Water crossing went wrong. Need opinion.

D

Discovery

New member
My friend tried to cross some muddy water. It was deeper than he thought and he got stuck. Water was reaching his tailgate and started to leak inside from driver and passenger door.

He distress called me on the radio and I arrived 5min later and winched him out.

He had a good inch of water inside when he opened his door, I don't think it reached the seat.

2017 4runner TRD PRO with less then 10k on the clock.

He think he can just remove the seat and dry the carpet and call it a day.

I think he should call his insurance and let them deal with that.

What are your opinion.
 
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I am not sure but in Canada if you break your truck Offroad, they don't cover it..... let him try the dry out thing and then see how it goes.
 
Discovery said:
My friend tried to cross some muddy water. It was deeper than he thought and he got stuck. Water was reaching his tailgate and started to leak inside from driver and passenger door.

He distress called me on the radio and I arrived 5min later and winched him out.

He had a good inch of water inside when he opened his door, I don't think it reached the seat.

2017 4runner TRD PRO with less then 10k on the clock.

He think he can just remove the seat and dry the carpet and call it a day.

I think he should call his insurance and let them deal with that.

What are your opinion.
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It will never smell the same again.... remove the anything that got wet and throughly clean it.
 
There is a product that cleanses all odors inside the truck its called a Bomb something, I saw it on TV and they sell it at Canadian Tire. Open the AC pop the bomb and let the motor run for 15 minutes with windows closed. After all is dry you can try that for that fresh new car smell !
 
calcrc said:
I am not sure but in Canada if you break your truck Offroad, they don't cover it..... let him try the dry out thing and then see how it goes.
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I'm in Canada (Quebec) and thoroughly ask my insurance before I bought the truck. They said they cover Offroad damage... I dunno if some have different policy...
 
There are electronics that are close to being as low as the door where the muck entered the vehicle. Not counting the break sensors there is a box with electronics right behind the spare tire. When the spare is out look back and up. It looks like it's mounted on a piece that is attached to one of the cross frame pieces. Not sure if that is a trouble spot or not but something I would consider.
 
I wouldn't be super thrilled about buying a vehicle with water damage - but I doubt it will cause any problems. Toyota uses high quality wiring and seals on the stuff that needs it. I would probably consider replacing the rear differential lube. Otherwise - it's fresh water right? Probably no more damaging to anything mechanical than driving in the rain.

Removing the carpet and drying everything out is probably a must do. Cleaning muddy water out of an interior is why I don't do that anymore in vehicles with carpet. If he can find someone with a garage that's heated - I'd let it sit with a fan blowing fresh air through the interior as long as possible with the carpets out.

Tell him to be smarter next time. Roll down the window and climb out!
 
Diff breather relocation

Did he have a differential and E-locker breather tube relocation mod? The diff may have gotten water in the oil if he didn't. Consider draining and replacing the diff oil.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...ferential-breather-install-trail-edition.html
Everything else under the car should be okay. The vehicle is designed for occasional stream crossings.
The interior is another story. They need to pull out the carpet and let everything dry out. Then see how everything smells. Try removing the interior plastic body trim too. There are lots of spaces around the wheel wells that need to dry. How about the door panels? Did they open those? There was a post on soundproofing or insulating the interior body panels that showed how the interior panels come off and what's inside.
 
I'd pull the seats and remove the carpet asap. You don't want mold growing in there. Besides being bad for your health it will smell. No odor bomb is going to kill mold. This is actually one of the reasons I almost bought a jeep. Something nice about having drain plugs and no carpet to worry about.
 
Jetboy said:
I wouldn't be super thrilled about buying a vehicle with water damage - but I doubt it will cause any problems. Toyota uses high quality wiring and seals on the stuff that needs it. I would probably consider replacing the rear differential lube. Otherwise - it's fresh water right? Probably no more damaging to anything mechanical than driving in the rain.

Removing the carpet and drying everything out is probably a must do. Cleaning muddy water out of an interior is why I don't do that anymore in vehicles with carpet. If he can find someone with a garage that's heated - I'd let it sit with a fan blowing fresh air through the interior as long as possible with the carpets out.

Tell him to be smarter next time. Roll down the window and climb out!
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No door where open for the operation. I told him to roll down his tailgate window and exit from there to hook his truck to my winch.

Water still found his way inside.

I was literally panicked when he opened his door and water poored out. I Just stood there silently with eye wide open.

He was laughing. Didn't seem to be bothered.

Just the idea of this happening to my truck is unbearable. I genuinely think I would cry.
Adventure happened in this truck and it have few scratches that show it, but it get cleaned, waxed every week. I take pride in taking care of it.

Maybe we are at both end of the spectrum.

Anyway, I will help him tomorrow dismantling the interior and see what can be done.

Yes it was fresh water, with mud.
 
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My sons Cadillac CTS-V was in the parking lot at his work several years ago and a major rain storm came. His parking spot was lower than others and got about 1" of water on the carpet. The same day he took it home and removed the seats and carpet. After airing out it dried out fine. No smell or problems. The key is to do it immediately. I always give him a hard time about it because his car is lowered about 1.5". If it was not lowered it would have been fine.
 
Discovery said:
I'm in Canada (Quebec) and thoroughly ask my insurance before I bought the truck. They said they cover Offroad damage... I dunno if some have different policy...
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I hope you are right, from what I know off road = non insurance, I don't mean going on truck lumber roads that are registered. Crossing a river is a no no.
 
Can't be anyworse then my kids leaving McDonald's milk upside down with the lid loose in the back passenger seat pocket during summer in Texas. Luckily it wasn't a cloth seat but I did have to replace the upper seat foam and clean and soak the cover. Glad this was the wife's car and not the 4Runner.
 
A few years back I got stuck in a bog with water up past the door and wasn't able to get winched out for half an hour or so. See HERE. Water found its way into the cab and there were a few inches on the floor of the passenger's side of the vehicle that found its way in to the rest of the cab once it was level again.
As soon as I was out I pulled the truck up on to a steep slope and then waited for 15min or so while the water exited through the drain ports in the rear. Got in there with a bunch of towels and sopped up whatever was left. Cranked the A/C on floor mode and left in on for the 2 hour trip back home.
Other than my satellite radio no longer working, there was no permanent damage. Is there mold? Meh, possibly but doubtful. I've never detected any foul odors, that's for sure.
 
....If that costs $100 to fix, you will be paying $1200 a year to fix shit like that. It's a 4Runner. You gotta let the little stuff go. I got a large double rock chip in the 4 miles it took me to drive my new 2012 home from the dealer (Colorado ugh). Spent 2 days fuming about it. Day 3 I woke up and realized that the 4Runner is a utility vehicle. Worrying about the small stuff really takes the joy out of the utility aspect. 80k later and I have all kinds of little scratches, but she still looks awesome after a good wash. I'm not afraid to toss all kinds of crap in the back and go get it dirty, because thats what it as built for.
 
I'd say it's your friends truck, let him fix it however he wants.

Personally I would NOT turn in an insurance claim for something like that. Then again I wouldn't have done anything like that to begin with.
 
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