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Well, I've done as most have advised, and sprayed some WD40 into the cylinders and cranked the engine a couple of times. Some water blasted out of there. It doesnt seem like there was a lot in there. The pistons looked dry when I first checked through the spark plug holes. I also went ahead and cleaned the MAF's using CRC MAF cleaner, then also sprayed the TB's with CRC throttle body cleaner. The TB's werent coming out as smooth as they should be, but much better than they were. Leaving it overnight without spark plugs to continue to air dry whatever tiny water might be in there. Turns out my battery died with the flood. It was totally discharged and I took it to get recharged at Autozone, and they said it would not charge. That battery was already giving me issues, so no surprise this finished it off. Going to buy some cheap battery then put everything back together, then I'll try to actually start it. Im not too concerned with changing out the oils until I find out if shes even going to start up after this.
I'll keep you all posted with the results
Going to buy some cheap battery then put everything back together, then I'll try to actually start it. Im not too concerned with changing out the oils until I find out if shes even going to start up after this.
I'll keep you all posted with the results
At the very least I'd drain and replace the oil. Oil can tell you some of what is going on with the engine, inspect it for water or other contaminants that shouldn't be there. Oil is cheap and if there is anything in it that shouldn't be there its not worth cycling back up into the engine. Especially if you're taking the time to clean and inspect so many other areas.
Do be careful with starting the car and blowing out the water. Working as a Mercedes-Benz tech going on 5 years, for the insurance adjuster to only check the oil dipstick as far as the engine goes is kind of leery for me. I have taken apart numerous engines whether it’s for balance shaft issues, hydrolocked, noisy lifters, etc for insurance and they specifically asked me what was the failure. I was able to SHOW them the failure. If I couldn’t specify what happened even if it was as simple as saying water ingestion, DENIED or NOT COVERED. Usually insurance pays for initial tear down and diagnosis to see what failed. You could have a slightly bent connecting rod not noticeable by the naked eye and slowly wallow out one of your cylinder bores. As much as I hate saying this even as I work at a dealership, I would suggest you take it in to your Infiniti dealership.
Well, I got an endoscopic camera today and took a look into each cylinder, and mostly all looked a little wet. I did a few cranks of the engine to try blowing out that moisture, but no luck. Afterwards I noticed the smell of fuel, so I am starting to think that small puddle in there is fuel. I think I want to vacuum that stuff outta there, but I dont have a small enough attachment to get in there. Not sure what else I can do to dry that out since I dont have an air compressor to blow it out. I bought a cheap battery at Walmart and got some mediocre syn-blend oil to use as a clean out after a few miles assuming I get the car to run.
Question Black_Vegas, do you think if something is slightly bent internally, it would be obvious for me?
Asking because I would hate to get her back running after my cleaning process and feeling like its all good, only to have some internal damage that is about to destroy her beyond repair lurking around the corner.
Sounds like I should just take it to the dealership regardless of what happens after the dry/cleanse process, just to be on the safe side. I've attached 2 pictures of the same cylinder which is the one that looks the most wet, follow by a single pic of the cyl that looks the most dry.
Just take the car to the dealer. There is no magic answer here. 100 people will give you 100 opinions- many here have proffered the same advice and still you are unsure.You have taken days to do something that could have been done in a few hours and then you would know for sure where your engine stands.
Most of that residual moisture in the cylinders, heads, and other "nooks-and-crannies" would burn off once the engine cranks and warms up- assuming it cranks. These are rock solid engines- I would not be surprised if it starts up on the first try. A endoscopic camera- while a nice toy- ain't gonna do crap for your engine.
As it appears your confidence is compromised with this engine, it is probably best to just get another engine and be done with it. Not trying to come off as a *****, but time is your enemy here.
Last edited by ILM-NC G37S; 07-10-2019 at 07:55 AM.
Cylinders look like what cylinders that suck water. Blast them with a rust penetrate to avoid any further rusting.
Just go ahead and start it man, the longer you wait the worse it will be. It'll smoke and sound like **** for a couple of secs then clear up.
Once it does let it run for some time, determine if you hear any knocks then compression test for peace of mind.
Again, drying or cleaning the pistons is worthless. turn it over a couple of times then get ready for fire. Then document the process.
Nobody would notice until you started having major blow by and oil consumption issues. You would hear the piston slap against the bores but by that time the damage has been done.
Well I changed the oil and reinstalled everything and tried to start her up. Didnt work out for me When it cranks it moves real slow and doesnt sound like its even close to igniting. Maybe its the starter thats also on the fritz after being soaked in rain water. At this point im just going to give up trying anything myself and see what a dealership can do for me (which I dont expect to go well). Theres a Nissan dealership like 3 miles from my house, or an Infiniti dealership 60 miles away. Im thinking of trying the Nissan one since its closer and worst case scenario the car will be closer to drag back home.
I realize there can be 100 or a billion different opinions. I started this thread to receive those opinions, and I thank you all for them.
I lost a lot of time waiting for the insurance since they told me not to do anything mechanically to the car until they inspected it, and aside from that due to my work I have little time to work on it myself and dont have anyone that I can get to help me out. Time wise I would say it was more than a few hours. I had to take off my battery to get checked which alone took a few hours at autozone getting cycled, then had to go buy a new battery, install the new battery, remove the intakes, remove the TB's, scrub clean the TB's as good as possible, remove the MAF's and clean those out, remove all the spark plugs, crank the engine, check the pistons for the sign of being clear, reinstall the sparkplugs, change the motor oil and filter, reinstall the TB's and intake. It can be pretty uncomfortable removing several of those parts. Those CAI's were a pain removing and putting back on, and the TB's are somewhat annoying too with the limited space to reach some of the allen bolts. Total I spent around 7 hours physically on the car, not counting the time I spent on the road or stores getting what I needed for this process.
Posting an update. So the cars been at the dealership over a week, and today they called that it's ready for me to pick up. They changed out the oils and cleaned up the carpet and seats, and blasted out the water from the cylinders. Almost all the same things I had done, but apparently for them it helped make the car start. They hooked up the scanner to it and monitored the readings while it was on and everything was good. They test drove it and supposedly it ran great. So I'm about to head over and see if all is good.
Well got my car back. For the most part she's running back to her old self. There's some random light engine idling fluctuations that it didn't have before, but maybe it'll clear up after some driving. Going to add some fuel treatments see if that helps. It's not really a big deal at all, just worried it'll become an issue. Dealership said to take it back if I notice anything, so I think I'm good. Suprized they actually got it running when I couldn't.
A key difference, they hand cranked the engine then afterwards it was able to start right up.
07-09-2019, 01:57 AM
When it cranks it moves real slow and doesnt sound like its even close to igniting. Maybe its the starter thats also on the fritz after being soaked in rain water. At this point im just going to give up trying anything myself and see what a dealership can do for me (which I dont expect to go well). Theres a Nissan dealership like 3 miles from my house, or an Infiniti dealership 60 miles away. Im thinking of trying the Nissan one since its closer and worst case scenario the car will be closer to drag back home. 
