Re: GLX woes (long)

["Benjamin W. Stein" <bstein@medill.net>]

Craig,

The car is 100% stock, not a thing has been done to it.

On the water damage on the interior, that was perhaps the most amazing thing,
the car stayed completely sealed.  We never got out and the water never got
in.

Ben

"Squier, Craig" wrote:

> Just an odd question....
> Do you have a modified intake system? Or are you using the
> factory one?
> Did you have water damage inside the car itself??
> I know the carpeting will probably smell like dead fish for a while...
> You should have you ins. co. spring for a professional detailing and
> interior/carpeting scrub/wash/shampoo to get it clean and fresh...
>
> Good luck with it, at least they are covering most of it.....
> just a wondering....
> -Cab
>
> > ----------
> > From:         Benjamin W. Stein[SMTP:bstein@medill.net]
> > Reply To:     jettaglx@igtc.com
> > Sent:         Thursday, July 08, 1999 10:30 PM
> > To:   jettaglx@igtc.com
> > Subject:      GLX woes (long)
> >
> > About three weeks ago on my way home from a Cubs game (when they were
> > still able to play) I was driving my '97 glx in the midst of a
> > torrential downpour.  I had just commented to my brother that the car
> > really handles foul weather well.  We turned onto a street with an
> > underpass and there was some water in the underpass, but it didn't look
> > like all that much so I drove on.  Needless to say it was more water
> > than it looked like, probably 18" or two feet.  The car made it about
> > two thirds of the way through and then died.  The rain kept falling and
> > the water kept rising eventually the water made it to about three inches
> > below the door handles, and then stopped rising on the car.  After the
> > first as*hole in an SUV drove past we realized it stopped rising because
> > the car started floating.  Eventually we got towed out.  The car won't
> > start, so we push it to the side of the road.  We then notice that all
> > the idiots in the SUVs who came roaring past us hit the submerged curb.
> > Four of them were by the side of the road changing their right front
> > tires.
> >
> > About four hours later we went back and tried starting the car again.
> > Eventually it kicks over, sounds like an inboard motor on a boat, and
> > spits our literally gallons of water from the exhaust system.  But now
> > the car has a ticking sound to it.  I take it to my mechanic, who
> > listens to it and basically says, "you're screwed call your insurance
> > company."  I do, they go look at it tell my mechanic to do what he needs
> > to fix it, they'll cover it (thank god).  He takes the engine apart,
> > finds the connecting rod on the number four piston is bent, "like a
> > pretzel", there is about a 15 degree bend in the connecting rod.  For
> > those of you that have not seen a connecting rod for a vr6, it is about
> > four or five inches long, three inches across and an inch thick, one
> > hell of a big piece of metal.  Turns out that water went in through the
> > air intake and was sucked into the cylinders, water doesn't compress
> > like air and presto, trashed engine.  The bent connecting rod drove the
> > piston into the cylinder wall digging a trough somewhere between 1/8"
> > and 1/4".
> >
> > They call the insurance company back who tells them to go ahead and fix
> > the engine.  The total bill is $3700.  The bad news now is that three
> > weeks after this happened they just got the piston today, evidently it
> > came from Stuttgart.
> >
> > I just want my car back.
> >
> > Ben
> >