water damage?

[Kent McLean]

David Nelson wrote:
> I stupidly drove my 2001 A8L (100k, off warranty, insured) into high 
> water on a city street. It quit, and I got out and waded away when I 
> noticed water in the foot wells. I called AAA to flatbed it to the 
> nearest dealer's shop. What all should I have them check out? 
> Suggestions from anybody who's BTDT?

Ouch. Well, if you need/want to be anal about it...

#1 would be to strip out the interior (seats, carpeting)
to get things good and dry so mold and mildew don't take
hold.

Any internal electrical connections below the water line
should be opened, dried, cleaned, and have some dielectric
grease applied.

Given the engine quit, I'd fear hydraulic lock. If the air
intake got into the water, the engine may have sucked water
into the cylinders. The water cannot be compressed, so bad
things happen (bent rods, cracked blocks).  That sort of
damage should be obvious when you crank the engine over.


The quick and dirty solution would be to put a fan or two
into the interior, with doors open, to dry things out, and
hope that the engine stalled from a wet ignition.

-- 
Kent McLean
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke