[mechanickeith]

Was at work early this morning. Started to rain a bit. Then started to rain a lot!!! HARD!!! After well over 2 hours of hard rain,,,, the call came in at 10:30 to shut everything down & go home. (hard to weld in the pouring rain). Got out of the shop at 11 am still raining. Run out to the car, parked at the curb in the street, to find over 2 feet deep of water running down the road!!! Waided out to the car to realise I had left the drivers window down about an inch. The water had come in & was up to the top of the bucket seat bottom. There was water dripping off the bottom of the dash, off of the inside mirror,,,everywhere!!!! One of the guys I work with used his truck to push me to high ground in a local parking lot. I started messin with the car. Pulled the front floor carpet up & pulled the drain plugs to let some water out. I put in the ignition key & turnd it,,,NOTHING!! After many hours of wiping & sponging, a lot of the water is out. Still lots to go.

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon, sun setting. I put a jumper wire from the battery positive to the coil & electric fuel pump. Jumped the starter & she fired right up!! I drove home in the rain with no electrics at all. Nothing is working. No headlights, wipers, brake lights, nothing. I dont have fuses to blow out. I had replaced them with circuit breakers. So, I lost something major in the electrics. Took me over 2 hours to get home on a usual 30 min. drive. Barelyy had brakes from all the water. I drove around the block several times with my foot on the brakes to dry them out some before heading out. Right now the Tempest is backed in the driveway still dripping water!! I have a small electric heater sitting on a paving stone in the floor of the driver side blowing warm air up under the dash. Windows are cracked just a bit. Am going to go out avary couple of hours & check on her. Hope I can revive a drowned car!!! We will see. Guess I will have to take a cab to work tomorrow!!

PS,,, I did try the wipers while driving home,,,Got quite a tingle on my finger when I touched the switch!! Hope O'l Betsy is just in a temperary coma & will snap out of it real soon!!

[TempestFugit]

Oh no! What a mess that is. Hope you get a nice hot spell to cook all of that wet out of there before it starts to mold & mildew.

[mechanickeith]

Weather reports are saying back up to 109 on thursday/friday. I dont see it. I did get under the car & crack loose the trans fill tube. Only atf came out. Didnt see any water in it. Hope all is ok mechanically. Still need to dry her out & check for the electric issues. I turnd up the heat a bit on the floor heater. Now quite warm in the car. Going to go recheck in a bit.

[twooldgoats]

Good luck with that, Keith. It sounds like a mess. You could use a return of the usual hot, dry Phoenix weather.

Jim

[Shinanigins XD]

Originally Posted by mechanickeith

Weather reports are saying back up to 109 on thursday/friday. I dont see it. I did get under the car & crack loose the trans fill tube. Only atf came out. Didnt see any water in it. Hope all is ok mechanically. Still need to dry her out & check for the electric issues. I turnd up the heat a bit on the floor heater. Now quite warm in the car. Going to go recheck in a bit.

Phoenix is just full of bad luck for these cars Keith, I'm telling ya!

[mechanickeith]

Originally Posted by twooldgoats

Good luck with that, Keith. It sounds like a mess. You could use a return of the usual hot, dry Phoenix weather.

Jim

Hope so Jim!! I could roll all the windows down, open the doors & let her bake for a couple of days!!! That would do it!! Hope the weather reports are right!

[mechanickeith]

I just checked a couple of local weather stations. The Deer Valley airport right by my work recorded over 2" of rain an hour today!!! WOW!!!

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by mechanickeith

Weather reports are saying back up to 109 on thursday/friday. I dont see it. I did get under the car & crack loose the trans fill tube. Only atf came out. Didnt see any water in it. Hope all is ok mechanically. Still need to dry her out & check for the electric issues. I turnd up the heat a bit on the floor heater. Now quite warm in the car. Going to go recheck in a bit.

Sorry to hear about your Tempest Keith. Hope it drys out or you have an extra dash & intermediate harness if it comes to swapping them out.

Personally hope your weatherman's off a little. Son's showcase team along with 64 others are playing at several of the Spring training complex's on west side of Phoenix Friday, Sat, Sunday with semi's & finals on Monday. A bunch of college coaches & scouts that will have to be out in it all day as well. The kid has played in 102 this summer but not 109-110.

[mechanickeith]

Reports have been changing every hour!! Now most are saying 102-103-104 for friday, saturday, sunday in that order! 3 days of those temps should dry her out. Still need to find the electrical issues.

[ahnuld]

Hopefully it's an easy fix, blow out that ignition switch, that's my first guess. Dan

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by mechanickeith

Reports have been changing every hour!! Now most are saying 102-103-104 for friday, saturday, sunday in that order! 3 days of those temps should dry her out. Still need to find the electrical issues.

Thanks for the update Keith.
Only the best to you in getting the Tempest running again.

[elefantrider]

Sucks but at least you know it will fully dry out quickly in Phoenix.

I always carry a can of "Water displacement 40" (WD-40) ever since I stalled in a torrential rain in L.A. in an old MG. Popped off the distributor cap, sprayed WD-40 in and she started back up.

[Txbobcat]

So sorry for your situation. I bet you get it fixed soon.

[hootsk]

Keith, up here in Seattle that happens to the best of us about twice a year, and we don't have the heat you have to dry out. Sounds like you mimicked the protocol perfectly. She'll be fine. I predict a full recovery.

Chuck
Sea Town, Wash.

[Poncho-V]

Wow, Keith, that is not good. Hope all turns out well.

[mechanickeith]

Time for an update,,,, Have only had a few hours sleep since the car got soaked!! I ran the heater all night monday & tuesday. Have it running now. I replaced the ignition switch & finally got the oil light to come on with the key on. Car starts & runs. Drained & refilled the trans again. I drove it to work on Tuesday with no lights or turn signals. Today after headlight sw. replacement, I have headlights & markers. Still no turn signals. Was a warm day today so all the windows were down & doors open all day. Much dryer in the car. I ran the shop vac several times through the car to try & suck out anything I could. Dont know if it helped or not. Temps are susposed to be back well above 100 through the weekend. If it is, I think that will halp a bunch!! I pulled off the arm rests & pulled out the back seat to mop up any water under there. Was very wet under the back seat. Cleaned everything out of the trunk. Forgot how much stuff I carried in there!! Differential didnt appear to have any water in it but the trans looked like a strawberry milk shake yesterday. I am going to change the fluid every day to flush it out. Funny,,,my transmission "whine" is allmost gone!! Have to really listen to hear it. Going to bed now. Have to be at work early in the am. Official rainfall at work was 2.58" of rain in one hour!

[sdbob]

Glad everything is working out. I can't imagine that flooding-yuk. Maybe park in higher area in parking lot-just saying. Also that pic of TA you showed me might be an option. good luck.'Old Betsy' won't let you down.

[mechanickeith]

Well,, here is the latest. Car has many gremlins. Not charging right. Still have intermitant dash lights. Light in the tach came back on but tach is hot to the touch. Will probably have to replace it. Still has moisture in the gages under the dash. After lots of scrubbing & fabreeze, the interior doesnt smell toobad actually! After many flushes, the trans seems to be doing ok. Fluid is finally nice & red instead of pink. Shifting ok. Still have a ways to go before I am comfortable driving it every day again.

[TempestFugit]

Damn. All that aggravation from a storm.

On the plus side, most newer cars would be scrap after that episode.

[twooldgoats]

Intermittent problems are the worst. It's too bad we tend to get our annual rain on just a couple of days every year.

Jim