I have another question rattling around in a different part of the forum regarding my other Magna but this question is a doozy.

My TJ Solara was caught in recent flooding and the water crossed through the door seals. The water reached the height of the scuff plates (filling the footwells to about 8cm in depth) but went no further (thank God!). The ECU and dash were untouched. After the flood I contacted the dealer from whom I purchased the car when it was new way back when. The service manager told me that once the water was extracted and the car was dry I needn't worry as the Magnas are well protected against rust. Then he gave me this "dry out" recipe which I followed to the letter:

1/ Drop some Pine-O-Clean in each footwell (about half a glass) to kill the heeby jeebies. Leave the stuff for twenty minutes. Use a wet/dry vac and get as much water out as possible.

2/ Hire a supermarket steam cleaner outfit and use the unit to suck out the rest of the water plus the steam will help disinfect the carpets.

3/ Put one bag of silica kitty litter in each footwell and then leave the car in the sun to dry with the windows open. Vacuum out the silica kitty litter after a day and continue to dry until no apparent dampness is felt in the carpets.

I did all of that and the car dried out quickly with no obvious ill effects. No wiring problems, no stink.

My question is do you think that the car will rust out or will it, as the service manager said, be quite okay? I'd hate to sell the car. She's my baby and she's only done 34,000k.

my car had wet carpet for 6 months. no sign of rust anywhere when i change the carpet and found the leak. they are really really good with rust these cars

my car had wet carpet for 6 months. no sign of rust anywhere when i change the carpet and found the leak. they are really really good with rust these cars

Thanks, bellto. That's what the service manager said. He claimed that because the Diamante (American Magna made here) had to withstand salted roads during US winters, the anti-rust treatment in Magnas was really excellent and robust.

Sorry to hear about your experience but the advice you posted is great well done. The only thing I'd check still is the bottom of the door cards as they may have soaked up some water as well and inside the doors to see if there is any mud left behind, give it a clean and treat with fishoil and it should all be good.

Mate, being fresh water you will be fine, the only part that will be affected are in under the carpet against the tunnel are some metal brackets, being internal they are bare metal. Replace these (I can give you a pair for free as I have plenty here) and aside from this you will be fine. These do go down to floor level and even a dirty finger print on these will cause rust so best to these now before they come an issue

As for the rest, I have cut up so many magna's I do not care to think about, the protective coatings internally in these cars was amazing so no issues at all

Mate, being fresh water you will be fine, the only part that will be affected are in under the carpet against the tunnel are some metal brackets, being internal they are bare metal. Replace these (I can give you a pair for free as I have plenty here) and aside from this you will be fine. These do go down to floor level and even a dirty finger print on these will cause rust so best to these now before they come an issue

As for the rest, I have cut up so many magna's I do not care to think about, the protective coatings internally in these cars was amazing so no issues at all

I knew only really good blokes drove Magnas...this post proves it!

Madmagna, I've really checked under the seats and the doors very thoroughly and can see no rust on bare metal fittings. I was very quick in getting the water out using the system I outlined above, plus I used a couple of those cupboard/room dehumidifiers you can buy from Coles for getting damp out of small rooms. I also sprayed a bit of WD40 on the lower seat springs, just in case.

I love this car...as I wrote above, she's only done 34,000K since new and there's not a blemish or ding on her pristine Riversand duco. She's like new...just like she's come from the showroom. Being a Solara she's fitted out similarly to that year's base Verada...even down to the four stacker in-dash cd player.

After the flood incident my brother tried to convince me to trade the Solara in on a 2005 Nissan Murano with 31,000K on the clock. But the dealer offered me $5000 trade-in for the car!!! So I politely told him to keep the Murano. Oh...he was full of excuses..."That's the wholesale value of the car." etc...etc... But another bloke checking out cars in the yard at the same time told me to keep the Magna. "Mate, it's a new car...they'll sell it in the yard for ten grand...don't be silly!" My missus wants me to trade in her TS wagon (v6 exec) and the Solara and buy a Captiva for the whole family to use. Me, I'm the meat in the sandwich!!!

The plates are actually under the carpet along the tunnel, they hold the carpet up, if you lift back your carpet on the pass side you will see what I am talking about.

Check these plates just to be 100%

The plates are actually under the carpet along the tunnel, they hold the carpet up, if you lift back your carpet on the pass side you will see what I am talking about.

Check these plates just to be 100%

I'll do that this weekend. Thanks for all your advice. BTW, is it true that Mitsu V6 motors are "free-spinners" in that when the cam belt breaks the motor just stops, nothing breaks in the upper motor???

I'll do that this weekend. Thanks for all your advice. BTW, is it true that Mitsu V6 motors are "free-spinners" in that when the cam belt breaks the motor just stops, nothing breaks in the upper motor???

unfortunately there not a free spinning engine, if thee belt breaks its bye bye valves

only the older 12v v6 on the tr ts are free spinning, so if the cam belt breaks on them, you can normally just put another one on and away you go.

only the older 12v v6 on the tr ts are free spinning, so if the cam belt breaks on them, you can normally just put another one on and away you go.

Umm sorry but definately no, these are also interferance engines so they will bend valves

Thanks for the correction. i thought the interference on the tr/ts was very close, so if you could be lucky and get away without bent valves. i know i snapped a belt in a hyundai g6at and had no trouble with bent valves. Ive more worked more on the sohc 3000gt/gto and thats is definately non interference.

Sorry again to dissapoint, but all the 6G series as well as the 6A series are interferance, in fact off the top of my head I can not think of any Mits engines that are not interferance, most of the 4cyl I can think of are, all of the 6cyl are also interferance

As the 3000 uses the 6G72, yes it is interferance. You may have more forgiveness in how far you can get a cam to rotate towards a valve hitting a piston but it will hit

only the older 12v v6 on the tr ts are free spinning, so if the cam belt breaks on them, you can normally just put another one on and away you go.

Funny that. When I changed the cam belt on my 12v 3.0L TS engine the front cam slipped while the belt was off and there was the easily recognisable clunk of valve-on-piston contact. No harm done though.