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Flooded Engines & Car Recovery Service

A few months ago I went to start my car and it wouldn't start, so since it was late at night and it wasn't an urgent trip I left it until the next day and it still wouldn't start so we called one of the UK's biggest car recovery services.

The guy came to look at it and could tell the engine was flooded and eventually fixed it about an hour later but not before he'd spent most of the hour totally reving the engine and turning the starter for most of the hour constantly, treatement that my car had never recieved in the

4 years I'd owned it from new.

He knew what the problem was and that the fuel pump should be disconnected but he didn't know how to do it. i.e. which fuse to pull out. He also got the wrong year of my car so he couldn't figure it out for ages, so kept on with the starter, in the end it turned out he had a laptop with all the info he needed in there - he just didn't use it until the very end. Then he knew which fuse to pull out and once done he reved the engine for ages and at the highest possible amount.

Ever since that day there's been a loud sound coming from the exhaust which we had examined and we can see there is now a hole there. We got an estimate to have the last two section of the car's exhaust replaced and it's £185

However I'm wondering if the Catalytic converter may have also been damaged and if so when will signs of this show up? i.e. will it cause me to fail the Car's MOT?

The MOT is due in about 6 weeks time if all this harsh treatment has damaged it will that been seen on the MOT results?

I should have last year's results for comparison.

My real annoyance with the recovery service is that their man had all the information he needed in his laptop from the very beginning, so there was no need to spend an hour forcing the car to start with brute force. The information in the laptop told him exactly what to do to cure the problem and once he consulted it it was a few minutes later it started.

Any suggestions? The recovery service claims dept. has written back to us, my worry is if it's £185 just to replace the two silencers after the CAT then how much is it going to be if the CAT itself is also damaged.

Reply to
Dee
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If it was just flooded, then you clear this by cranking on full throttle until it starts - shouldn't take long. However, flooding isn't common with fuel injection. Some cars don't like being started from cold, then stopped shortly afterwards, which can cause it. As I discovered one cold day after forgetting something and had to go back into the house for it. Although the car did start, it didn't as promptly as usual, and it missed slightly until warm - possibly symptoms of flooding.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

So, let's put this into contrast. Car won't start, breakdown guy 'allegedly' turns engine over on starter for most of an hour. Eventually car starts, and now has apparent hole in exhaust.

Turning an engine over on the starter motor for most off an hour, is more than likely to off killed the starter, which it obviously hasn't. This treatment would not cause the damage you say to the exhaust. Now as you've had the car for over 4 years, I would say the holes are far more likely to off been caused by age/rust. Only time excess fuel will damage a cat, is if the engine was to be run rich for a prolonged time (the excess fuel causes the catalytic converter to overheat and the core to melt/break up). Flooding should not damage a cold catalytic converter.

Reply to
Moray Cuthill

The message from "Moray Cuthill" contains these words:

Turning an engine over for most of an hour would be a bloody miracle with most cars!

Reply to
Guy King

I'd have thought the started would have crapped after a few minutes as well.

And how many times would the battery require charging for an hours worth of starting then......

It can cause problems with the matrix ends up being covered in condensed fuel - that then burns off when the engine eventually fires.

Mind you after four years it's not unfeasible the cat could be shot anyway deepending on mileage, which is of course what the recovery service will claim.

Reply to
Chris Street

Pray tell what make of battery you use, I am impressed... or did he use a jump start?

I don't think the breakdown mechanic could be blamed for the exhaust system, it would have been on it's last legs at that age anyway.

I remember the first time I used redex! - I had an old polo 1043 - Pierburg

2e3 carb. I was reading down the instructions on the bottle for cleaning inlet valves and carb etc...

Remove air filter from top of carb.... I did. Pour Redex in top of carb, you can use the whole bottle..... I did. Whilst engine is running.... Doh!

After 20mins or so of cranking it started in the biggest cloud of white smoke I have ever seen, it engulfed a 10 story block of flats and there was the loudest bang I have ever heard too.

I was only 19...

Andy

Reply to
Nik&Andy

Was it a BMW by any chance?

Reply to
Steev

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