Morning everyone,

Well, the unthinkable happened! Monday evening it pelted down here in Kalgoorlie. An hour or so after the rain had stopped I decided to head out to go see a buddy who had flown in for Aus day. The streets were ok, nothing to signal I'd come across a lake in the middle of the road.

However, as I was heading over a railway crossing (uphill bridge) I got to the top and with nowhere else to go and no way of reversing or doing a U-turn I had to drive through a large puddle. Creeping through slowly to not agitate the water...well...the filter was submerged.

Being only at idle speed my thoughts were the hydrolock couldn't have been that bad. Had it towed straight to RAC's insurance contractor here in Kal and it has sat in their yard since. Went down this morning to collect a few items from the car that I needed and they informed me he has quoted up for the motor to be sent to Perth to be reconditioned. Said an assessment will be done tomorrow, assuming someone is flying up to come and look at it from RAC?

To add insult to injury by the time the tow truck came which was literally 20 minutes the puddle had gone! But he did say I wasn't the first that night and the police had done the same to one of their cars

I'm assuming they will just go the route of a new short block and repair any damages to the heads. He thinks the timing belt has let go. Either way, its fucked.

Has anyone ever been through this process with insurance? Outcomes? Will I need a re-tune? Any other input besides I shouldn't have been driving would be great haha.

Cheers,


Shaun

If you had of pulled the plugs turned it over to get rid of water from cylinders and the changed the oil it would have likely been ok.... seen this happen a couple of times and engine was fine. Timing belt would not have let go.
But if you let it sit with water it's fubar.

2nd hand engine complete would be cheapest and easiest option.

If its an insurance job i guess its up to them how they fix it.... but again if it sits too long with water everything will be screwed possibly even the heads....so again 2nd hand complete engine would be best....

Good luck !

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MY99 WRX EJ2.35L 720whp 9.48@147mph
https://youtu.be/c_lYEG0_Dyo

If they are going to recondition the motor, make sure you know who is going to do the job...ie it should only be done at a reputable workshop....there are many examples of "professionally recond" motors dying after a short time.

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No Subarus currently owned

Yeah guys for sure, he mentioned it going to Perth which is a step in the right direction already. I'd like to have some input into where it goes if possible but I'm not holding my breath. It's still sitting at towing yard. Hasn't been turned over so it's def still full of water.

See how i go with the insurance, its got a process west cai which I'm told shouldn't matter. Thoughts?

Without looking I'd say your CAI should be ok after water mud dirt submersion. There is oil in there so give a good hosing-out with hot water, detergent, or wash with petrol to get rid of sludge.

What I was referring to was will the insurance assessor try give me grief over the cai? It's all legit and installed properly placing the filter in the guard behind fog light area.

As it is an insurance claim I opted to not let it go anywhere other than the towing yard so they can't claim I have played around with it or anything like that.

Just don't mention the CAI or get into that discussion....

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MY99 WRX EJ2.35L 720whp 9.48@147mph
https://youtu.be/c_lYEG0_Dyo

If you'd left the induction system stock it probably wouldn't have killed the filter/hydrolocked you could have an argument on your hands unless RAC had previously approved it as a modification, good luck.

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Beaten up old 98 Gen 2 Liberty, 13.0, stock V3 STI running gear.
07 Transit motor home
69 VF & 70 VG Valiants needing full restoration
Yamaha Zooma 50cc rocket hopefully going with the Transit.

I found RAC to be actually pretty good with claims. I made a claim with my wagon when i pranged it and they didnt even want to know how it happened. It happened, they covered it. No questions asked.

If its insured with one of those poxy online no name insurance companys then i think you will be in for a fight.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

I'm with RAC mate, trying to stay positive atm. Very stressful time indeed