Because I was very late leaving work today (unrelated to the weather) my son decided to help and pick my Fabia Vrs up from the dealers after its 26000 mile service (he actually wanted to go out in it tonight - GF's 21st).

On the way home he hit a big puddle - engine died immediately. He got the car towed home by neighbours but I suspect its severely damaged.

My wife (ever the optimist) thinks it might start when its dried out. I tried to explain about the incompressibility of H20 in a not too condescending way but was distracted by some flying lasagne originating in her general direction.:eek:

Having said all that, could water stop the engine without smashing the internals. The fact that it died instantly makes me think its terminal though.:(

Whats it going to cost to repair ?

With a diesel its usually mega bucks on account of the very high compression.

Jules

I don't think you should worry yourself to death just yet until you have had it looked at.

26k service, I'm assuming/hoping it's under 3 years so still has Skoda Assist. Get them out to have a look in the morning.

It could be a simple electrical fault. The air intake is reasonably high on the Fabia.

If it has hydrauliced itself though, its terminal

My mate done the same to his 52 plate Bora (130PD) about a month ago. Needs a new engine and gearbox. Insurance company wrote the car off...

I don't think you should worry yourself to death just yet until you have had it looked at.

26k service, I'm assuming/hoping it's under 3 years so still has Skoda Assist. Get them out to have a look in the morning.

It could be a simple electrical fault. The air intake is reasonably high on the Fabia.

OK, I'll get Skoda Assist out in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Jules

If it has hydrauliced itself though, its terminal

My mate done the same to his 52 plate Bora (130PD) about a month ago. Needs a new engine and gearbox. Insurance company wrote the car off...

There's nothing like giving the guy some hope and a bit of support is there.

If it has hydrauliced itself though, its terminal

My mate done the same to his 52 plate Bora (130PD) about a month ago. Needs a new engine and gearbox. Insurance company wrote the car off...

BUY IT BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are loads of spare engines around, if he dosent want to keep it after the transplant its still a nice earner !!

Not good news.

Checked the air filter this am - absolutely sodden. Checked inside the top of inlet pipe from IC to inlet plenum chamber - water there too. :(

Tried Skoda Assist - put in a queue - no surprising with all the flooding yesterday in the midlands.

If I hadnt taken wife's freelander yesterday I wouldnt have been able to get home last night from work - all the abandoned cars didnt help either. Many people didnt even think to park up tight in to the side of the road - just left there vehicles anywhere.

I'll try contacting my local Skoda dealer later today.

Anyone know how much engine rebuild likely to be ?

It really depends just how much water has been injested by the engine, you might be lucky, I've seen cars recover from water in the engine before.

Mate of mine has or had a Leon went through water same thing as you. Insurance wrote car off he wanted to buy it back & they said dont bother as the electrics could be affected too! Upto you but I would take the money & send your son on a one way trip to Alaska!!!!!!!!

Absolutely gutted for you mate - hope that it isn't hydrolocked. We'll know for sure after Skoda has a look at it.

WW had a lot of good stuff to say about APS - apparently they got him a great engine, still in the run-in period, with a 30 (or 90) day warranty relatively cheap. Might try PM'ing him and do a search for his posts.

Probably not the time to say this but, if you do have to have a new longblock transplanted (and I sincerely hope not), it'd probably be only a bit more to have APS do some magic on the engine. Turn a unfortunate incident into a summat good..... Hope that your son isn't too upset with himself - trying to help out and the car goes and does a number breathing in water!

Do keep us posted mate, and will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Cheers

Bas

It's a possibility, but as Stu says don't assume it's happened and see what Skoda say. If he was doing a full bore rallesque watersplash then I would say it's probably terminal but just driving through, there's a chance it's ok

Chris

We had a ATMP, six wheeled ATV type vehicle, that someone forgot to put the bungs in and tried to swim it acroos a fishing lake and sank, We thought the worst, but It has the diesel Audi engine in, we just changed the filters and oils, turned it over, loads of white smoke and after about 15 mins all was fine. Great considdering it was under water for over half an our(with an idiot sat on the roll cage!!). I would get skoda to have a look also see how wet the air intake is, it could be down to the service. Good luck

BUY IT BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are loads of spare engines around, if he dosent want to keep it after the transplant its still a nice earner !!

Yea, well, he doesnt want it back, too much hassle, plus he needs the money to pay off the finance company...

I dont have the money to give him to buy it back for myself.... :thumbdwn: Gutted aint the word

Yea, well, he doesnt want it back, too much hassle, plus he needs the money to pay off the finance company...

I dont have the money to give him to buy it back for myself.... :thumbdwn: Gutted aint the word

Its probably a cat D, they will probably charge him 25% of the settlement for the wreck, do the numbers, look for a complete Engine, Gearbox, turbo etc, IE complete lump for a straight transfer out of exactly the same car. (If the cars had water in it then odds are the turbos fooked as well as it can get all round the engine), get a quote from a garage for fitting & ask them to Include for all fluids, gaskets etc. If it comes out totalling less than 75% of the value of the pre write off car its viable, any less than 75% & thats your profit.

Cat C & D cars are normally worth around 75% of list

If it all stacks up & theres a big enough profit in it you might want to consider finding the money somehow

'New' engine can be had for about 1k, the labour is expensive though, however if you have some good mechanics etc amongst your friends, or are one yourself, you can probably get something sorted that way.

The engine I bought was around 1100 quid all in, including 90 day warranty, with 11k on the clocks. I didnt have to pay labour (again) due to having paid labour for the work that happened up to that point. Not the cheapest job to get it fixed, but it might mean a car is kept on the road, worth a check vs loosing it all and still having to pay for finance perhaps?

A new engine should be more than a grand, a head is more ththat on its own.

HAving said that I got a 130PD Passat in a few weeks back that had been driven into flood water. I drained over three litres of water out of the intor cooler and pipe work, took the glow plugs out and fired the water out of the cylinders. I thought I cant just replace the engine with out at least trying it, hell if it breaks then he's no worse off. Thenaffing thing only run up just fine. I changed the oil and the filter, new air filter and off it went.

My VRS SE #602 went through some water about 4 weeks ago. The garage quoted 9,600 to fix it. It has been written off by the insurance, waiting for some money so I can get another SE! Hydrolock and loads of water in the air system etc.

In short the guy said that in 3 months time the dashboard may light up like a christmas tree and nobody will have a clue what's wrong! It's a CAT D but I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. I also read that the insurance companies are not too keen on you buying the written off car back.

You killed an SE, tut tut how could you.

Like the comment though

"My SE went through some water"

Well it was driven through some water so in thoery it was avoidable. Cant say exactly as I dont know the circumstances but we are now seeing alot of claims not covered by insurance as yodont have to drive though the water and should be sensible enough not to drive though standing water.

Driving brand new cars into water with gay abandon.Ye gods.

I don't believe it.

You killed an SE, tut tut how could you.

Like the comment though

"My SE went through some water"

Well it was driven through some water so in thoery it was avoidable. Cant say exactly as I dont know the circumstances but we are now seeing alot of claims not covered by insurance as yodont have to drive though the water and should be sensible enough not to drive though standing water.

I don't really buy that. Most accidents are avoidable so they could say that they won't pay out on that principle. I would expect that if you drove through a lake that would be negligence. Whereas turning off of your girlfriend's driveway and into the street and hitting water is not. How many cases and which insurers are you citing?

The difference is if you see a wall you dont drive into it, same with water. You vehicle cant pass it anymore than it can a wall.

And how do you turn out of a driveway into water? Were you going out of the drive at 30 mph? When did alarm bells ring?

We have had three cases in the last batch of floods that said no, one being a Touareg which cost the owner over

Whereas turning off of your girlfriend's driveway and into the street and hitting water is not.

If you can see water in the road and you chose to drive through it, then it is avoidable (whether it be a lake or a puddle)! I'm still amazed by the number of people I follow on the road who chose to drive through the pudddles at the side of the road when there's nothing coming towards us!

Chris

You shouldnt drive a furby through water because the carriers in the doors leak :(

The difference is if you see a wall you dont drive into it, same with water. You vehicle cant pass it anymore than it can a wall.

And how do you turn out of a driveway into water? Were you going out of the drive at 30 mph? When did alarm bells ring?

We have had three cases in the last batch of floods that said no, one being a Touareg which cost the owner over

So the insurance company have written of an SE on account of needing a new engine??? Sounds rediculous to me, and if it was mine I'd be buying it back in a heartbeat.

Ross is right though - don't drive through water, its simple really.