submitted: Oct 29th 2008 | by: barneyru | Total views: 5 | Word Count: 677 | |

Just like any other property subjected to flood damage, your car will probably be among the most expensive damaged property, second only to your home, thus the importance of caution during water damage restoration of your car. Your car can be in the garage or on the streets during a flood. Neither of these places can protect your car from water damage during a flood.

Understanding water damage restoration of your car requires that you understand the potential damage which can be done to a car during a flood. The most damaging to the car can be the rising water. There is no amount of rain can penetrate a decently sealed car (a new car for example). However, the car is not made to be waterproof from underneath! And that's where most of the damage occurs. If the water in the garage, or on the streets, gets too high, it will sneak into the engine bay go through the exhaust system, and even get inside the cabin through the bottom of the doors. Damage to the cabin, while disappointing and may require carpet replacement or even a whole replacement of seats and carpet, it does little to damage the inner working parts of the car (i.e. the engine and its electronic control unit (ECU).

Water damage restoration of your car consists of fixing any potential damage done to the inside cabin of the car, and restoring whatever damage which may have occurred in the engine bay.

Water damage restoration to the interior of the car depends largely on the amount of damage which may have taken place. A visit to an interior cleaning specialist may be all what you need. A simpler Do-it-Yourself may also do the trick. You can rent a wet vacuum cleaner, with shampoo-cleaning abilities and you can start on the seats and the carpet inside the car. You need to bear in mind that after you're done cleaning, you now have a wet interior. Your car is typically sealed pretty tightly and will have a difficult time drying out. In fact, you can be certain that you will have a mold problem should the car have a wet interior for more than one to two days (depending on the humidity of your place of residence). So you must leave cracked windows to allow the air to flow inside your car to assist the drying process. However, you need to make sure that your car is not exposed to a potential rain. If your windows are left open, you might subject yourself to another unseen problem, in which case your attempt at water damage restoration might actually cause further problems instead.

As for water damage restoration to the engine bay, if you'd previously disconnected your battery prior to the flood, you have a good chance of avoiding a major problem to the engine. Remember, water does its most damage to electronics. So if these electronics do not have any juice running through them, they're just a bunch of metal and carbon components, once the water is dried out of the, they're most like to work. This is of course presuming that your manufacturer has done a good job sealing them in their own boxes, hopefully. The most expensive piece of electronics in your car is the Electronic Control Unit (ECU). These computer units are usually sealed in their own black boxes. However, prior to starting your car after a flood, you need to open this black box, and if you find any traces of water and/or humidity, your need to let it dry in the open air PRIOR to running current through it. Remember, do not connect your battery and attempt to start the car until you checked the following items for water and humidity, and made sure they're totally dry: The ECU, the air filter, cabling, spark plugs, battery connections, oil inlet, and all connecting wires around the engine bay. A simple check to these items may save your car from a potential expensive water damage restoration and replacement.

About the Author

Barney Ruch is a disaster article writer for Dallas Water Damage Restoration and Miami Water Damage Restoration

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