Not a good evening!

[Eldavo]

Did a bit of tinkering on the car tonight and took her for a 10 minute drive to check everything was a-ok so she could be tucked up in the garage until later this week.

Rounded a corner at about 30 mph to hit a massive deep puddle. Engine died and oil pressure dropped to zero, wouldn't restart.

Been recovered home and into the garage and my poor baby has definitely hydrolocked and cracked something as she's dumped her oil all over the flatbed and my garage floor.

Pulled the air filter off and emptied a puddle out of it, I thought the arch liners were supposed to stop this happening!

Not looking forward to calling the insurance company in the morning, sob

 

[bmnelsc]

I wouldn't be telling the insurance that you rounded a corner at 30mph and ran into a puddle - they will likely call that excessive speed or careless driving or something like that - e.g. if you were driving "normally" you wouldn't have hit the puddle at that speed and the catastrophe would have been avoided. Stick to the wet road at night disguising the puddle or similar. IMHO insurance companies are quick to find fault with the driver to avoid paying claims....

 

[ukmastiff]

Sorry[&o]

You are potentially covered for driving through flood water under accidental damage as long as it wasnt deliberate/negligant
(as long as the damage wasnt due to a fault with the car)
Youll most likely end up with an 'incident' on your record which youll need to disclose re all your car insurance policiesthough sadly


Definately dont lie but think carefully how youll put it accross and hope its not inspected and found faulty

Mas

 

[Eldavo]

It's a NSL road and I was doing 30mph maximum.

I came round the corner onto a straight road. Turned my full beam headlights back to dipped as a car was coming the other way and had no chance of seeing the river that had formed. Even the recovery driver said it pulled him violently to one side too as it was unexpectedly deep.

 

[simkin911]

Sorry to hear that. Hardly surprising in view of the weather - unrelenting rain - and I doubt you will be the only person getting in touch with your insurer in the next day or so. Shame. My recollection of your car is that it is a lovely example. Good luck with it!

 

[Eldavo]

I'd just sorted a few niggles and had been at the Region 3 annual show a couple of weeks back where she looked fab.

It had stopped raining when I went out too. Anyone know what's involved in making an S2 engine fit?

 

[PSH]

Truly sorry to hear this, it's one of those 'what of' scenarios ... I had a friend who did the same thing to his TVR and one of my sons also destroyed an RS Turbo doing the same thing....
A word of warning and I hope I'm wrong but I don't know of an insurance company that would pay out for mechanical damage unless you have one of those specialist companies that cover cars over 10 years old for such things but these are not normal policies and do not cover normal road cover.

Best of luck

Pete

 

[edh]

That's really bad news Dave

I think insurance covers these sort of events - I don't see why they wouldn't really. Only problem is the cost I would have thought.

Fitting an S2 engine is a fairly involved job I think. Peter E had one put into his 2.5 oval dash car & needed quite a few bits from the donor.

 

[Eldavo]

Thanks guys.

Keep replaying all the what-if scenarios back and just been back to the spot where it happened, it is now a lake across the road and there's no way of seeing it in advance.

Going to call the insurance company now and see what's what, no doubt ill have to wait for an assessor to visit but I want some ideas to put to them to see if there's a way of not writing it off as the rolling chassis is immaculate. Fingers crossed.

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: Eldavo

I'd just sorted a few niggles and had been at the Region 3 annual show a couple of weeks back where she looked fab.

It had stopped raining when I went out too. Anyone know what's involved in making an S2 engine fit?

Glad to see this Dave. Assuming that they dont want to repair the car, you need to tell them immediately and confirm in writing that you want to retain the salvage. It shouldnt happen but Ive seen 944s sold off by insurers before a settlement has been agreed.

 

[Eldavo]

They're sending an engineer out and I'll hear from him in the next 24-48 hours about coming round.

I'm with RH and you retain salvage with them if your car is over 20 years old automatically. It's not going anywhere as I asked for it to be recovered to my garage rather than the recovery compound as they'd start charging their fees and that's how claims start getting silly. Granted it probably would have been dealt with quicker but we all end up paying the costs otherwise.

 

[wolfie308]

Very sorry to hear this Dave, could have happened to any of us by the sound of it - just a thought......might it be worth taking photos whilst the 'lake' is still evident to support your case? Also if you can give some indication of depth of the water that might help.

 

[944 man]

I should expand on my earlier post. Im saddened to see a nice clean 2.7l damaged, but Im encouraged to see that it isnt going to end up in a dismantlers yard.

 

[Frenchy]

That is sad to hear Dave, your car is certainly worth fixing and keeping on the road, if all else fails get the salvage and fit a new engine, i beleive there was another car on the opposite side of the road which meant that you could not pull over to avoid said large amount of deep water safely.....................regards to you and yours, get it sorted for Germany next year.

 

[JM1962]

ORIGINAL: Eldavo

Anyone know what's involved in making an S2 engine fit?

It fits easily enough if you buy the S2 engine with bellhousing, flywheel, clutch and engine bay loom. You will need the ECU, possibly the ballast resistor pack for the injectors depending on the year of the donor engine, exhaust manifold, somewhere to put the oil cooler, AFM and modified airfilter. You will need to be quite handy with electrics to hook everything up, there are some extra connections to make. I have recently bought all the bits to do this on my early dash although I haven't started yet. Should be a bit easier on an oval dash as I don't think you need to alter the brake line to clear the inlet manifold or mess with the heater set up. Still a big job but a good winter project maybe? You should consider the insurance implications too.

Sorry to hear your bad news.

 

[jasonp]

hiya,, so sorry to hear of your accident dave,,least no injuries,,hope you can get it sorted,,all the best,,,regards jason p

 

[Elliot]

Sorry to hear about your troubles

If you decide not to do the S2 thing i have two good 2.7l engines in the workshop that need a good home.

cheers

 

[Eldavo]

Thanks everyone.

I went back and took some pictures today, the puddle has become a lake and has swelled considerably due to last night's rain.

Spoken to the assessment company and they're sending someone Weds/Thurs to take a look and we'll see.

Thanks Elliott for another option - I appreciate it. I'll see what comes of the assessment, weigh up my options and ask for some opinions when I know what's happening.

Got more pictures today but the road comes down a short straight and the (now) lake sits in a dip in the road right on the bend, at least I wasn't imagining it when I thought the car was difficult to control in the corner!

 

[poprock]

This happened to me a few years back. My insurance company paid up without a single question. I'm sure you'll be fine!

I had the car towed to my usual garage, he dealt with the insurers for me (he also did a full service and fixed a few pre-existing niggly little things while he had the car in).

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: Eldavo

Crumbs! You could swim in that ... no, come to mention it you could float the QEII in that ...

I hope all goes well with your insurance company. I have heard of other cases like Poprock's where they have paid without quibble for such damage (although your no claims bonus will be affected, of course.) Keep us posted.


Oli.