AHhhhhhh! SALTWATER

[eNdiT]

1057994

Hey everyone - I'm new here, and I must say this is a great BB!

I recently went off-roading in my 99' Wrangler Sport at the Oregon Inlet in North Carolina. It was amazingly fun and exciting....ESPECIALLY WHEN I DROVE THROUGH THE WATER, WENT OFF A LEDGE AND SUBMERGED MY ENTIRE RIG IN A SALTWATER HELL!

So far I removed the entire interior (carpets,seats,etc) and powerwashed it down and dried it with towels. I went under the Jeep with the powerwasher 2 days in a row and i blasted away all of the sand/salt that I could find. Is this enough to prevent rust from setting in? I really love my Jeep and it's still new to me (only 70k miles)...don't want anything bad to happen to it.

PS - the drunken redneck in a Toyota Tacoma ripped his bumper off towing me out. It was more fun to watch than a Samurai blowing around in high winds.
[addsig]

 

[MORGSTER]

1058001

My neighbors wife said, drive it into a pool, won't that work.
Sorry. At least she's thinking.

Just keep on doing what your doing. Make sure there isn't any water in the oil, power steering, trans (If it's an automatic) and so on.

Flush, flush, flush and when your done reflush. :roll: [addsig]

 

[indiemo]

1058045

ah! that sucks!

I used to work in Corolla, NC giving off-road tours in Suburbans. My boss told me a story about 2 (probably rich) ladies that got their brand new suburban swamped about 10 feet off shore. They left to get a tow truck and by the time they came back, the water was up to the roof of the Suburban. Guess they forgot about that whole "rising tide" thing. :lol: It's tons of fun to ride the beach, but it doesn't pay to play in the ocean. My boss would get completely pissed if one of us took one of the company rides anywhere near the water line.

But I think you're going about it right. Just keep flushing that thing and hope for the best. [addsig]

 

[MudderChuck]

1058050

I often take a set of ramps to the spray and wash, with me. I wash the undercarriage at least, once a month and really thoroughly. like three times in may.
We don´t have much ocean here, but a lot of salt. My rides seem to last a lot longer than most anybody elses.
I do know, that most every time I wash it, I find some mud I missed the last time.

Occasionally washing out the alternater and starter, seems to help some also. Doesn´t seem to hurt them much, if the water is hot enough to dry quickly and you don´t get carried away ( a little is better than a lot).

I´m sure some time or the other you are going to find something, that´s growing green stuff (oxidation) from the salt.[addsig]

 

[Tug-n-pull]

1058064

I would trade it off asap. Just my 2 cents! Tug[addsig]

 

[poooorboy]

1058067

Trade it in !salt water is a killer ! ugh :-O [addsig]

 

[bob]

1058071

if you got that much saltwater in it. to bad you didn"t have a river to drive it through to flush it out. you should get rid of it, or maybe the insurance would total it. that jeep will never be the same. :-( [addsig]

 

[eNdiT]

1058073

Woah...get rid of it?!?!

Why would I need to do that if I washed the Jeep off real well? Does salt water always kill a Jeep no matter what? Or only if it gets in the engine and all that? I got saltwater all up underneath the Jeep and inside the Jeep up to the level of the shifter....do you guys think the Jeep will be fine since i powerwashed it? Or should I seriously get rid of it?[addsig]

 

[Craig]

1058080

If you don't plan on getting rid of it then I would do a lot more to get the salt out of it. We sunk my buddy's truck in the ocean years back and couldn't get it out till the tide came in up over the hood (it was an F-150 with 6 inches of lift and 35's). It made the front page of the paper of the small island we were camping at and we got kicked off the island by the police because of it (it's called Salt Spring Island in case anyone's heard of it) Anyways...he washed the whole thing out pretty much the same as you have. Over the years he's had nothing but problems. His wheel bearing went pretty much right away. His doors and all body pannels have started to rust from the inside out...it's very hard to get the salt out from inside the body pannels. He flushed his transmission out but I guess you still can't get all the salt out so he's had transmission problems and the salt will eat at all your rubber seals and bushings. I live about a 3 minute drive from the west coast and have made a strict rule with all my 4 wheel drives I've owned.......THEY DON'T GO NEAR SALT WATER.

edited by: Craig, Mar 04, 2003 - 05:52 PM[addsig]

 

[jeepmaster]

1058084

id take the jaws of life to the hood and rip it up real nice, and then tell the insurance company that you were driving along the beach and this huge shark popped out of the water and grabbed the front end and pulled you in... theyd have to replace it then right? shark attack lol i bet theres a LOT of automotive claims for those. just a thought, but yea id trade it in too[addsig]

 

[tarsij]

1058093

Yeah, just like craig said, its almost impossible to get the salt out from inside the body panels. I would trade it in too.[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1058094

yeah, i'd trade it in too... that's why when you run a 'carfax' on a title history, there is a record there for "flood damage". although its a jeep, it'll still be pretty ugly in the long run.[addsig]

 

[eNdiT]

1058104

I can't believe this... it jsut doesn't make sense to me.

The Jeep was submerged in saltwater that reached halfway up the doors...not totally underwater...the engine wasnt sitting under water. I cleaned the entire jeep inside and out at the powerwash immediately after getting out of the water. I dont see how this could be grounds for trading in the jeep?!? How could it possibly get so bad? It seems fine to me...and I dont live near the ocean where salt is a constant problem. If my entire engine went underwater, then i would be concerned...it jsut doesnt make sense that a jeep goin through a little water once in awhile would be that crucial. Especially if it is taken care of and cleaned frequently.

Do you all still think I should trade it in? I don't know...I'm scared now hahah!

:-( [addsig]

 

[jcooper]

1058110

It's the salt, not the water. If the water level inside reached the shifter, then everything
from there down was saturated. Including inside the body panels, doors, etc. Sure, it'll
dry out in there eventually. But it will leave the salt behind.

When I lived in Cali, I had to park on base literally next to the beach every day, all day. The
salt, just from the moist air, would lay with the morning dew on the front fenders. Within a
month or so, on a 97 in 1998 I got rust pits on my fenders. Just from salt. That quick.

Trade it in. Mention flood damage. Leave it up to them to ask about the type of flood. Cut
your losses.

To put it in medical terms, your jeep wasn't lucky enough to have a heart attack and die. It
unfortunately contracted a malignant, uncurable cancer.

Cooper.[addsig]

 

[jeepster]

1058111

i come from r.i. the ocean state and anything that even smells salt rots. sorry. just keep doing what ya doing and ya might even think about brushing some of that chemical that turns rust to black like primer. just in case .[addsig]

 

[jhiggins]

1058123

I live on the coast in texas and drive on the beach often...just my 2 cents trade it in if thats not an option you must clean all your conections , all the spots where there isn't paint like bolts brackets ect... will rust if they havent already so just do what you wanna but there is alot of places you wont look like inside the frame under dash ect..... lots of problems but your choice...GOOD LUCK :-O :-O [addsig]

 

[eNdiT]

1058139

that's the thing though! no salt water got into the electrical stuff...it never got under the dash. I really dont think its a problem since i power washed everything. Its not like the jeep was completely underwater....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh (goes insane)[addsig]

 

[jhiggins]

1058143

ok then I thought it was completely under water ....what you need is por 15 makes a wash that feeds through a pressure washer that is made for boats and motors that works great on getting saltwater off steel. :-O [addsig]