New To The Site, Have Flood Soaked 1999 - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

Good morning to all, Need some advice with a flood victim "99LE" Corolla, the water rose to the level just below the radio... the car engine will run with starting fluid but not on it's own fuel system. I jumpered the battery direct to fuel pump but still no injector pulses so fuel doesn't flow. Check light is on but I cannot get my obd-II code reader to "link" up with computer, it says "Link failed, try again?" All fuses seem to be good... I'm thinking of having the ECM tested locally... does that make good sense to anyone out there? Thanks for any valid comments...

The ECM is probably gone - they are pretty tough - but water on anything electronic is pretty much the end of it. Most of the core computer stuff (ECM, integration relays, sensors, etc) are pretty much dash level and lower. Hopefully everything else is OK - otherwise you'll have to look for a donor car to strip all the wiring off of - to get it through the dealer will cost more than what the car is worth.

Keep in mind that most states will have salvage or flood on the title - if you fix it up, you'll probably be hanging on to it for a while. Most people will not buy a car with a salvage title - little to no resale/trade-in value.

I know of a couple of guys that took salvage/flood vehicles - fixed them up and drove them as they were very cheap. The one guy had a 2001 Celica - ran OK for about of month until he had an accident. Airbag sensors were gone - ECM never picked up on it, they never deployed. Luckily he walked away from that one. The other guy spent more in electrical and rebuild work to the get the car working - that he could have saved a few grand just buying the same used car (non flooded) off a lot.

If it more than the ECM gone - you could try parting it out and getting your money's worth from it.

Good Luck.

have u tried claiming insurance?? in oz most cars that badly flooded are written off.

i agree, wouldn't be surprised if the whole electrics system is rooted.

most of the electronics have probably shorted out... sicne there is water still inside of most components. Automotive connectors inside teh engine bay are typically water and dust resistent but cannot be submerged.

Check these things....

1) check ALL fuses

2) Do the dashboard gauges even come on?

3) Remove a plug , leave it plugged in and touch it to a a bare metal groun while you try to start teh motor..... IS THERE A SPARK? Sine it runs on either...I'm ****uming you have a spark.... that's good news because I beleve the '99 is direct ignition meaning the ECU controls the spark.

4) Then turn the engine over for a while... if you smell fuel comming from the exhaust or the intake... then the fuel injectors are working.

5) next possibility is that the feul is contaminated with water. Water may have enters throug hthe venting or overflow system. You will rpobably need ot drain the fuel tank and rinse it with thoruoughly with more gasiline to remove and water or dirt. Don;t forget to purge the fuel line also and CHANGE THE FUEL FILTER

Thanks guys for coming back to me... It sure has a few problems but I'm very confident that I can work them out over time. Your ideas are being taken and used by me on each item that I find "bad". The ECM unit was shipped to a repair depot to be checked out and recovered if viable.... Thanks for the help, Jim.

Hello gang, just a short followup to my original one, sent the ECM to a rebuilder in Florida, got the repaired unit back and ALL the problems are fixed... no checklight, no trouble codes, perfect. Engine started correctly and runs great! I did have to replace the heater-blower-motor unit but that was taken care of... Car runs great! Jim...