Flood damage

I got caught in flood yesterday, went through deep puddle, engine stalled (Td5 Defender) and now won't start. What the work in terms of priorities - apart from recharging the battery!

op2:

does it turn over ? have you looked under drivers seat at ecu ,bit more info needed

Does it turn over? If not you've hydraulic locked it in which case things could get expensive.
If it's ingested water then first thing is pull the glow plugs and spin the engine over to blow the water out. Problem is if no.5 cylinder has water in you can't empty it that way.
If it turns over on the starter are there any funny noises? If so you may have bent a valve or worst case cracked the head.
If it all sounds good but just wont fire then try drying out the ECU and wiring.

On a TD5 that's suspected of ingesting water I'd whip the injectors out rather than the glow plugs as whatever happens the number 5 injector will have to be taken out due to it not having a glow plug.

ratty said:

On a TD5 that's suspected of ingesting water I'd whip the injectors out rather than the glow plugs as whatever happens the number 5 injector will have to be taken out due to it not having a glow plug.

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Thats a fair point Ratty.

I dont like disturbing the injectors if I dont have to which is why I mentioned the glows. I would pull the glows and see if it turns by hand. If so No.5 is more than likely empty or at least does not have enough water to cause a problem. Often it never gets any because it is at the far end of the inlet manifold. It depends if the engine was idling or at high revs when it drowned. Its also an excuse to inspect the glows and get some copper slip on the threads. JMHO