Engine running but electronics in ignition phase (water damage?)

[Stoned Hippy]

To cut a long story short my my engine stalled during a river crossing the other day and I had to be pulled out. I managed to get the engine going again without too much bother (a little bit of water in the cylinders) and drove the 30km home with no problems.

The following day I drove another 20km no problems and switched the car off. On restarting the car it ran ok for a few seconds and then, with the engine still running the dash lit up like the car was in the ignition phase (second click of the key), all the warning lights came on the and long beep that signals the car is ready to go sounded. As I was only a few hundred metres from my destination I drove and parked the car for a couple of days.

On returning to the car I drove it 20km home with no problem. Now my opinion that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" usually applies but i'm planning on heading off to a 1000km unsupported jaunt in the Kalahari desert on Tuesday and would like everything to be a-ok before I leave!

The water where I stalled wasn't too deep, only reaching the top of the wheels and not hitting too much of the electronics (alternator the main thing I thought?). I figured that I have a short somewhere or a damaged sensor? I don't really know where to start looking or how to test sensors if they're water damaged?

Any help would be appreciated!

[charvell]

its the alternator mate, you need a new one

[Albannach]

The water where I stalled wasn't too deep, only reaching the top of the wheels and not hitting too much of the electronics (alternator the main thing I thought?). I figured that I have a short somewhere or a damaged sensor? I don't really know where to start looking or how to test sensors if they're water damaged?

If you were deep enough to sook water into the engine, as you stated, you were deep enough to submerge almost all the engine electrics.

[Stoned Hippy]

Thanks for the replies.

When saying that it didn't soak too much of the electronics I was thinking of the ignition system, fuse panels, etc - unfortunately the engine electronics got soaked alright.

The alternator makes sense alright as when I turned the key to the ACC turn it stopped the beeping for a second. Turning to ACC turns the electrics back to using the battery rather than the alternator - correct?

Do you think there is any point in running the tests outlined in my Max Ellery manual?

I didn't get any errors on my drive home today, am I correct in saying that i'd have got a warning light if the alternator hadn't been functioning and i'd been using battery power? Off to check that now

[Albannach]

Running tests and checks is never a bad thing, but if your only problem is all the dash lights on when the engine is running, it's the alternator, probably...

[stormforce]

if you need a replacement alternator then i have one on a breaker here at the moment.It will be £45 if needed plus delivery to Africa
As you had water in the engine make sure you take the airfilter out and change it aswell
As the water only came to the top of the wheels the air intake is right behind the n/s headlight so there's a big chance thats where the water got in

[Albannach]

if you need a replacement alternator then i have one on a breaker here at the moment.It will be £55 delivered

According to his profile, he's in Africa. You may want to revise that quote

[stormforce]

According to his profile, he's in Africa. You may want to revise that quote

hell i never realised that lmao

[TonyN]

Give it time, lit dash lights is common after dunking Hiluxes in deep water, it normally clears itself up after a few days.

Pickups do it a lot.

[Stoned Hippy]

Thanks for the advice guys. Cars been running fine today so heading off to the Makgadikgadi Pans this afternoon - lets see how the surf compares to the
1981 Lancia Beta Coupe, 1985 Mercedes-Benz 230E and 1963 Opel Kadett (info copied from Wikipedia)!!