My taco boat don't float.

Stats:
09 double cab long box
190 000 km
Rust proof every year.
Very good condition interior and exterior
Lots of mods
New steering rack, steering pump, lower and upper control arms, rear shocks, marine battery. Steering intermediate shaft,ss rear brake lines. And I'm sure a bunch of other little things.

Dilemma: went wheeling took on wrong/stupid turn and ended up in the water.... Headlight high on the passenger side. Truck shut off by itself immediately. Got pulled out and tried to turn it over by key. One click and stopped. Was fortunate enough to be wheeling with a couple of guys that knew exactly what to do (Zack and Kenny) They towed me to a flat spot and the work commenced. First battery disconnect. Second intake off. Checked the oil, no water. It was discussed about removing the intake manifold, no gasket so we decided to leave it be. Around this time @llamasmurf arrived with his freshly installed ARB twin onboard air, and was more than willing to help however he could. He took the lemons but gave me beer, which at that point was more important. Removed all spark plugs. Battery reconnected. That's when my truck turned into a sprinkler. I'm pretty sure more than 4 litres of water were ejected over a period of a half hour. Water kept coming up though. I noticed the intake has a bowl, so we towed the drivers side wheel onto 3 progressively larger rocks until the bottom of the intake was leveled out. Another litre or so came out. Kept cranking, fluid kept coming out of one cylinder. Slowly realized its all the fuel pooling in the front passenger side cylinder. Cranked some more just to make sure. Plugs back in and tried to start. She turned over but wouldn't spark. I thanked everyone and told them I was good for the moment as I was planning on disconnecting all electrical and drying out connectors. One group had just gotten there and was waiting to wheel, I fucked up my trip and didn't want to fuck up theirs. Told everyone to go ahead. Proceeded to disconnect everything and dry all connections. Dismantled the Ecu and sun dried it. At this point I was just going through the motions to keep myself busy. Everything dried, got reconnected, checked oil still no water. I looked over everything and found one vacuum hose disconnected. Reconnected and hopped inside. Prayed to the Tacoma gods and they answered!
She started right up! I must have scared wildlife away at how loud I was screaming. I was worried about anything else fucking up so I shut her off immediately. Went around taking pounds of mud and sand out of the skids and other nooks and crannies under the truck, slightly alleviated. People slowly started showing back up. Everyone seemed surprised to hear her start up again. We drove very gingerly to the camp site. I parked her opened the doors and that's where she sat till the next morning. I took the rest of that night to fill myself with good steak and cold beer. Worrying about the truck at that point was kind of worthless, so I enjoyed my night.

Woke up to cold wet reality. Rain, wet tent, bed and boots. It had been raining most of the week and now (Sunday) everything was saturated. Part of our group helped me pack while the rest packed their own. Everything wet, everything in a hurry. At this point I checked the oil to find chocolate milk. I had one, and another member of the group had another quart of oil. Drained what I could and refilled. Packed up my truck and we left. @Jake4848 stayed as he was still pretty rough at that time. Got to the main trail truck was bogging down. My current intake was a urd true cold air without the actual filter, just the sock. We made it to paved road and a small store. Bought out all their oil and changed it out while everyone aired back up. Zack left at this point. In a convoy of misery and worry. @tacoma16, @NorilskSever and I made the hour trip of about an hour back to the nearest town. Truck died once, and had to make a few adjustments to the "filter" but we made it. By this point it was just me and @tacoma16. We went to Canadian Tire got oil, oil filters and a k&n air filter. Then over to home depot to get some form of plumbing reducer found a 4"-3" that worked well. Peter came up with the idea of stealing a laminated menu from pizza hut to use as a water shield (wrap around the new k&n cone filter) but ultimately had the bright yellow idea of using his cutting board. Drilled, zip tied and ready to go. Peter and his very patient wife stayed with me until there was literally nothing else they could do for me, I owe you guys.
I took this alone time to head into Walmart to buy some clean/dry pants and a hair dryer to dry my 2 day wet boots. Got a little cleaned up and hit the road. Truck drove fine. Felt a little clank in the front end and some vibration on the gas peddle but otherwise uneventful trip. I was just glad she was moving under her own power. I had planned to travel to Toronto and spend the night, too tired to stop, I continued straight through to Windsor. Got home and started to unpack all my wet gear. Late out tents and cooler, took a shower and went to bed. Woke up and did the whole disassembly drill on the interior. Power washed, shout and tide on the carpet and she was almost new. Left everything out for the last 2 days to dry properly. Just reassembled yesterday.

Now, my question is this. Do I keep the truck?
I paid $26 000 Canadian all in. Trade in is going to be shit value. If I sell her private I'm not going to omit she got flooded, also shit price. I was planning on keeping her till she died, and am willing to drop a reman engine if need be. But is it worth it? For around $8000 I could have a truck that'll last another 300 000km. Or do I part ways and cut my losses. If I do keep her what treatments/preventative maintenance should I do? I want this engine to last as long as possible and she is running fine as is. Any info/links/advice is appreciated

Special thanks to Kenny and Zack.... You drunks saved my engine.

 

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If salt, those electrical gremlins are vicious.

 

Fresh water

 

Change your oil about 5 or 6 times. New plugs, pull the intake and clean that, new gaskets. I would keep it. I've brought flooded motors back from the dead before.

 

I'd keep it. Drain and fill the oil a couple times to "flush" any remaining water. Drain and fill tranny, check existing fluid for water in the drain pan. Drain and fill your diffs, these will most likely have lots of water. Grease your ujoints, it'll possibly rid you of the vibes. If your truck drove fine all that way, it's fine. Most issues would have risen immediately. When I hydrolocked my girls 4runner, I immediately knew something wasn't right. When I pulled the motor I found a fist sized hole in the block lol.

 

How long do they last though?

 

There may be hope.

If it's cranking, and no knocking, AND the interior doesn't smell too bad, I'd roll with it. However, it's still your call on this.

Just keep an eye out for oddities in your electrical system.

 

trade it in to the dealer...they deserve it

 

But refill all the water in the engine first

 

Electrical stuff already happened. On the Saturday night fog light were kn by themselves. That has stopped though.

 

Eh, how much water got under the dash? All the electrical outside the cabin will be fine. You didn't have a rod exit stage left, so your motor is fine, especially if you aren't still getting chocolate milk in your oil. The only not waterproof place that could potentially be a problem is the connectors behind the dash, they aren't designed to get wet. But, if you only dunked the passenger side, there's not much over there besides some Ecu's and the blower motor, so if the truck still ran afterwords and your 4wd still works I'd say you don't have anything to worry about. You took the proper steps to clean your interior, so your not going to have mold problems there, the doors have drains in them so your good there.

 

I still have them coming back for routine service!

 

Just as long as if it didn't happen in most cases. Just get all your fluids swapped out.

 

Oh and for those that say bull bars are useless (as I thought as well) this is what stopped my from dunking my drivers side as well.

 

If you were trying to make your truck into a boat your doing it wrong!

 

One of the most trying things about this whole ordeal, was trying to find a spot for my coffee

 

Thanks guys you've given me a ray of hope.... I've honestly been fighting off depression from this whole thing.

 

Maybe invest in a snorkel?