Recently in Athens, Ohio my Bronco got caught in some high water that ended up going above the hood and into the vehicle. I know that it is dead, but i have a lot of money and emotions in this vehicle. I bought it for $3000 and just completly rebuilt the front end ($2,500). and other misc. things costing about around $7,000 for everything. It is a 1989 Bronco, with only 35k miles on the rebuilt 351. What i was wondering though, honestly, what would you guys do in my situation. Total her out to the insurance company or try to have her fixed. I don't know how much it would cost, but i'm sure that from being under water the electricals are shot and all would need replaced. I don't know what to do, the insurance company said they would give me the true market value, but that can't be much. Any opinions, i know it is up to me, but i just want to hear what you all would have to say/do. Thank you.

 

Have u tried the ignition- i wouldnt, undo the battery and go over every thing. Even if u are totalled out remeber produce receipts and they might make it good plus your market value . U might have to get loud good luck TR

 

I think that I would total it - unless you relish the idea of replacing every single wire in the truck. They will start to corrode after they dry and give you a neverending headache if you leave them in there.


However...if the 35K motor is still good, and you have all of that new front end stuff that you can remove; you can get the cash to fix it and get another Bronco without an engine etc. and put your parts on it. It depends on how much work you feel like doing. If you didn't suck water into the cylinders while the motor was running, or try to start it if water had gotten into the cylinders, then the motor should still be good and you can just get all of the moisture out of it and run some oil through everything and it should be good to go. Was it a hot motor that you had a good amount of money into?

 

do you mean start it, because i have not tried that and was not planning to because of the water. I have not tried to see if anything electrical worked on it either. when it was getting wet the radio turned on then later the tail lights turned on. i think that the water just ascted as a conductor and completed the connection. I figure that none of this could be a good sign. Do you guys think that the Bronco would be worth trying to fix. The body is in excellent shape with rust only on the tailgate and the engine and front end are practically new. I just don't know if it would be worth putting more money into it. especially when i not many shops around here will work on vehicles with water damage becasue "once you fix one thing, another thing pops up" according to one of the shops. thanks

 

thanks JBronco

 

DO NOT try to start it until you are sure that there is no water in the cylinders! Take all the plugs out and then you can crank it by hand to see if it still turns. If it does, then it's probably still good.

To explain further - if an engine sucks water into a cylinder, or cylinders, while it is running, it can cause a MAJOR malfunction because the water has nowhere to go in the sealed, compressed cylinder and it will get forced out - blowing everything made of metal in its path right out in front of it. You can get things like pistons blowing straight out through the oil pan, or valves blowing through the hood, or blocks and crankshafts splitting in half!

 

yeah, i know better than to start it, but what do you mean crank it by hand, how would i do that and what would that do?

 

Put a large wrench to the bolt on the harmonic balancer and turn it. It should turn over fairly easily with the spark plugs out. Take the belt off too.

If it absolutely will not turn then you probably sucked water in and blew the motor.

 

ok, thanks for the information

 

A 1/2" or 3/4" drive ratchet and socket, using a breaker bar on the ratchet handle, is the easiest tool to use for this purpose.

 

There are companies that can dry out your Bronco, a friend of mine had a 88 Thunderbird that got flooded it was parked in a low area and we had a bad thunderstorm and the car was flooded up to the top. They changed the fluids and dried out the interior and they drove the car for years later without any problems because of the flood. The main problem you have is with yours running when it flooded you could have grenaded your engine.

 

yeah, as soon as i saw the water coming up i put it in park and turned off the engine in fear that it would get into the engine. how much did this cost your friend, and also what kind of place does this?

 

That's interesting. I never knew that. However, as soon as an insurance company hears the word "flood" they will call it a total loss and notify the state DMV so if it is repaired after that it will get a salvage title. Most states work like that, yours could be different.

 

my neighbor said that if I were to change out all of the fluids and just let it dry out (electrical wise) that i could get a computer from a junk yard for about a $100 and that may fix it and be all that was wrong. Any opinions on this? Think that it could work?

 

It could work, and it's worth a try. I'd just be concerned with corrosion of wires later on.