So I did a little creek driving earlier this week, first I just crossed it, then my passenger told me to go down the creek (it was about a foot or so deep and the bottom was all compacted stones) and I made it down a bit and back. Then we decided to go again and film it this time... and go a bit farther... and I got stuck. Rounded a bend as the water started to rise to 2 feet and i didn't see the pile of silt in front of me and almost instantly got stuck. I tried to keep it running, but there just wasn't enough back pressure from the exhaust and it eventually cut out on me.

Because there's not much to hook to in the back of a stock 03 Xterra, and because the leaf springs and the axle were completely submerged, and because the water was 35 or so degrees, we gave up trying to pull it out with a tractor until the morning. Next day we got a couple people with wetsuits to jump in, hook a chain onto my X we finally pulled it out, we jump started it and it drove under it's own power back up the hill to my friends house, were we left it running for 20 or so minutes before we could hear one of the cylinders wasn't firing, and then it started running on just 4... then 3... and then it died. Got it to turn over a few more times but couldn't keep it running, until it wouldn't turnover at all.

We towed it back to my house to put it in a heated garage to thaw out, but so far it still won't turn over.

I read through some of the other threads already, so I know i need to get all the carpeting out... I just want to know if the problem's with the computer, the engine, or something else.

So... it sat in 2 feet of 30 degree water for 24 hours, the ignition still works, all the lights and windows still work, I just can't get it started.

I have no intention of junking my X; I want to keep it and get it working again... and for the time being I have enough money to do so (just not the know-how)... unless it's gonna cost well over $10,000...

[And I have more pics of my debacle other than just my profile pic]

Sounds like your ECM may be fried if your floorboards was submerged....

Yup, I had water up to my seats inside: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd43/tophappy/My%20Tortured%20Xterra/IMG_3001.jpg

Sound like your engine is hydrolocked, your seats is wet and will be moldy, your carpets are now non-salvageable.

You might wanna talk to Xterra Mike about engine issues since he has done the similar thing....lol

ECM is definitely cooked for sure

have you tried cranking with the plugs out?

its probably cost to much to repair

I'm very much estimating it'll be close to $10k if you are wanting to have it completely repaired....if you don't want to shell that much out for that, and if you have insurance, you might want to file a claim and say heavy water damage....wouldn't mention offroading at all to the company cuz they won't cover it, and I'm sure they will probably total it out.

if it ran when he drove it home i bet its not that bad.... tow it to a dealer they can pinpoint the issue it could just be the ecm.... they key is that it ran once out for a little bit... was there water in the air box?

Its a good chance water got sucked into the engine if the muffler was submerged the entire time....stuff get sucked into when you start the engine then out it goes.....good chance the water was still in the muffler when you started it up.

is that a snorkel i see? if you sealed your air box for the snork project.. you shouldnt have too much water in it.. just my .02

Was that even a legit trail? I have a feeling it was not.

Doesn't look like it was....

hah! i would say let the insurance company handle it. make up a good story how it got soo submerged and it totalled everything. itll be a lot easier and less of a headache. trust me people light their brand new cars on fire in the desert here and it doesnt seem like it takes much for the insurance to total it out. well i actually dont know if they get caught or not though, just seem to pass by them on trails :D

I'd say start parting it out and use your money to buy another one. If your engine is hydrolocked and your whole interior is destroyed, its going to cost a ton...

i'll take the front grille. if we are going to part it out...

Dibs on first aid kit :D

Dibs on first aid kit :D

you dont even have an X. but im sure your ST wont mind a few mods.. haha

be sure and check your engine, diffreential, transmission, transfer case and the flywheel port for water in the oil and intrusion into the flywhell area. Thats if you intend on keeping the rig. EEC is propably fried it sits under the cubbyhole in the senter dash

Some of my friends were helping me out right after we got it unstuck; they checked all the fluids they could, didn't see any water in any of them.

And yes... I have a sealed and functioning snorkel on my truck. Checked the air box anyway, everything was dry.

No, that wasn't a trail at all, it was a creek with a tractor/farm truck crossing that was behind a house my friends are renting. Note to self... all terrain tires can't handle all terrains at the same time...

The plan at the moment is to check all the fuses, if any are burned out, replace them, and if that doesn't make a change, find a replacement ECM... and if that doesn't do anything... well... time for a professional to look at it. The main problem appears to be that there is no fuel getting to the engine, and that's probably the ECM's fault. Well, that's the theory at least.

well atleast you sealed the airbox on the snork

Totally fixable. I've done flood cars before, it's just time tracking everything down. Just start at the bottom and work your way up. Start with new fuel, if it's got water in it, it will do just as you described. If your oil's good with no foam in it from water, that's a good sign. Rip all the interior out right away, you might be able to save the carpet if you pressure wash it at the car wash really good and hang it in a nice warm place with a fan on it to dry.

BTW, Welcome to the club!

What Creepy said. You can save her bro.

Take your time.

I'm sorry about your bad luck there. I'm siding with Creepy and Rattfink here, I bet you can put her together. Just how water-tight are Xterra's anyway? Does anybody know? I asked a guy about his Ranger Rover and he told me they were totally water tight.

definatley don't give up you have a good plan with the fuses then ecm.... you may even be able to take the ecm out and take it to be tested... good luck and keep us posted!

I'm sorry about your bad luck there. I'm siding with Creepy and Rattfink here, I bet you can put her together. Just how water-tight are Xterra's anyway? Does anybody know? I asked a guy about his Ranger Rover and he told me they were totally water tight.

depends on the range rover but I highly doubt that.

Probably got water in the fuel tank from the carbon canister or something. Don't forget to check the oil in the diffs, those breathers were probably under water too.
Sounds like the making of a project rig to me, good luck.

i highly doubt your ECM is bad and i say this from experience, mine was under water to just below the intake for 4 days when a flood hit the binghamton area in 06, i took it to my dealer and they hooked it up to a pooter, it was caked in thick mud and almost guaranteed it needed to be replaced... but it was fine

actually, our ECMs are pretty water tight, mine barely had any mud in it and there was a water test paper (like in cell phones if it gets wet it changes color)... and it didnt change color

go to your dealer and have them open it up

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll be putting your advice into effect tomorrow after I wake up.

The sucky thing is that I have a 3" lift and a new exhaust sitting in their boxes waiting to be put on, and I sank my Xterra the day before we were gonna put them on. After the lift I was probably gonna get mud tires, and if I had the lift/exhaust/mud tires when I went into the creek, this may have turned out differently.

I know one thing for sure... when the truck's operational again, I'm getting a new bumper/swing away tire carrier that has the clevis shackle mounts on it... (I'm looking at the shrockworks one) if I had that my truck would have only been in the water for an hour or two.

Annnnd... I'm not going back down that creek... haha.

sorry to thread jack but i know a family friend that had a cadalic when we had a big flood water flooded there garage with the car in it midway up the car. insurance came out totaled the car beacuse watermark a couple inches below the windows. he bought the car back at dirt cheap beacuse they failed to look into the car and see no water had seaped in aperently that year of cadalic has two weather seals for sound deadning.

Yup, I had water up to my seats inside: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd43/tophappy/My%20Tortured%20Xterra/IMG_3001.jpg

wow thats a good one son. haven't read the whole thread so sorry if i missed something. if you were able to get it running and it died then its not hydrolocked. if your ecu was under water for that long then i would say its fried. get another one from the junk yard and swap it out. remember to get the same year if possible. you'll probably have no air bags either cause the module is under the center console. Good luck. oh yea i hydrolocked my motor in a puddle that deep. my ecu was under water for about 10 min and it came back after it dried out with no issues. unfortunately my motor didn't pan out so well.

If you do try to claim this on your insurance my advice would be to delete this thread and any evidence that it was off road. Good luck!

Dibs on first aid kit :D

you dont even have an X. but im sure your ST wont mind a few mods.. haha

Haha, true I don't have a X but that aid kit was definitely handy when I needed it and its easy to organize stuff in it!

ummm why didnt you keep it the dealer wouldnt have noticed?

ps I might have a link to a decent first aid kit cheep let me look.

a couple decent kits in here also look at page 2
First Aid (http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/SearchResults.aspx?catid=277&site=All+Products&num=10&q=first+aid&pagenumber=1)

All right, for anyone wondering on the fate of my X, it's up and running again. The computer was full of water, and was fried... and when that went so too did the distributor. My total repair bill at the shop was just over $1500, which I felt wasn't that bad.

However, I was pulled over 2 minutes after leaving the shop due to my now expired inspection. I was let off with a warning though.

I've had it at my house for about 2 weeks now, and I've been taking care of a few issues before I get it inspected. I had my windshield replaced (due to a 2 ft long crack) and had to take off my snorkel for that to happen. Since I took the snorkel off, I decided that it was time to patch the extra holes and repaint the fender from when my friends incorrectly attached it originally.

The carpet is out, and there is talk of putting bed liner in or something. I've also repainted all my gray plastic trim black (mudflaps and whatnot) in anticipation of eventually getting the front and rear bumpers from Shrockworks.

All I have left is to take it to Nissan to have them resolve my flashing airbag light, the inoperable windshield washer fluid motor, fix the idler pulley or water pump (whichever is making noises), and also the noise my steering column makes when I turn it... and then have them inspect it so I can legally drive it for the first time this year! (I will be avoiding creeks... at least until I can find a way to keep my electronics safe and dry)

I'm glad to hear the good news!

Good deal dude. Glad you got it up and running again.

good to hear you got it up and running again

The diff breathers may have sucked in a some water, double check the diffs....as water can leak in at the ends of the axles tubes as well, etc...if submerged for too long.

Re-pack the front wheel bearings.

Lube the front drive shaft.

As for your exhaust back pressure, don't sweat it, water can't get back to the engine that way...that's a wives tale left over from open exhaust days....you'll be fine.

It also didn't stall you....the OEM exhaust back pressure far exceeds the pressure required to clear water out, by an enormous margin.

The airbag sensor under your seat was submerged, and that might explain the bag light being on.

:wink-big:

TJ to the rescue!!! haha Glad to hear your back in action...

epic

All I have left is to take it to Nissan to have them resolve my flashing airbag light, the inoperable windshield washer fluid motor, fix the idler pulley or water pump (whichever is making noises), and also the noise my steering column makes when I turn it... and then have them inspect it so I can legally drive it for the first time this year! (I will be avoiding creeks... at least until I can find a way to keep my electronics safe and dry)

I had the same problem with the windshield washer fluid motor... you can get a replacement at autozone for like 25$. THere are 2 motors (I think one's for the rear & one for the front) & are situated just under the reservoir. I changed them as I was putting my front Shrock & winch on....

This thread is awesome, I hope you continue to use ClubX to its fullest extents.

Back again with another update:

I got my Xterra back up and on the road back in March, been running fine ever since. The air bag sensor was replaced, apparently there was a somewhat serious steering fluid leak, witch was mostly fixed, the steering gearbox still has a "small" leak (which would have added an additional $2,000 or so to the bill to replace) but they said to just keep tabs on it and maybe have it replaced if it gets worse (and if I have the spare money, haha). I think there were a few other things, but all in all the total was about $2,700, or $4,200 total from sink to on the road again.

It passed emissions and state inspection and it's good till 2013 now, hooray!

I had ripped the carpet out, and a friend wants to try and rhinoline the floor somehow, haven't figured out how to get around all the wires and air-con vents on the floor though, and the headliner is drooping pretty badly in the front, but I got the headliner spray from Advanced a while back, just havent bothered to try it yet, haha.

Oh, and a logging company went through my woods a couple months ago, and now I have about a little less than a mile of off roading trails on my property now, which cold use some tweaking. Even got some nice sized puddles on parts of it, but I'm going to wait till my lift kit is installed, and possibly some mud tires or new all-terrains cause mine are getting pretty worn.

But anyway, thanks for all the input guys, and hopefully you found this thread a good read, and maybe that some others in similar situations fixed they're X's as well.

I may put up a updated pick of my Xterra once I make my adjustments and get it properly dirty, haha.
-James

Just wanted to add on the carpet part... if you clean it well and leave it out to dry typically you'll be fine. Its the jute matting that holds the moisture and what not... best to rip it off of the carpet (or floor, whichever its glued to) and get new to re-glue down. Its the tannish or grayish padding you'll find under the carpets in cars

(Can be found on eBay for a good price too)

Sent from my GT-I9000 using AutoGuide App

I'm sorry about your bad luck there. I'm siding with Creepy and Rattfink here, I bet you can put her together. Just how water-tight are Xterra's anyway? Does anybody know? I asked a guy about his Ranger Rover and he told me they were totally water tight.

OK so this is a late comment on this, but I would have to wonder how any vehicle that can't keep it's oil on the inside could possibly keep water on the outside. I saw in the back part of a Land Rover dealer's shop once a sign that said "If it isn't leaking, fill it up." Then there was a bumper sticker on one that went something like "The parts you see falling off of this vehicle are examples of some of the finest British engineering ever produced."

I still love my neighbor's D90 though.