jamesSS

To make a long story short, I ended up driving through a water puddle saturday night(it wasnt that big, but apperantly big enough), and now my car "bucks/surges" when driving. My MPG have dropped into the middle single digits when cruizing in 4th (used to get 22-24 mpg) and my car idles like it has a cam. My dash fuel-used light said it was burning 2.8 gallons per hour during an idle(should of been around .80 GPH).

As I was driving I noticed that it would "buck" while cruizing. I pulled over to see if some water went into the engine bay and got on the CAI but that was dry. It finaly through an engine code after 20 minutes of driving.

Any ideas?? Please help a poor college student out. Im going to hopefuly get it taken in wednesday but id like some ideas of how I can fix this myself if possible. Thanks in advance.

My only mods are full exhaust(headers, catted mids, catback), cold air intake, and a dyno tune.

SS101

iTrader: (2)

the symptomes you described could be a range of things...you could have fucked up the maf and map sensors (easy fixes) or you could have compressed water and bend your head into a horse shoe (hard fix)

jamesSS

Yeah I though maybe the MAF thing but I dont see how it could of got wet. Plus just about everything under hood seemed dry when I touched it. Whats the compressed water/head thing about?

SS101

iTrader: (2)

well water can't be compressed, so if it gets into the combustion chamber during the crompression stroke (depending on the amount of water ingested) all of the force of the engine's rotation and compression is transferred right to the head. this force can cause the head to bow out like a horse shoe and leak severely.

jamesSS

Ok I dont think its that then. Everything under the hood looks and sounds normal. Im sure I would be able to notice something that extreme, Id hope at least.

crazylane

iTrader: (19)

Check your 02's, Do you have LT's? Sounds like the same problem I had a couple of times..

jamesSS

Yeah I have LT's. Hopefuly it isnt anything crazy, or im not going to school this semester.

EarlSS

I'd also say o2's. hope you get it worked out.

crazylane

iTrader: (19)

I know back last summer I had to drive through like 3 inches of water, The car ran like **** for a couple of days, Come to find out, Were I had spliced my wires for the 02's it had gotten moistur in there, cause I did not use the shrink rap

So if that is the case, just take them out, inspect them, and if need be clean them up.

My 02 bung actually got wet as well that time, Cause my exhaust is dumped, and some how the moister got to the 02 Sensor. Turned it black as hell, Sprayed some ether on it, Blowed it out with some air. and she ran fine since then.

2MuchRiceMakesMeSick

Any codes? Without those it could be a number of things

ls1_doc

iTrader: (6)

Exactly what i was thinking. If it is running that bad you would think there would be a check engine light on.

jamesSS

Yeah it threw a check engine light, however as I was attempting to go to advance auto to get it checked, it killed twice just pulling out the driveway. Im just trying to get some ideas as to what it may be so I can brace myself for whatever the cost might be.

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

Maybe spray some brake cleaner on any electrical connectors that might have gotten wet. It's good stuff to clean water off and not leave any residue.

I picked up the cheapest code reader from Pep Boys for about $60. It's a good thing to have in the toolbox anyway.

camaroguy26

iTrader: (21)

just cuz your intake was dry didn't mean it didn't suck some water up, give your MAF a good cleaning

DaGeneral

iTrader: (3)

+ 1 for o2 sensors

JBIRD02

iTrader: (4)

Yep! had this happen to me a couple of times. Water got into the O2 connector. Unhooked the O2 connector, cleaned it, let it dry, then used lots of dielectric grease. Problem solved!