V40 2018 not starting - water in starter moter?

[BlueBells]

We bought a second hand V40 3 months ago. Drove fine up until 3 weeks ago where it wouldn't start.

The garage said they found a large amount of water in the starter motor, and put in a new one. They told us the only possible way this could have happened is if we had driven through a flood.

Here's the issue. We have never driven through a flood, or even a deep puddle. We live in London and don't drive it often, the last occasion before the episode was a sunny day. The mechanics didn't believe us.

The car has remained on the driveway for a week since it came back from the mechanics. Today we went to start it but again it won't start.

The car is under warranty so we have to take it back to the same garage. I suspect there is water in the starter motor again. We again drove it on a sunny day, but there has been a huge amount of rain since it has sat on the drive. But the garage has told us that it's impossible for this to be caused by any other kind of water damage other than driving though water. Can anyone confirm how else water could have gotten into the starter motor? I don't want to take the car in again, not have the cause resolved, and just have an argument over whether we drove it appropriately.

[GrahamBrown1]

This sounds most odd, I would be asking to have a look at the old starter, I imagine they stripped the motor down to ascertain it’s full of water. I would also insist to see the current starter motor if they say the same. You can tell by the condition inside if it’s had water in it or not.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by BlueBells

We bought a second hand V40 3 months ago. Drove fine up until 3 weeks ago where it wouldn't start.

The garage said they found a large amount of water in the starter motor, and put in a new one. They told us the only possible way this could have happened is if we had driven through a flood.

Here's the issue. We have never driven through a flood, or even a deep puddle. We live in London and don't drive it often, the last occasion before the episode was a sunny day. The mechanics didn't believe us.

The car has remained on the driveway for a week since it came back from the mechanics. Today we went to start it but again it won't start.

The car is under warranty so we have to take it back to the same garage. I suspect there is water in the starter motor again. We again drove it on a sunny day, but there has been a huge amount of rain since it has sat on the drive. But the garage has told us that it's impossible for this to be caused by any other kind of water damage other than driving though water. Can anyone confirm how else water could have gotten into the starter motor? I don't want to take the car in again, not have the cause resolved, and just have an argument over whether we drove it appropriately.

That's very odd. Water doesn't just appear in the starting motor, especially when you haven't driven through any floods.

I don't really know how else water could have got into the starting motor. Wild guess... maybe a hose leaked directly onto it? There's not really much else I can think of. That would be a coolant hose, so wouldn't necessarily be "water".

If the car is under warranty, as much of a pain as it may be, I'd be straight back to that garage. They fitted a starting motor on the condition the other one was water damaged. The new one has gone in and its the same scenario again. I think there's another issue, they don't know what it is, and its becoming a parts cannon.

As mentioned by Graham above, demand to see the "new" starting motor they fitted to see if it's water damaged. It'll be easy to spot if they're telling the truth, water damage creates rust...

As the car isn't being driven much, it could be a low battery or maybe the alternator isn't working and that isn't charging the battery properly? Have they tested any of those?