate cars (5 years older, lower spec, more owners etc..) with similar miles and both are over £2k. I therefore reckon that I'm looking at £3k to find a replacement, meaning I'd need to add something like £1600 of my own money. Also, my insurance will probably be £100 more for the next couple of years so that figure approaches £1800.

Now, if I'm going to spend £1800 I can't help thinking that I could almost get the job done for that if I could source an engine. I'd then still have my car, with its excellent bodywork, known history, four new tyres and nearly new brakes.

What's really annoying me is that if I do take the insurance claim, someone in the trade will chuck an engine in and put it back on the road.

Apologies for the long post, but I'd be really interested in the opinions and/or suggestions of the forum experts.

Many thanks

Steve

Best plan is to see if you can source a suitable engine & a garage that is going to do the transplant,

price it up & see how it goes.

Breakers & recyclers to find an engine still running in a vehicle.

(because there are lots of flooded engines around right now i would imagine.)

You will be left with a scrap engine to sell in the end.

You could possibly buy a complete accident damaged vehicle & then Ebay the Parts and weigh in the rest.

That all depends on who you have swapping the engine for you.

See what the 'Insurance offer actually is, 'market value', as in what you can get another like for like for.

When buying,

I would not go by the 'asking price' for other cars, you would be looking to pay less than that going in with 'cash/money' i would hope.

(That does kind of set your 'Market Value' on your insurance settlement tho.)

all the best with it.

george

check your timing belt to see if it is still there, if thats ok whip out the injectors and drain the sump, try to turn the engine over by the bottom pulley. if its not siezed there is a good chance it will go again. done it many times with old diesel landrovers that i have drowned!

I don't have the means to take out the injectors, they seem well hidden. I did take out the glow plugs on the off-chance that the thing was just full of water but is still won't crank. I think a trip to my local friendly garage might be in order to ask them to do what you've suggested.

Thanks.

If you have removed the glow plygs and it still doesn't turn over then removing the injectors won't help. The next stage is to try and turn it over by manually turning the bottom pulley just in case the starter is playing up. If it still fails to furn over then it doesn't sound good.

Presuming you have the ATD engine in yours there are loads to pick from on Ebay at about £500. Depending where you take it you could get the whole job done for £1000 or less.

Dave

Thanks for that. If I could get the job done for under £1000 I'd be over the moon.

If you go through your insurance, it will be written off, any car that has sustained flood damage tends to be. My brothers wife's Picasso was written off CAT C after the engine took in water and this car was still running but like a bag of spanners. The car has since had its VIC marker removed and is back on the road, I feel sorry for whoever bought it.

" I did take out the glow plugs on the off-chance that the thing was just full of water but is still won't crank".

You must drain the crankcase and fuel lines. Stevo1982's comments are spot on. Disconnect fuel, leave plugs out and try to turn over by hand with spanner on alternator. Once you know it turns OK then try starter. If then turns, fill with new oil & filter, new fuel filter, connect fuel and............best of luck.

Yes, I could claim on my insurance, but as I mentioned above I think I'll end up spending around £1400 on top of the payout to end up with a similar car to that which I have now. If I can get my car fixed for £1400, as seems likely, I'd rather do that.

The local garage is going to take a look on Monday, they seemed very helpful, as is everyone here.

Many thanks.

I feel your pain mate as I did exactly the same with mine albeit a 1.4tdi.

I drained the engine of water and dried all various electrical components. Mine will turn over but refuses to start so it looks like I have conrod/valve bending issues haha.

My solution has been to but another octavia cheap, transport the fabia down to my parents house where it will live til I replace/rebuild/scrap or sell it.

I imagine you are kicking yourself now as I am.

Hope you get it sorted without to much hassle but just remember your not the only one its happened to

You be suprised what they offer you. I got 1.3k for my old elegance tdi. 151k On an x reg.

Hi all.

I managed to get water into my engine in last week's floods, and I've no doubt destroyed it. I'm wondering what the forum thinks about how to proceed.

My car is a 1.9TDi Ambiente estate. It's done 106k and I've owned it from almost new. I adore the thing and I'd really love to get it back on the road but the official costs are of course far more than the car is worth. I can claim on the insurance, but apparently I've got a £600 excess and no doubt the insurers will offer me £2k tops, less the £600, leaving me with around £1400.

I can't replace it for anything like that price. My local garage has two '51 plate cars (5 years older, lower spec, more owners etc..) with similar miles and both are over £2k. I therefore reckon that I'm looking at £3k to find a replacement, meaning I'd need to add something like £1600 of my own money. Also, my insurance will probably be £100 more for the next couple of years so that figure approaches £1800.

Now, if I'm going to spend £1800 I can't help thinking that I could almost get the job done for that if I could source an engine. I'd then still have my car, with its excellent bodywork, known history, four new tyres and nearly new brakes.

What's really annoying me is that if I do take the insurance claim, someone in the trade will chuck an engine in and put it back on the road.

Apologies for the long post, but I'd be really interested in the opinions and/or suggestions of the forum experts.

Many thanks

Steve

Where abouts are you located?

I got £200 for my used ATD an and gearbox out of the estate so they go cheap.

Where abouts are you located?

I got £200 for my used ATD an and gearbox out of the estate so they go cheap.

I'm in Wellington, Somerset. The county that flooded last week :(

We got a hell of a lot of water here in Worcester too. Bad luck matey, well worth trying these guys

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/VRS-Northampton

Shame your not in the NW. I would have chucked an engine in for cheap!

Yes, I could claim on my insurance, but as I mentioned above I think I'll end up spending around £1400 on top of the payout to end up with a similar car to that which I have now. If I can get my car fixed for £1400, as seems likely, I'd rather do that.

The local garage is going to take a look on Monday, they seemed very helpful, as is everyone here.

Many thanks.

The insurance company has to pay you what it would cost to replace your car, with an equivalent model, from a reputable dealer. Unless, that is of course you ridiculously undervalued it at time of buying the insurance.

See http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

The law is on your side. Stick it to those thieving insurance nobbers.

The insurance company has to pay you what it would cost to replace your car, with an equivalent model, from a reputable dealer. Unless, that is of course you ridiculously undervalued it at time of buying the insurance.

See http://www.financial...-valuation.html

The law is on your side. Stick it to those thieving insurance nobbers.

That's an interesting read, and I don't think I'm far out with £3k to replace mine. This is the nearest I could find on Autotrader:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201240487069597

However, it's only a 1.4, not an Ambiente, and it's two years older. I'd expect that would go for around £2700 cash.

On that basis then I might end up with £2400 from the insurers and that would make me think it was worth claiming.

I shall see what the local garage says and take things from there. I'd still like to keep my car and don't mind paying a bit out for the lesson learned.

Many thanks for all of the help here.

Shame your not in the NW. I would have chucked an engine in for cheap!

Its why I asked

Well I've had it confirmed that I've seized the engine, so if anyone has an engine for sale, or better still if anyone has an engine and they fancy fitting it, then please let me know.

I live in hope of keeping Faby alive...Even though I'm a bloke I've grown to love her.

Labour costs of an engine swap are far less than a repair so once you have an engine your good to go, make sure the engine is fully serviced before it goes in etc.

Are there no independant VW specialists round your way?

Well actually I've found a mechanic to do the engine swap, just need to find a decent engine now...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/03-SKODA-FABIA-ESTATE-1-9-TDI-ENGINE-CODE-ATD-86-000-MILES-/140878850748?pt

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-FABIA-2004-1-9TDI-ATD-ENGINE-GOLF-ATD-ENGINE-AUDI-ATD-ENGINE-/350668724598?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51a57c1976&_uhb=1=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20cd08aabc&_uhb=1

This is 2 on ebay, the second one says it's from a fabia but I'm sure the picture of the engine bay is not a fabia.

Is it the PD100 ATD engine?

Is it the PD100 ATD engine?

According to the description, yes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/03-SKODA-FABIA-ESTATE-1-9-TDI-ENGINE-CODE-ATD-86-000-MILES-/140878850748?pt

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-FABIA-2004-1-9TDI-ATD-ENGINE-GOLF-ATD-ENGINE-AUDI-ATD-ENGINE-/350668724598?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51a57c1976&_uhb=1=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20cd08aabc&_uhb=1

This is 2 on ebay, the second one says it's from a fabia but I'm sure the picture of the engine bay is not a fabia.

It's definitely not a Fabia - the screen washer is in the wrong place!