How To Fix A Flood Damaged Porsche

Well, the title says it all. Not sure how this is going to play out, but here goes nothing... The Car: 2011 911 4S, 997.2 PDK , Sport Chrono , 14k miles, 1 previous owner. History: Insurance salvage due to fresh water flood (so I was told) Bought out of a New York auction. At time of auction car did not run but some modules were active. A dealer/broker here in California bought the car and had her shipped here. He had her detailed and then had a few of his "expert" friends attempt to get her running. They did detail her pretty well, not to Porsche standards but well enough to look more than presentable. Their diagnostic capabilities leave a bit to be desired so that is where we shall begin. First Impressions: Paint: All original paint, not a scratch on her, absolutely flawless exterior. No indication of water having been inside the headlight or taillight assemblies. Interior: No unusual interior odor. My opinion is: no water entered the cabin during the flood. Perhaps after the rains a window was left down and during storage she was exposed to a dusty environment. I state this because she does have dust in unusual places and it is not deposited in a manner consistent with a flood damaged vehicle. Frunk did take on water, at least 4-inches deep. Brake master cylinder was not submerged. Looks as though the headlight module in the lowest section of the frunk was replaced with a good used one. Engine: Did not run when she arrived in SoCal. Broker drained the engine oil. Approximately 1 pint of fresh water drained from the sump prior to oil flow. Appears engine was not run with oil in sump. Water was not blended with the oil. Power steering and engine coolant reservoirs have no water. Coolant remains at standard high fill mark. Previous installed a used engine control module (same part number) and engine ran for him. A bit of valve clatter and some uneven injector noise but not unusual for a DI car that has sitting. Transaxle: I will be draining that today for fluid exchange. Diagnostic Codes: OH, let's see... about a hundred, no exaggeration there ! Many are probably from the battery going completely dead and then shade tree mechanics unplugging connectors. I'll note all of them and then begin erasing codes in each module, probably two or three rounds of that before we're going to see accurate fault codes. Next Phase: Reset all the modules with resettable parameters ie window stops, stering angle, throttle learn etc. Follow along, I'll probably do a video series.

Welcome to Planet-9.. A suggestion - for photos, illustrations, etc.. please embed them in the page, don't make them attachments. With attachments, people have to leave the thread to view the images, making it impossible for you to comment on each image (below or above the image.) I'd suggest resizing them to 1024 pixels horizontally, and letting the vertical fall where it does. You can then (assuming a Windows machine) copy them from whatever you use to resize them (I'd suggest freeware - Irfanview) and simply paste them on the page. OK - on the general issue of flood cars.. it seems odd the engine had water in the oil if the vehicle wasn't flooded past the cabin floor (it sounds as if that was what you described.) The best thing you can do is find every electrical connector that possibly could have gotten wet, disconnect it, clean it, and then use some non-conductive (dielectric) grease to seal the connector as you reconnect it. I would also suggest a complete fluid change. Then I'd clear all the codes (after recording them) and see which ones (if any) reappear. You also may want to unwrap the cloth tape Porsche uses for bundle wiring for any that goes through the lower part of the cabin. Porsche has been known to bury junctions and splices in that wiring, and it may not be visible unto you can pull the wires apart far enough to see all of them. On other models these junctions have been known to corrode internally, causing a shower of warning lights and stored codes. If some of the issues are in the CAN-Buss system, that can cause error codes in modules that really weren't remotely connected with the failed modules. Once all these issues found were corrected - a clear/read again of the codes is in order. Mechanically - things like suspension boots should be examined for water intrusion. The wheel bearings should at least get a spin test, or better - remove and regrease or replace. I realize you quite likely already have considered all of this - but for others who may find this thread, that gets them to a basic start in troubleshooting. Looks like this will be a very interesting thread..

Good luck with this one.

It looks quite nice in the pics! Please keep us posted on your progress.

LOL, well, everyone needs a hobby. Welcome and good luck with the project. She looks great even if she's still kinda soggy. Once you get her sorted I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience. Again, welcome!

Wow I’m REALLY going to be interested to follow this thread. As a retired person with time and in reasonable physical shape, I’ve sometimes considered taking on a project like this. Unfortunately I don’t have an auto oriented resume, so the level of complexity has always scared me off. I feel like I’d need a partner in crime! Anyways it will be cool to follow along. Good luck!!

Its not just auto mechanical ability. The biggest problem with a flood-damaged car is all the electrical/electronic issues. They are hard (and expensive) to diagnose and you can't just replace parts since many need to be coded to work with the ECU .

Following up with a walk around and start up video. Spoiler Alert: To head off a barrage of assumptions, a future video will address the valve train clatter. I know everyone, especially Porsche owners get sick to their stomachs when they hear engine clattering. But this noise turns out to be a "normal" indicator of the engine's computer not communicating with other computers (a network issue, caused by the water). The tip off is the low oil pressure reading on the gauge.

There was a guy on here several years ago who went by the Voyager6 moniker. He ran into some health issues. Not sure if he passed away, or just dropped off the forum. Anyway, he did a flood restoration of a 981 Boxster . You might find some of his posts helpful for your journey.

A few new modules installed ( Bose amp , rear body module, front lighting module [I don't have a way of coding these new modules yet] [researching PIWIS to order]) majority of codes cleared. Next up TPM module and I think a switch to oem carbon seats instead of replacing the modules and or switching that are off line in these seats.

Inching closer, cleared another half dozen low input voltage codes with $90 worth of ATC fuses.

Well, we know the water got up as high as the fusebox.. do you have a subscription to AllDataDIY? The latest one I got for my '09 987.2 has great color-coded diagrams now - obviously, they did them, they're much easier to make sense of than the factory diagrams (which they also have as part of the subscription.) And do you have a component locator chart? I'm not familiar with the AllData offering for a 911 , but the component (electronic) locator chart is really useful, as is the drawing showing where all the grounds fasten to the chassis. If you don't have AllData , they sent me a discount code - ping me and I'll find it and pass it on. I did post one here a while back, but I don't know if that one is still valid. Oh - the reason I asked about the AllData is - there are relays and such behind that side panel on my 987, and ones up above the pedals. The ones behind the panel if the 911 is the same as the 987 almost surely were flooded and probably trash. At a minimum, they should be removed, opened up, cleaned, and reinstalled. Or replaced. From Porsche , they're usually horribly expensive, but in my experience, I'm always I've usually been able to find compatible aftermarket by using the actual manufacturer's PN, or matching up the wiring diagram on the relay to relay diagrams on line.

Identified quite a few water damaged modules and learned that water damaged modules are not exclusive to flood cars and the wiring connectors are generally not an issue. Thinking that its down to a few common circuits shared among modules on the network.

A picture or two is probably the best way to understand how a low water line flood car can appear to have been submerged. This 997 was reported to have been flooded to the rocker box. But then the insurance companies auction houses open the cars and with a high pressure spray washer they apply an anti-fungal mold inhibitor, completely soaking the interior and possibly doing more damage then the flood water !

Hi, I notice in your video you are replacing the PASM Damptronic suspension controller. Would you be able to post photos of your damaged board? ... especially interested in finding microcontroller chip is used. Good luck with the restoration!

I recently sold a 996 after 7 years of blissful ownership. I was looking at some early 997's that weren't too much more and came across this car. The car is being sold by the insurance company at a salvage auction. I know it is listed as flood damaged and have thinking about getting an inspection. From the pictures it doesn't look like the typical flood damage where the interior was clearly flooded. I know there can be many hidden problems but if this car can be taken at a reasonable price (less than 50% of retail) do you think this would be worth the risk, and would there be any additional concerns versus the standard issues when dealing with a flood damaged car?

@ The Dictator seems to have gone quiet on us - his last post in this thread is above - March 2023, and his last visit to Planet-9 was September 2023. I'm hoping it wasn't something anyone said, but reviewing the replies they were generally quite positive for the project he was undertaking, so I don't think it was that. Anyone have any ideas? I may reach out directly to him and see if I can get a response, and an update on how this project was coming along.

My 2019 Porsche Cayman 718 with 33,000 miles on the motor. Was in the FL Milton storm. And I need to find the right person. That has the time and money to fix it. Please text me at [phone removed]. My name is Tyler. I'll sell it for cheap. Let me know ASAP if your interested. Thanks 👍

How deep water? How long was it wet? Has anything been done since? What is cheap?