Hurricane Harvey took my Civic downstream. Now attempting to revive.

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Willz

New Member
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Hey Guys,

I'm brand new here but have learned so much from all of you on this forum.

My 2012 Civic Coupe with manual transmission was swept away and COMPLETELY submerged. With no comprehensive insurance and very little money, I'm attempting to revive her despite all the naysayers that say it can't be done.

So far, I've drained the fuel tank, sucked the water out of the cylinders, put new oil in, new battery, and she actually started up. The amount of water that came out of the exhaust was unreal!

Anyway, here's where things get tricky. The car will idle but when you depress the gas pedal to floor, the car revs only about 100 rpm more than idle. No hesitation, just won't rev. The lights and turn signals work as does the passenger power window, but not much else. The dashboard is entirely blank other than the "Brake" light when the emergency brake is on. The car moves and brakes but since it won't rev, it can't move very fast.

Any thoughts on how you would proceed if you were me? I'd like to figure out first why the car won't rev up. Is it in limp mode? Is the throttle linkage merely stuck because of the debris in the engine bay? Is there even throttle linkage because I don't see it! ha! Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Will post pictures soon.

Thanks!
 
Willz said:
Hey Guys,

I'm brand new here but have learned so much from all of you on this forum.

My 2012 Civic Coupe with manual transmission was swept away and COMPLETELY submerged. With no comprehensive insurance and very little money, I'm attempting to revive her despite all the naysayers that say it can't be done.

So far, I've drained the fuel tank, sucked the water out of the cylinders, put new oil in, new battery, and she actually started up. The amount of water that came out of the exhaust was unreal!

Anyway, here's where things get tricky. The car will idle but when you depress the gas pedal to floor, the car revs only about 100 rpm more than idle. No hesitation, just won't rev. The lights and turn signals work as does the passenger power window, but not much else. The dashboard is entirely blank other than the "Brake" light when the emergency brake is on. The car moves and brakes but since it won't rev, it can't move very fast.

Any thoughts on how you would proceed if you were me? I'd like to figure out first why the car won't rev up. Is it in limp mode? Is the throttle linkage merely stuck because of the debris in the engine bay? Is there even throttle linkage because I don't see it! ha! Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Will post pictures soon.

Thanks!
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I'd check the throttle body, sounds like it might not be opening up all the way. Clean that out with some throttle body cleaner and check the TPS. Could be your issue

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The civic uses drive by wire sensors instead of a physical throttle cable.
 
webby said:
The civic uses drive by wire sensors instead of a physical throttle cable.
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Forgot to mention this in my original post, but yes. Hence why I would recommend checking the TPS and the actual throttle body.

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Great input, thank you both! I didn't even think about the throttle body being stuck. Had no idea it was a drive by wire throttle. I'll post some photos tomorrow.
 
Willz said:
Great input, thank you both! I didn't even think about the throttle body being stuck. Had no idea it was a drive by wire throttle. I'll post some photos tomorrow.
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No problem! Hope everything goes well, glad to hear that you were able to save your Civic!

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Holy cow man... good luck with that.

Might want to consider pulling apart every electrical connection you can find to make sure they dry out. Pull up all the carpet everywhere. I don't know how much of that sort of thing you've gotten to.
 
Nix said:
Holy cow man... good luck with that.

Might want to consider pulling apart every electrical connection you can find to make sure they dry out. Pull up all the carpet everywhere. I don't know how much of that sort of thing you've gotten to.
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This ^^^^

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The fact that you got it started at all is a huge plus. Keep it up. Hopefully the ecu is still acting right, but anything else I could think of was already mentioned above.

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IMG_9774.JPG IMG_9775.JPG

I haven't got to work on the car today, but tomorrow I plan to first clean the airbox more thoroughly, then the throttle body itself. Great advice on the electrical connections, thank you - will do that tomorrow as well - take every single one I can find apart, clean, and reconnect. I haven't pulled up the carpet or anything like that, I wanted to see if I could get the engine to start first. There is a very fine silt everywhere, so I can only imagine the places it's gotten into. I don't ever expect the car to be perfect again, but if I can get it to a point of basic transportation, I'd be thrilled. Will keep updating here as I go along.
 
This sounds like a dumb question, but you mentioned in the original post that it was completely submerged, was water up to the roof? Because in that first picture you attached, there is a visible water line in the middle of the passenger door. Knowing how deep the water your car was sitting in is very important in determining which modules could have been affected. Ive attached a screenshot with lines of where I believe the water line is. The fuses for all the dash and interior stuff are sitting in the drivers side footwell to the left side by the dead pedal. Id check the fuses there (AutoZone sells ATM LP Fuse testers for like 3 bucks, little green light indicates its good, no green light= no bueno) Behind the blower motor in the glove box resides the Electronic Power steering module too. Lets just hope that one was not affected (Hence why im stressing out over the WL) I had to have mine replaced (A fu***** weird set of events lead to mine shorting out over a little bit of water). While youre in there, id also recommend changing the cabin air filter and draining any water that could be in the blower motor before trying to run the AC. Good luck man! Please update us as much as possible!Capture.PNG
 
Was the water up to the windshield in the inside? It looks like the entire dash is covered in dirt. If water was in the inside at all, you really need to pull anything fabric/carpet out and get it cleaned asap. You could end up with some serious mold issues as a result.
 
Great thoughts and comments guys, thank you. The water was definitely over the lines drawn and like webby noted, the dirty silt is all over the dashboard. If you look at the bottom of the steering wheel in the pic, you'll see where I put my hand on it, the rest is covered with that fine silty dirt. The silt is all over the top of the engine too. When I moved the car, I did notice the power steering was not working. I sure hope this power steering module isn't going to cost too much. I didn't even think of mold, so yeah, I better get that carpet out tomorrow as well. The smell inside is of dirty swamp water, it's just horrible. I've been leaving the doors and hatch open almost every day to let things air out and so it's getting better in there.
 
Willz said:
Great thoughts and comments guys, thank you. The water was definitely over the lines drawn and like webby noted, the dirty silt is all over the dashboard. If you look at the bottom of the steering wheel in the pic, you'll see where I put my hand on it, the rest is covered with that fine silty dirt. The silt is all over the top of the engine too. When I moved the car, I did notice the power steering was not working. I sure hope this power steering module isn't going to cost too much. I didn't even think of mold, so yeah, I better get that carpet out tomorrow as well. The smell inside is of dirty swamp water, it's just horrible. I've been leaving the doors and hatch open almost every day to let things air out and so it's getting better in there.
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Try buying some Damprid get a couple (depending on the size you buy) and place them in various areas in the car, like one in each foot well and one in the trunk (after pulling the carpet). When I go into work tomorrow, I'll get a couple pictures of a guide we handed out to customers when Irma hit, for fixing flooded cars. It explains what you should look for and some other helpful information.
0c90ae2881be18f23858d59acc506059.jpg


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Got the throttle working much better today by simply cleaning out the throttle body - thank you fg3! There is a hesitation with the throttle but at least I'm on the right track. More water came flying out of the tailpipe as I was able to rev the engine. Got the damp rid in there now too. Started taking the carpet out and doing some cleaning but will soon focus on removing and inspecting the power steering control module as the power steering is not working. Any suggestions on where to source used parts like this control module?

Here's a more close up picture of the interior- you can see the mud more clearly...
IMG_9776.JPG IMG_9777.JPG
 
Willz said:
Got the throttle working much better today by simply cleaning out the throttle body - thank you fg3! There is a hesitation with the throttle but at least I'm on the right track. More water came flying out of the tailpipe as I was able to rev the engine. Got the damp rid in there now too. Started taking the carpet out and doing some cleaning but will soon focus on removing and inspecting the power steering control module as the power steering is not working. Any suggestions on where to source used parts like this control module?

Here's a more close up picture of the interior- you can see the mud more clearly...
View attachment 56761 View attachment 56762
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Glad it helped! I am waiting to hear back from my sister who is searching my old room to find the paperwork from when my power steering module was replaced, hopefully there is a part number of some sort that i can search to help you find a used one.
 
After finding out the part number for my EPS unit based on the paperwork from when it was replaced, I was able to do some digging and managed to find the part number for yours. It's specific to the 2012-2013 LX Coupes with a Manual. Here is the link to this website :https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genui...t=1,5;et=2,3)&Location=control-unit-cabin,,13 there is also a diagram that shows you how to access it. Here is a pre-owned one on eBay for reletively cheap https://www.ebay.com/p/Honda-OEM-20...ontrol-Module-39980TS8A31/1665278613?thm=3000
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Wow, thank you so much fg3! GREAT information!

I'm headed out of town Friday morning for the weekend so won't be able to work on the car again until Monday, but will post more then.
 
Willz said:
Wow, thank you so much fg3! GREAT information!

I'm headed out of town Friday morning for the weekend so won't be able to work on the car again until Monday, but will post more then.
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No problem! Glad I could help just hope to see it back on the road soon!

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