our s280 got submerged in a flashflood... what to do?
 

ok, so we were one of the victims of a flash flood here in the Philippines... house was submerged, was neck-deep on the 2nd floor. Thankfully no one in the household was hurt physically.

our w140 s280 got submerged in muddy water... haven't gotten around to do anything with it as we're trying to salvage what we can from the house.
what steps should i take? junking the car is not an option... considering bastardizing the car and installing a 602 (abundant here)... instead of writing it off. don't really care about originality at the moment, so long as the car runs and has AC and windows we're good. all electronic thingamajigs we can do without. :)

well at least it wasn't the most rare of the cars. like the 250s.

but in your case, idk what i would do.

what exactly is wrong with you car.

Don't try to start it or turn it over until you get expert advice. You probably have water in the cylinders. And a lot of other places...

Unfortunately this car will be a write off. There are so many electrical components to the W140. These will need to be replaced. Fuel areas will be corrupted. The list of potential problems is too long to contemplate.

Even if you spend a lot of time and money trying to get the car going again it will never be reliable.

If you could find a " donor" car then making one car out of two may be feasible.


For your info. During the early eighties a ship carrying a load of Mercedes was sunk off the Malacca strait. Some enterprising soles salvaged a bunch of these cars and " repaired" them. There were new W126's and W123's.
They only lasted a few years - the rust got to them very quickly. The W126's and W123's are "simple" technology compared to a W140 - even a simpler model such as the S280.

Top Gear U.K. submerged a diesel engined Toyota Hilux in the sea during one of their torture tests. They managed to get this car going again. Mind you the also set fire to it, shot at it with a tank cannon and then put it on top of a ten story building which the destroyed by implosion. - The Toyota still ran.

Mind you watch these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bIV_hHPAFQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRKhKKdXIl4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn19Qj5jtf4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTedyrdAzV0&feature=related

I am sorry for your loss
 

I don't know how car insurance works in the Phillipines, but if you can, let the Insurance company write it off.


Not ONLY for the electrical gremlins that will plague it for the rest of its life, and the rust troubles mentioned, but also The filth, sewage, mold, decay, spores, mud, dirt, and toxic spores that wil make it a ftrue biohazard forever. RUN AWAY.

With the insurance money, you recieve, go find, and then import a good one from the USA - specifically from Los Angeles or Orange County, by Johnny Cargo or LBC, if they use containers, like they do for all those balikbayan boxes, (Maybe $1500 extra plus tax/customs to have a car sent?) in a container from Los Angeles, (where Mercedes Benzes of all years are abundant, but still cheap, (a huge over supply is there!) and beautifuly kept.

Maybe Patrick "BEIGE" or "p3lom" (Paolo) on the boards, could help, they are from the PI with family there. Some other people on the boards, here and on benzworld, also can help. Some of them, like "JoeE55" are from the PI too. I have met those guys personally and they are great.

Just my thoughts. Mabuhay,... Good luck..

Flood cars never last.

ey thanks guys...

yep, i fear the electrical gremlins the worst... and as it were the car had its glitches pre-flood...

i remember posting some time ago that my dream car would ba a "manualized/simplified" w140... basically the chassis, body, and a diesel (not the 350 ofcourse)... simply because i just love the way the car looks... the car is not insured btw... :) insurance here is not required... just the most basic to pass the yearly registration.

i hear ya'll about how it would just become a bio-hazard. :) but i've had my share of attempted restorations and i think i've seen worse. i'm willing to work on the car and strip everything and do a thorough clean-up... and attempt to "simplify" the w140...

of course its still waaaaay too early to start worrying about the car, we have too much on our hands... i'll keep you all posted, will document everything if i go through with it.

btw, the 250s was also submerged, it was close to junk status anyway so its no biggie... we had 2 other cars that were submerged, my mom's ford Escape and my sister's 2 door Pajero. Managed to save my 87 300TD as i was in the office when the flood occured. The sis used my dad's F150 that day so that was spared too.

Sir Jim, don't know the current process for importing cars here but i hear its very prohibitive... might just as well buy local... just to give you guys an idea... we bought the w140 about 3 years ago at around 1 million pesos... that's roughly 20,000usd that time... surprising huh? cars here are expensive, even the used ones... bummer

Well, if you do plan on attempting to salvage the engine, pull the plugs first and drain the water ASAP. Spray a bunch of deep creep or other penetrating lube inside the plug holes as the rings are more than likely rusted to the cylinder walls. Pouring a bottle or two of trans fluid down the intake wouldn't hurt, either, especially if you're not going to be able to work on it for a while - it'll displace the water away from the intake valves & seats.

Pull the valve covers and drench everything in new oil, then manually crank the motor @ the main pulley (with a ratchet) to get the water out of the cylinders and get the valves moving. If you're lucky and it turns over, drain all fluids - oil, gas, trans, coolant and replace. (brake fluid should be OK). You can jumper the fuel pump to empty the tank for you, as well. Pull the distro cap & spray with water dispersant (WD-40).

Your electronic components can usually survive if they're dry by the time voltage is applied, so open up whatever you can and dry it out.

If the car gods smile upon you and it actually runs, let it idle for an hour or two and see what happens. If it's OK, rev it a bit. Basically, baby it. After about 10 hours of runtime, replace the oil again.

As far as the interior, pull everything and let it sit in the sun for a few days. Leave the car doors & trunk open as well. Let it all dry out.


It's going to be a very labor intensive job, but if it means that much to you, you may as well give it a shot, though rust is going to be your number one enemy, and he'll strike everywhere.

Part it out on Ebay and you will save yourself headaches untold, the advice for saving the engine is very sound. Toss the electricals that are not sealed so nobody buys a defective part. Sure glad none of your folks were not injured in this. Best of luck on finding a replacement that was not also in the flood.

Jim brings up the primary point to let the car go - diseases that it will promote. There was a notice by Mercedes to be VERY wary of cars submerged by Katrina. There were several instances of very sick mechanics that worked on them.

See what the import duties would be for car parts. Have someone pull the engine/tranny then ship the body in one shipment, the engine/tranny in the other. It wouldn't be that hard to reassemble it.