this may be a stupid question, but i'm not knowledgeable about ICE's yet... still learning.

i was driving in a terrible rain storm through a very flat town in the middle of a cornfield, and somehow there was a 3 foot pool of water in the middle of the road that i accidentally drove into. car died, needless to say and we towed it back next day. sad thing is i've never had enough time set aside to examine it extensively.

car doesn't start, makes a clicking noise when i turn the key. it won't start if we pull it and drop it in gear, either. very certain water got in through the air intake if not elsewhere as well.

what kind of damage am i looking at? do i need a brand new engine? would it be rebuildable? i have no car currently and the summer coming up, so i'd love to get this running. any help?

1986 rx7, 13b-nonturbo s4 engine.

 

anyone? water damage? bump

 

you need to pull the spark plugs and turn all the water out. But since you have been trying to start it I am sure you did more harm than good. You need to do a compression test to see if your motor is still usable and hasnt blown a seal.
You need a fresh battery as well and a new set of plugs if you do have a good engine for starters.

 

so i see nobody is too knowledgeable about what water does to internals.... i suppose i'm just going to have to open the block up and see for myself

 

Ok

What does water do to the inside?

Well water isn't compressible, so if water went inside the motor when it was running, with out a place to go then it probably blew a seal so that the water has somewhere to escape.

That is what water does to the inside of a motor.

If you want to see the inside of your motor without breaking it apart look inside the exhaust.

 

I looked in the muffler and it was so dark I couldn't see ****!

 

i'm pretty sure he meant take the mani off

 

Yea he was just messing with me

 

hey thanks for the info. would you guys think it's rebuildable? or worth it, rather? i'm pretty much planning on spending a lot of money to get this thing working, which is what it's looking like costing

 

woah there speedy. dont get excited yet, your current engine might be fine. do a compression check first. if you're unfamiliar with the procedures for a rotary engine there are plenty of writeups around here or on www.rotaryresurrection.com (under 2nd gen tech). that will tell you how your internals are looking without the hassle of taking **** apart. if your compression pegs good the put the plugs back in and play!

if your compression sucks the now would be a good time (not to mention a good excuse) to look into a turbo swap! or since you want to spend a lot of money: www.jspecautosports.com (see 20B)

 

water can do a number of bad things... if there was enough water sucked into the engine while it was running then horrible things can happen, such as denting a rotor, breaking a plate or even exploding an aluminum housing.

If water got into your oil and the engine ran enough to pump the water thru your engine, then you probably spun a bearing or 2 or 3 or 4

if the motor sat in 3 feet of water the chance of it running fine after is pretty slim.

is the motor rebuildable??? you will never know until you pull it apart

the clicking you hear when you try to start the engine is the starter.. it is either ruined from the water or the starter isn't getting enough battery power because of a dead battery or bad connection

before running your car you should draining all the fluids in the car... including transmission and rear end and replace with fresh oil's

 

pretty much^

 

I got caught in flash flooding a couple years ago. Very similar situation where I ended up sucking water through the intake. In my case I blew up my rear plate at the oil filter pedestal. f I saved my rear plate as a conversation piece. I'll get some pics of what I broke on mine. Hopefully your case isn't as severe as mine was.

I'm not sure where in Indiana you are but this shop is very reputable.

http://www.banzai-racing.com/