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Will a mechanic easily find flood damage?

H

halfpower

Senior member
I've made a deposit on a car. The title is clean, but it has changed hands a number of times. I'm no motor head, but there is more rust under the hood than I would expect to see on a 5 year old car. The car interior is quite clean and does not look like it has been water damaged. Still, the rust bothers me. Would a mechanic easily be able to determine if the car had ever been flooded?
 
Maybe oxidation would be a better word. Oxidized bolt heads, oxidized metal plate thing, oxidized muffler, oxidized disk thing in the wheel. I would expect some level of oxidation, but I'm not sure what would be normal. My roommates car has some oxidation on it. The car drove well. I got it up to 60 mph on the parkway.
 
It depends on the car if rust is normal or not. My BMW wagon has corroded components here and there and its a 2004. Cast aluminum shouldn't rust. Thats what I'm guessing the engine block is made from.
If the car was flooded there's a good chance your see a water line in the engine compartment or in the trunk. Also a mechanic should be able to tell if there is any scoring or warping of the pistons due to water and grit in the engine.

 
I would pay a mechanic $50 to look it over. Any mechanic will have seen hundreds of car and will be able to tell you if its normal.
 
Originally posted by: halfpower
Maybe oxidation would be a better word. Oxidized bolt heads, oxidized metal plate thing, oxidized muffler, oxidized disk thing in the wheel. I would expect some level of oxidation, but I'm not sure what would be normal. My roommates car has some oxidation on it. The car drove well. I got it up to 60 mph on the parkway.
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I woud be shocked NOT to see rust on a 5 year old daily driver in the north.
 
Aluminum does not rust. It turns to aluminum oxide which is white in color and will separate easily from the aluminum, often as a dust. It also doesn't go deep like rust in iron does. It forms a barrier so once a bit oxidizes, that's it. Don't clean it off or it will just happen again and you'll lose a little bit more structure each time (though so little each time that it would take a long time to be a problem, but why bother with it?)

I live in MA and notable rust on a 5 year old car is NOT right even if driven in the winter.

I can almost guarantee you that the problem is that it was left parked on dirt for periods of time. NEVER, EVER do this. It WILL completely rust out a car in a year or two. I did it with an old winter beater of mine because I had no place in the driveway to put it. The engine got tons of rust, the brake and fuel lines rusted through, and the frame was pretty bad (though intact). The car could have been fixed but it was worth very little so I didn't bother.
 
a mechanic should be able to tell if the car was underwater enough to matter. It's usually not surface rust in these cases but interior mildew/mold, connectors being corroded, and other items that are never exposed to water having evidence of being submerged.
 
Originally posted by: mcturkey
Rust on a five year old car? I don't think you should be seeing any rust (of course, I'm no expert).
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A car from NY will have rust in under five years.
 
Originally posted by: Jumpem
Originally posted by: mcturkey
Rust on a five year old car? I don't think you should be seeing any rust (of course, I'm no expert).
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A car from NY will have rust in under five years.
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Minor unless it's improperly taken care of. My car is a 99 and is driven in the winter here in MA including during snowstorms (if they fall on workdays) and is not garaged and the underside is surface rusted but the engine still looks pretty damn good.
 
I don't think I've ever seen rust in the engine compartment of a car under 20 years old that hadn't been kept outdoors with the hood up.
 
Originally posted by: halfpower
Maybe oxidation would be a better word. Oxidized bolt heads, oxidized metal plate thing, oxidized muffler, oxidized disk thing in the wheel. I would expect some level of oxidation, but I'm not sure what would be normal. My roommates car has some oxidation on it. The car drove well. I got it up to 60 mph on the parkway.
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It's normal to get oxidation on the disk thing in the wheel. My disk think in the wheel gets oxidation on the surface almost immediatly after a wash.
 
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
I don't think I've ever seen rust in the engine compartment of a car under 20 years old that hadn't been kept outdoors with the hood up.
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You must be joking.
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Damn my moms pos toyota is a 99 and had rust all over the Radiator support area, my g/f's 00 Buick Regal has rust everywhere on the inside of the hood and all over the body.


On the note of the topic, you need to pull the carpat and interior panels to truley tell if there was a buildup of water.
 
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