Anyone ever salvage a flood car?

[96Firebird]

Looking to get some opinions on this... 2010 Audi A4, ~30k miles, flood car from Hurricane Sandy. For sale on a local car forum, he claims he "accidentally" bought it from an auction. Not sure how that happens... He has it listed for $6500 obo. Here are some quotes from him about the car:

I accidentally bought this online through an insurance auction. I joined up to bid on a different car and hit the wrong button and bought this instead. I got it for 6500 and shipping it here was 500 and some other fees so I have about 7,500 in it. I just want it gone. Car was in the hurricane sandy flood. The paperwork is not here yet but it will be salvage (obviously) when it gets here. The car comes on when I hook up the battery and has 31000 miles on it. Engine looks to be intact, clean cylinders, airbox, etc. All tires look relatively new and hold air. Fully loaded with nav etc. Make me an offer, like I said, Im ok losing money on this, want it out of the garage.

Edit: car starts up and runs fine, and drives when put into gear.

Some more info- this is a 2010 2.0T quattro premium plus. Prices on ebay for these seem to be from about 24k to 30k depending on mileage. Anyone whos up for a bit of a project could be in this one for a whole lot less. Also I have the trim piece that is missing in the picture.

Quite honestly, not just trying to sell it, I dont think it needs that much to get running. I just have absolutely no interest whatsoever in this car, not an audi guy really. There was a gallardo superleggera I wanted to bid on, that I would have loved to have gone through. There is a computer unit in the back that looks to need replacing that controls the Navigation/ stereo, that I priced out to be about 200 shipped on ebay. Also one rear window is stuck down, the control unit in that door appears to be fried. The battery in these is in the back under the spare tire, and when I pulled it it was sitting in a big puddle. drained the area out and threw in a battery and the car lit right up.

Oil on the cap looks clean, no white goop. There is no dipstick however and I havent drained it, I believe you must check the oil level through the computer system. Carpets are damp, but all of the switches everywhere feel fine, So i dont think the water got too high. Carpet should probably come out and be powerwashed and air dryed some sunny weekend so as to prevent stinkyness

Havent tried. was about to try starting it, but then the car said do not drive car, steering defective, and wouldnt let me. I think there is something up with the steering column lock or something. Up until that happened everything was actually going pretty smoothly. As I said before, airbox looked clean, cylinders were all clear, motor doesnt look bad at all, There will be a few issues to sort out but I dont think this will be that hard of a project, especially for someone familiar with audis (not me). Im going to putz around with it today a little and see if I can make some more progress. Anyone know how to clear the ECU on one of these things, disconnecting the battery doesnt seem to do it.

Car runs and drives. This morning it let me start it up 3 times, and put it in gear and drive it forward. Now its saying the steering thing again, and wont let me. Anyhow, price stands but is firm now. engine sounded very smooth and absolutely fine. I have it on video running as well.

Well its doing the immobilizing thing again, so I dont know when it will let me start it up again. I was smart enough to get it on video the second time we started it up, but was dumb enough to put it in gear and drive forward well the car was up on little rollers, therefore I also got my wife calling me an idiot on film too

Hopefully it will clear the steering immobilizer issue again soon so I can get it running and driving again. About the water I have no true idea, although i think it was flooded from the back, where the battery is. Carpet is wet as well. All of the electircal switches and everything else feels good though, so I dont think it made it very far up the doors. Engine sounded absolutely fine though, started up and idled completely smoothly, and drove forward smoothly too. And i know for a fact that all 4 wheels were driving cause I spit all 4 rollers out the back

And some pictures...

Anyone ever deal with restoring a flood car? I'm really interested in buying it and using it as a DD/winter beater.

 

[gregulator]

NONONONONO RUN AWAY! A good friend used to buy salvage cars, repair them, and sell them for extra income. He always bought wrecks, but one time purchased a flood car. He could never quite fix all the gremlins in that car. Think about water corroding all those electronics... yikes. Also, it was probably a salt water flood car, so who knows what kind of corrosion is lingering in there.

 

[Sidekicknichola]

Think about water corroding all those electronics... yikes.

this.

 

[halik]

Ha yeah, accidentally bought it by clicking the wrong button. I'm pretty sure what happened is he bought the car, tried fixing it and couldn't and now he's trying to flip it.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Omfg no.

Audi electronics on top of a flood car.. Makes me sick just to read it.

If I had a wrecked a4 that needed body panels, drivetrain, and a front end I might consider it, but other than that.... No way.

 

[96Firebird]

Yeah the electronics is what scare me most, especially on an Audi. Its a shame though, beautiful car. Wonder if would be worth it to part it out...

 

[Jimzz]

Audi/VW are bad enough without flood damage.

I would consider this a parts car at best.

 

[waggy]

Ha yeah, accidentally bought it by clicking the wrong button. I'm pretty sure what happened is he bought the car, tried fixing it and couldn't and now he's trying to flip it.

yeah. you can't just "accidentally buy" a car on them. there are a few more steps to it hten that.

i agree with halik odds are he bought it cheap, tried to fix it and now trying to flip it.

 

[cbrsurfr]

I would only consider it for non-electrical parts or if I needed a shell for a track only car.

 

[halik]

It might be worthwhile for dirt,dirt cheap - just buy a bunch of gallons of distilled water, pour it in and suck it up with a shopvac to get most of the salt out. Then just get a case of the CRC electronics sprays and hose down anything with wires coming out of it.

As far as the car freaking out, google says it's the lock actuator in the steering wheel lock that's busted.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

It might be worthwhile for dirt,dirt cheap - just buy a bunch of gallons of distilled water, pour it in and suck it up with a shopvac to get most of the salt out. Then just get a case of the CRC electronics sprays and hose down anything with wires coming out of it.

As far as the car freaking out, google says it's the lock actuator in the steering wheel lock that's busted.

Or a random wire under layers of carpet and who knows what.

 

[Elfear]

Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying a C6 that had been flooded. The previous owner claimed to have gone through the whole thing top to bottom and replaced everything that needed it. Well it's still sitting in my garage after almost two years because the guy never fixed the thing right and it won't run.

The repair shops I spoke with all groaned when I told them it was a flood car. Half of them wouldn't even agree to take the job and the other half said it would be $$$ to fix.

Stay far away from a flooded vehicle, especially one like the Audi with all the electronic gadgetry.

 

[fixxor]

That is what you call an electrical time bomb. Stay far away.

 

[halik]

Or a random wire under layers of carpet and who knows what.

Not quite, the lock wiring goes to the ecu box that's right under the hood front left, so about the low point is where is meets up with with the cluster wiring and what not, maybe ft and half off the floor.

All the wiring is sheeted in plastic, so that's most certainly the least of your problems. I'd be far more worried about shorts on the various control modules. But presumably you can hook up vag-com to it and see what the modules are saying.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Not quite, the lock wiring goes to the ecu box that's right under the hood front left, so about the low point is where is meets up with with the cluster wiring and what not, maybe ft and half off the floor.

All the wiring is sheeted in plastic, so that's most certainly the least of your problems. I'd be far more worried about shorts on the various control modules. But presumably you can hook up vag-com to it and see what the modules are saying.

Have you dealt with a flood car?

The wire will 'look clean' for feet and feet, but there's actually corrosion and water inside the sheath. Water wicks up underneath and can cause it to corrode in some random place you would never imagine.


I'm not saying it's def not something simple, but when dealing with a flood car you have to check wiring before you replace any modules and short the new ones out.

 

[imagoon]

Have you dealt with a flood car?

The wire will 'look clean' for feet and feet, but there's actually corrosion and water inside the sheath. Water wicks up underneath and can cause it to corrode in some random place you would never imagine.


I'm not saying it's def not something simple, but when dealing with a flood car you have to check wiring before you replace any modules and short the new ones out.

Definitely this. I wouldn't touch it unless it had at least a new loom and all electrical parts at the flood line down replaced. I still would want it really cheap.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'd pay maybe a couple hundred for a car like that. I don't care how nice of a car it is otherwise. Wiring is bound to have problems, even if not instantly it can later, plus the water getting into the carpet, upholstery, dash, everywhere... yuck. And salt water? Probably rust out from the most random and worst places imaginable.

 

[AdamK47]

Salt water flood? No.

 

[iamwiz82]

It already has a host of electrical issues. Run away.

 

[mmntech]

Salt water vs electrical systems, vs shoddy German engineering = disaster. Only thing that car is destined for is the scrap heap.

 

[nerp]

If you have the same exact car that wasn't flooded and need body panels or something, yeah, buy this as a parts car, MAYBE.

 

[PottedMeat]

i'd love to have something like that... for way less than 6500. and if i had the space. and the time.

I joined up to bid on a different car and hit the wrong button and bought this instead.
...
There was a gallardo superleggera I wanted to bid on, that I would have loved to have gone through.

i lol'd

 

[jlee]

If you don't mind stripping the car *completely* and then replacing the body and engine harness, go for it. You couldn't pay me to take that car (unless I just parted it out).

 

[ThatsABigOne]

If you don't mind stripping the car *completely* and then replacing the body and engine harness, go for it. You couldn't pay me to take that car (unless I just parted it out).

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[MagickMan]

We're in the process of it right now, NY salvage car (an Italian exotic), and we're going to be into it for ~40% of its value. But, since I paid 25% of what it's worth, that's a net gain. However, if I had to pay the full price for labor, I'm a partner in an import garage, it probably wouldn't be worth it.