Flood damaged vehicles??

[JEEPINKC]

Anyone have experience?
I am considering buying a TJ that has been under a considerable amount of water.
I'm pretty sure I could clean it up in a few days but not sure about the engine and all of the electronics.
Post up any experience or opinions.

[jagular7]

Depends on how much work you want to get into. How much rebuild are you willing to put in?
Water penetration goes everywhere and you can get lucky or hit the bad luck hard.
Water does penetrate the connectors, goes down the copper wire between the strands inside the conduit of the wire. This creates problems with resistance in the wire.

If you plan to rebuild into more of a crawler with none or minimal stock electronics, then probably a good base. Otherwise expect problems that you chase and chase and may never find the answer.

[Guest]

Yeah and alot of the problems won't surface until later down the road when the switch or wire corode.

[bwiencek]

Everything said already - plus RUST - If it was even remotely near a saltwater area be prepared for major rust / corrosion to show up a couple years down the road... Also - it can de-laminate automatic transmission clutches (in case it's an auto)...

That said - if it's cheap enough that you can't pass it up - I'd just change what it takes to get it running, coat every connection with an anti-corrosive diaelectric grease and then run it and in a couple years when it starts acting up just buy a wrecked donor vehicle and pull all the wiring/sensors/switches and swap them over or sell it as parts/rebuilder to someone else that wants to tackle that job....

I've run stuff that got submerged under water, but never "sat" under water for any real time...

[JEEPINKC]

No salt water. It's from Oklahoma. I believe it to be a theft recovery. It's an 06 Rubi with RE long arm kit. Not sure how long it was in water but definitely took a good bath!
Mileage unkown. What would anyone think it may be worth?

[heap o' jeep]

If it were me I would buy it, part it out, and take the goodies and put them on one that wasn't soaked. Like everyone else says, you don't want to be chasing electrical issues down the road.