[gupower4.2]

I own a nissan patrol cab chassis 2006 gu 4.2lt turbo diesel with only 93000kms on her unfurtunatly she got flooded 2 weeks ago when victoria got flooded i went out to retrieve my car and ended up driving into deeper water and got stuck and it took in water.
Water came up under steering wheel and the motor had turned itself off. The car was sitting in the water for half an hour until my mate towed me out.

The car then got towed to my mechanic and he removed the intercooler and glow plugs and kicked the motor over with water coming out of the engine like a water fountain and atleast 50 litres of black water came out of the exhaust.

We put everything back together and she kicked over and ran fine but with a tickin noise from the engine. My mechanic then did an engine flush and changed oils in the motor and gear box. Very little water was in motor oil and in gear box. That tickin noise then seemed to have gone away after starting the car again.

Alot of the electrics in the car are stuffed had to get a new ecu and needs other moduls and basicly needs an auto electric guy to come n sus it all out. The engine light stays on the the glow light stays on and the rpm gauge doesnt work and who knows wat els.

My mechanic told me to go through insurence as i have full comp to see if they can repair the car. We havnt done a compression test on motor so im not sure if its stuffed but all i know is that all the electrics on the car is possibly stuffed.

My insurence has written the car off but as a repairable ride off. They have offered me $15000 to buy the car back, i then have $20000 to do all of the necassary repairs.

My big Questions are:
Do i buy the car back or not?
Will i have any other problems with it further down the track?
Has anyone els gone through this situation?
Who can i trust to do the repairs and not rip me off.

I dont really know wat to do, the car means everything to me its my work car and daily and i dont know if i can trust any mechanic to repair it coss they would just want to make money off me.

I need peoples advice and any experience through this **** situatuion

Thanks

 

[dawsey]

how have you arrived at the $20000 repair bill estimate what exactly does it need ?

 

[GU Bundy]

gu Power,
I am saddened by the unfortunate situation you are in.
First Q, do not accept the insurance companies first offer. dig in.... I mean Dig in hard!!!!! and ask for more, they will generally come to the party on this, ( assuming you haven't done this yet)
2/ I note you are Melbourne based. Ring around auto electricians, mechanics and wreckers and get a few quotes in. (do not mention Insurance companies are involved and get fix prices. at least 3

3/ I would fix it based on your post.
4/ What year is your car? Is it still with you or have insurance taken it? Can you post pic?
5/ It maybe better after you have got the above to haggle the insurance to get the car cheaper( if you buy back), then armed with all the above info follow your car to the Auctions and bid for it there ( if all else fails)
6/
If your payout figure for the car is at the right price( after you haggle) then remove all your Bolton accessories, and simply get a new one. Less work involved if not savy or fussed about doing stuff yourself.

There are many options available( too many to type) but I would suggest you consider the above first as there is not much info in your post about the car prior to flood.
Hope this helps you out abit.
PM me I am happy to talk to you over the phone to discuss your option if you like. I am not a vendor or mechanic... "...just been around many a roads less travelled!"

 

[Jacket_1985]

sounds like you might have bent a conrod, which means engine rebuild. elec issues are nothing to worry about on a td42, (got me stuffed why you need a new ECU. . . . it will run perfectly without it even connected.)

if it runs and drives fine tho, 15k for an 06troll with less than 100,000kays and a few elec gremlins is a bargain!(i assume they have offered you 35,000 payout.)

 

[Danny40]

how have you arrived at the $20000 repair bill estimate what exactly does it need ?

He hasn't and that's what he is asking? Obviously his car is insured for $35,000, insurance company is asking for $15,000 to buy the car back or $35,000 pay out. So at the end of the day if he takes that offer will be left with his patrol and $20,000 in hand.

 

[GU Bundy]

Just did a quick search to see what you can get one for on carsales with simmilar or less K's
Have a look it may help crystalise which way to go and help with getting good money from Insurance when you haggle... haggle... haggel...

Strart at $29,990 80K km main screan
2006 NISSAN PATROL Cars For Sale - carsales.com.au - carsales.com.au

$41K 84K km – Has the works on it but exi I think
2006 NISSAN PATROL DX GU II Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au 1247 1252 1282 4294963358 4294963846 937 245 1560 608 1650&SearchAction=N&silo=1011&__No=30&seot=1&__Nne=15&trecs=34&__sid=12CADB7BAD20

 

[alan gould]

If it were to have your patrol back and 20k in hand, then i would sell the motor and box and put that money with the 20k and put a duramax conversion. New 6.6 and box would solve ya prob. I know what i would be doing.

 

[Hushta]

I drowned my safari in a small puddle. I was lucky, i turned off engine soon and repaired it easy (cleaned nozzles and etc.), but besides this started such problems:
1st: damaged TCU (automatic computer)
2nd: damaged glow plug computer.
+ bearings.
Fortunately a friend of mine (good electrician) repaired everything for me.

So, think about future problems..

 

[gupower4.2]

sounds like you might have bent a conrod, which means engine rebuild. elec issues are nothing to worry about on a td42, (got me stuffed why you need a new ECU. . . . it will run perfectly without it even connected.)

if it runs and drives fine tho, 15k for an 06troll with less than 100,000kays and a few elec gremlins is a bargain!(i assume they have offered you 35,000 payout.)

Yeh they are offering me $35,000

 

[gupower4.2]

gu Power,
I am saddened by the unfortunate situation you are in.
First Q, do not accept the insurance companies first offer. dig in.... I mean Dig in hard!!!!! and ask for more, they will generally come to the party on this, ( assuming you haven't done this yet)
2/ I note you are Melbourne based. Ring around auto electricians, mechanics and wreckers and get a few quotes in. (do not mention Insurance companies are involved and get fix prices. at least 3

3/ I would fix it based on your post.
4/ What year is your car? Is it still with you or have insurance taken it? Can you post pic?
5/ It maybe better after you have got the above to haggle the insurance to get the car cheaper( if you buy back), then armed with all the above info follow your car to the Auctions and bid for it there ( if all else fails)
6/
If your payout figure for the car is at the right price( after you haggle) then remove all your Bolton accessories, and simply get a new one. Less work involved if not savy or fussed about doing stuff yourself.

There are many options available( too many to type) but I would suggest you consider the above first as there is not much info in your post about the car prior to flood.
Hope this helps you out abit.
PM me I am happy to talk to you over the phone to discuss your option if you like. I am not a vendor or mechanic... "...just been around many a roads less travelled!"

The insurence company have got it my car, my car looked like the second carsales pic u put up. Im just worried that if i do buy it back ill have to many problems in the future. The car is an 06 model I need somone to come with me to see the car and do a compression test on it.

 

[easys4.2gq]

I would look around and get some prices of comparable vehicles and then hit the insurance up for more $$
As said before don't settle for their initial offer!

 

[gupower4.2]

I drowned my safari in a small puddle. I was lucky, i turned off engine soon and repaired it easy (cleaned nozzles and etc.), but besides this started such problems:
1st: damaged TCU (automatic computer)
2nd: damaged glow plug computer.
+ bearings.
Fortunately a friend of mine (good electrician) repaired everything for me.

So, think about future problems..

Yeh the future problems is wats concerning me the most, most people are telling me to buy the car back but my family and my brother whos an apprentice mechanic who worked on the car with my mechanic are both telling me to not buy it back at all, like not to even consider it.

 

[gupower4.2]

sounds like you might have bent a conrod, which means engine rebuild. elec issues are nothing to worry about on a td42, (got me stuffed why you need a new ECU. . . . it will run perfectly without it even connected.)

if it runs and drives fine tho, 15k for an 06troll with less than 100,000kays and a few elec gremlins is a bargain!(i assume they have offered you 35,000 payout.)

Water got into the ecu and its fried so i have already got a second one, the glow light stays on the rpm gauge doesnt work and engine light stays on and der might be other problems.

Wat other problems could i have down the track if i got engine rebuilt and elec issure sorted out.?

 

[gupower4.2]

I need somone who has a diesel engine compression tester to come with me to do this test. It will have a better idea on wat to do.

 

[dawsey]

i would ask my mechanic why he is so against you buying it back . he does not have anything to gain by giving you bad advice. but i will say this who ever buys it for $15000 plus will not be wrecking it ,they will by it to fix. to make money or save money.

 

[chunks]

A TD42 GU is a fairly basic vehicle, there aren't that many electrics to start with. I would be getting a compression test done before making any decisions though. If the motor is cactus then things could get very expensive, if it's fine then you're laughing with the 20k to spend on repairs and mods.

 

[Zoltan]

i would ask my mechanic why he is so against you buying it back . he does not have anything to gain by giving you bad advice. but i will say this who ever buys it for $15000 plus will not be wrecking it ,they will by it to fix. to make money or save money.

That's what I did.

it doesn't seem to be a great big deal fixing all those parts. You would still be ahead & pocket some cash.

 

[Jacket_1985]

hey bud, i didn't recognize you're username. . . . . haha, drowning is no good, iv done it a few times myself. . .

im pretty sure your "ecu" has nothing to do with your rev counter not working, and im positive you can literally cut it off and your car will be fine. my wagon didn't even have an ecu. . . . from factory. same motor and turbo setup you have.

worst damage to mine as far as cost apart from the new motor was a new alternator. if they are offering you your car back and 20k, and it doesn't need a engine rebuild. . . . KEEP IT!

 

[zoom0001]

check the compression, if good buy for 15K and pocket the 20K. Electrics on these things are simple. If you pull out the cluster and take it down to speedo joint, they will check it out for you for a few hundred.

You will need an ECU for the pump to operate correctly... mind you the vehicle should run without it. Even if you spend 2K getting everything perfect, it is a cheap truck for the age and km's. Yes it will be flagged as a repairable write off.. that's nothing to worry about. Anything water or electrical related seems to be written off now days... doesn't mean it's not worth fixing.

 

[GU Duke]

Are there any potential future insurance or rego limitations for a repairable write off? I'd suspect that it would be flagged on any 'REVS' type check and the rego paperwork, so I'd expect resale value to take a fair hit even if you repaired it to good as new condition.