I remember a few years back wading along the road at Richmond on Thames to get an Astra for a lady who was too nervouse to get it herself . water in the car, just edging over the sills, started the car (oof!) and drove it out and bailed most of the water out for her.
When she asked what to do next, I said go home, get lots of newspaper soak up the water, leave the windows open and ventilate and then go and P/X it quick.
3 days before I got married, I managed to aquaplane my Hillman Imp very easily in floods and it spent the night in a ditch with water up to window level - we got it pulled out the next day, took the rubber grommets out of the floor to let the water drain out and started the engine, first time, and drove home - did an oil change and hung the carpets and sound-proofing in the garage while we went on honeymoon - the car was fine afterwards.
Only afterwards did I learn of "hydraulic locking" when the cylinder full of water tries to compresss against closed valves and some thing has to give.
I also took a later Fiesta through some floods and the clutch plates were sticky for a while - and the starter used to jam so needed a belt on the end with a hammer every so often.
It's the electronic water damage that does for modern cars.
Edited by RT on 30/12/2015 at 18:07
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