well the other day I was driving in my neighborhood and it was pouring, I turned down a side street and apparently the road turned into a lake, stalled the car out, didn't try to restart it, just called the wrecker and had it towed to Mazda. Next day they call me and say the motor locked up it doesnt look good, called my ins. comp and put in a claim, they are gonna fix it to the tune of almost $6000. I can not believe this happened, I was still going strong at 133K on the original engine, oh well I guess, at least it still looks good.

 

wow 133k on original engine?

got any pics of the damage? how deep in the water did the car stall?

 

no pics, there was like no visible damage to the car, the water got up to the headlights, I guess the storm drain had some palm branches on it because some came and cleaned it out while I was waiting for a tow, but i think the water went in thru the exhaust when I decelerated, it was deep, way deeper then it should be on a city street.

 

so wait, the water was all the way up to the headlights in depth and you just went right through?

 

ohh hell no, the whole street had standing water on it and it was pouring, i could not tell that it was that deep, but when the headlights hit the water, the car stalled, well first decelerated and i think the water went into the exhaust like sucking thru a straw, I was a car length may 1 1/2 into it and stalled out right there, it was like 3 seconds, got out of my car and pushed it back there was no way I was gonna make it thru like 300 more feet, **** happens I guess, like when it rains it pours

 

sorry about that. If you can, please ask them to take pictures of the engine if they have to pull it apart.

 

im paying the core charge on the motor like $150 and keeping it, will be taking it apart myself in the near future and will document the whole process to post up on here. Figure its worth it, there has to be a good rotor or housing or fuel injector or something that's worth saving. If not I will clean it and turn it into a coffee table

 

ouch, so im guessing theres more damage? interior water damage? do you have leather or cloth?

just hope theres no unexpected or unknown damage you will find later.

 

ShadyCrew31 already has his own thread, since he rebuilt his motor recently.

 

if there was water up to the headlights, it likely took water into the intake. so is insurance covering that $6k or is that what you have to pay? i'm assuming the first, but figured i'd just make sure.

sucks that you couldn't see that there was 3 feet of water. only thing i can suggest is just don't drive through standing water or use other objects in the ground as a point of reference before even thinking about driving through the water.

at least insurance is taking care of you...

 

yeah me too, when i opened the door water came into the car, they are giving me a salvaged motor with 100K on and putting new spark plugs, o2 sensors, air filter, oil, coolant, changing tranny fluid, diff fluid, thermostat, induction cleaning, removing the interior and replacing the carpet and foam underneath it under my insurance, i get a 6mo/15k mile warranty on the engine and they told me if there are any problems they will resolve them, then they called and said you know your clutch is about shot, sure 133k on it and the mounts are almost dead, so im gonna have to come out of pocket for those plus the deductible but at least there will not be a labor charge. oh yeah im keeping the trans from my car

 

Another member did this recently, only it wasn't from rain, just suddenly a massive pool of water in the road. Never did give a reason, like water main break or fire hydrant left open or something.

Insurance paid for a NEW motor, not a rebuilt one, and he said Mazda told him (and he was getting it in writing), that being a NEW motor it had it's own 100k warranty on it.

 

does it also include rental? seems like your car will be in the shop a while.

 

yeah i know, im not sure i have ever seen it rain so hard, and i live in Tampa, lightning capital of the world, i could barely see out of my windshield with wipers on full blast, i took the back roads cause i had my 4 yr old son in the car with me and didnt want to get hit on the main roads, the tow guy told me he took so long cause he came from picking up a fatality, and I was the 5th call for getting stuck in water today, it rained for like 30-45 mins and like flash flooded the neighborhood

 

I asked about this and they are responsible for replacing the motor with one in similar condition, if I want a new one it would be 4 grand out of pocket for me, the adjuster told me i was less then $500 away from totaling the car. Right now im trying to buy a house and really dont want another car payment, i have like 3 payments left and i bought it brand new. im just gonna fix it, pay it off and get something for a daily driver like a civic hatch, thanks though

 

yeah this is all a bunch of crap- you cant "waterlock" a rotary. even if it did ingest a shitload of water in the moment it was in the water before it stalled it wouldnt break the motor so there is no reason to replace the motor.

water didnt go through the exhaust into the motor- although if the cat was hot enough when water did get in there i can see it breaking the ceramics.

all it would take to rehab the motor is drying it out and getting it well oiled before starting. cleaning the maf. the water that did get in may have even cleaned up some carbon for you and the motor would run better.

and they are giving you a salvage motor or a rebuilt motor? if its salvage JUST SAY NO. you have no idea the condition of that motor!

 

Zoom,

The other member that did something similar, when it ingested the water it cracked his block, assumed due to trying to compress water. It doesn't sound like this happened here, but it hasn't been clear what the actual issue here is. I could see that same type of pressure breaking seals instead.

 

i am running catless, and im keeping the motor that comes out, it is all bullshit and i really dont understand how its locked up, maybe theres a frog in it or something, but they did say they could not turn it over from the flywheel soooo..

 

take out the plugs? and try again?
with the design of the engine, the water should be able to push out at the exhaust port.

 

exactly pull the frikkin plugs- where is this thing sitting?

 

ZOOM 44,
No disrespect as you da man an all, and I'm only a caveman mechanic, but if any street water were to get into engine with some internals at 200-300 deg f somethings gonna crack from at least thermal stress.

 

metal will handle that kind of temperature jump pretty well I believe.

 

i have sat and watched rob from Pineapple racing pour water into the intake to steam clean out carbon. he's done it for years and years. its possible to crack the block in the compression stroke i suppose (since we have one member who it happened to.... apparently) but some water is fine.

if this block isnt cracked i guarantee if you pull the plugs and dry it out it will start and run fine(clean the maf of course)

 

This is the thread Zoom https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-sale-wanted-44/hydro-locked-engine-need-new-engine-asap-196770/

 

Thanks for the thread, very interesting, good for him for getting a new motor i dont think i had a chance, my engine is locked..period..the plugs were the first thing off the car, it wont just dry out, so in the real world im actually glad they are doing so much to it. I finally got up to Mazda yesterday to take a look at it, its in a hundred pcs, but thats good i think. Right now my engine is just a block, they have everything apart, the replacement motor is in the car, the tech told me he has removed and cleaned everything from my engine and installed it on the other one, said what hes taken off my engine has been pretty gunked up, so it is what it is

I was one of the first people to own one of these cars and the guys at Mazda know that & they know how I take care of my car and they know how passionate i am about it, so i feel that they will do their best to make it right. They've always been very helpful.