Hurricane Chantal Tried to Kill My 80 Series....What Now?

[Mdej3]

Put it in rice

 

[Mdej3]

Jokes aside, I had one of my 80s buried in Florida mudwater with alligator piss up to the headliner. Did the same, clean it all, took spark plugs out, ran fluid clean all around, dropped the pan, cleaned, and She is still rolling around.

 

[Batameez]

If you pulled the seats out you could try to revive the foam by snipping off all the hog rings and giving it a wash, the foam definitely holds stink. Worth the effort? IDK. Does it really matter to you if insurance totals it out? If you're keeping it then the value of it doesn't mean jack, it just has to be nice for you.

 

[Kernal]

Push it out in the sun with the doors and hatch/lift-gate open??
If you remove the door panels do it very carefully as the pressed Masonite panels will be punky and the plastic rivets may end up tearing out chunks of the panel Might be safer to leave them in place while they dry???

 

[Broski]

Man, sorry for you troubles
You have your work cut out for you. If I was closer I would lend a hand.
Do you havea local Cruiser Club you could reach out to and offer Pizza and Beer to help save a Cruiser?
Cruiser Heads are some of the most helpful, generous people that I have met.

 

[MissahPapaJ]

This is good suggestion. Humidity is a big problem. The longer stuff stays damp or wet, the less recoverable it is.

Using an ozone generator machine in the vehicle could also help keep mildew at bay.

A big dehumidifier suitable for a basement or garage is around $350-400 from Lowe's, Home Depot etc.
Bought one for a work project recently.
They need to be emptied daily, or set up with a drain hose.

I used a small one inside my current 80 when it was stored in a damp basement garage situation. (IH8ApartmentBuildingBasementGarages!)
Kept my 80 toasty warm and dry inside. And still pulled a surprising amount of water each day.

Once I had a Volvo C30 come through my shop after some window beating rain that had about 3 inches of water in the foot wells front and rear due to clogged sun roof drains, I wet vac’d out the carpet as best as possible but I wasn’t gonna spend the time pulling out the entire interior and carpet. I parked the car in the sun with the windows cracked the with of a pencil and ran the car with the heat on floor/vent for many hours had a pen style thermometer stuck in the crack in the window and it was 155 degrees in the cab, that car was drier than Hillary Clinton’s ………

 

[john0089]

Life got in the way and I had to pause on the cruiser progress for a while. I l let everything sit and dry out for the rest of 2025. I've been keeping up with the listings on Marketplace for other 1997 40th Anniversary editions in Antique Sage Pearl. They are few and far between. Finally stumbled across one in TN with less than 200k miles on it. It's a one owner cruiser with a failed head gasket and milkshake oil. Interior is in good shape (even the original drivers seat). Picked it up planning on using some of the computers and electronics to get mine back on the road.

I put all the modules back together for my cruiser and wouldn't you know that thing fired right up. Running on all the original electronics, didn't even need anything from the donor car. Keep in mind, this thing sat completely under water for over 18 hours with the battery still connected. There is debris in the sunroof track. I'm stunned. Still a long way to go to get it back to where it was, but truly an amazing machine!

 

[60 toy ota]

Nice update!! Were all the connectors sitting open during this time?
New battery, surely?
Have you tested all the electronic functions?
Looking forward to more updates

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

That’s awesome testament to you staying on it and the build quality of these trucks. One more story to put in its memory book so you never sell it!!! Blessings and good thoughts your way!

 

[john0089]

Nice update!! Were all the connectors sitting open during this time?
New battery, surely?
Have you tested all the electronic functions?
Looking forward to more updates

Yes the spark plugs were out for quite some time. I disconnected what I could in the engine compartment and left some of the water tight connections alone as the plastic is pretty brittle. After I changed the oil I would periodically fog the cylinders and jump the starter motor to turn the engine over. The distributor cap was off and I had cleaned all the connections. I pulled every fuse and relay. The fusible link connected to the battery seems to have done its job. I have replaced that pigtail. I swapped out the heavy gauge wire running from the battery to the starter as it was crunchy and corroded pretty bad. Even the interior door lights and dome light came back to life. The windows don't roll down and I still need to take apart the doors and sort all that out.

I plan on pulling off the valve cover next and inspecting whatever else I can see (It could use a valve cover gasket anyways). I've changed the oil 3 times but the river water was full of sediment and I'm still seeing some dirt in the oil. I'd love to pull the oil pan but from what I can tell that could open up a whole other can of worms.

Transmission seems to shift fine but I'm going to drain the ATF again and inspect. Not sure how much water found its way into the torque converter and everything else inside there.

Now that I have bought the exact same rig, not sure if that makes me a hoarder. But it will make things much easier when trying to get the interior back together figuring out what goes where.

 

[60 toy ota]

Land cruisers get lonely if they don't have a playmate, You're just being a good owner.