Am I screwed? My car sucked up some water
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Am I screwed? My car sucked up some water
I was on my way to work this morning in really heavy rain at 6:15 so I could hardly see anything, it was dark. I hit a huge puddle and hydroplained some and immediatley the car started running like ****. There was alot of vibration when I had my foot on the gas and no power, the SES light was blinking rapidly I was only a few miles from work so I just kept driving when I got to work it was sputtering real bad and seemed like it was going to stall out. I know I should've pulled over but I did'nt want to be late and I have another vehicle. I opened the hood and could see alot of moisture on the inside of my clear lid so obviously my engine sucked in some water. Did'nt want to try to drive it anymore so I just left it at work (I let a friend I work with barrow my truck over the weekend so it was there for me to drive). I'll be back at work tomorrow, wth should I do? Has this happened to anyone else? What does the blinking SES light mean, misfire?
#7
You can also use Seafoam if you plan on replacing your spark plugs anyway, run that through the intake with a vacuum hose. Suppose to dry water deposits and do all kinds of crazy stuff for engines. I had a friend once accidently put a few gallons of diesel in her tank instead of gas...car didnt want to run hardly, poored a bottle of Seafoam and filled the rest with high octane and the car ran better than it ever has before in its lifetime... Seafoam works magic. But yes, I definetly agree with others, more than likely your sensors got wet and are causing chaos. If the car sits for a few days and still runs poorly then check the engine light if it comes on, you could have ruined a sensor. If that checks out ok then do the Seafoam treatment and you can try the sparkplug trick like others suggested. Seafoam would be easier to try first though.
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#9
my dad did the same thing with his v6 camaro.. Dies out though. We replaced everything, plugs, wires, cleaned the injectors, fuel filter, etc.. made sure we got everything out.. used some seafoam and after that it cranked smoked a bit and then came to a smooth idle.. Man that thing ran like a raped ape after.. better then ever and it was only 2 yrs old haha (well for a v6)
#10
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I limped my poor car to my girlfriend's dad's house who is a pretty good mechanic. When I first started it everything seemed normal and it drove normal for like 2 minutes but then the light came back on and it started shaking and running like crap again, no power at all. My Girlfriend's dad read the codes with his scanner and tried to delete them, cant remember which ones I had. The scanner also was showing cylinder #6 was misfiring, so we swapped the 1st coilpack with the #6 one to see if I had a bad coilpack, that was'nt it. Swapped the #1 and #6 plug wires to see if one of them was bad, that was'nt it. Tried putting in a brand new sparkplug in #6, that was'nt it. He was messing with the injectors but not sure what he was doing. We were ******* around with he car for hours, trying to dry everything out with an air hose (plug wires, coil packs, even the ECU) turning it on and off looking at the scanner evertime and everytime #6 was misfiring and occasionally some of the other cylinders were too. Its still sitting at his house havent tried anything today, he wants me to take it to a tuner but I have'nt tried seafoam yet. Sorry for the long post I'm just not around a computer very often. Thank y'all for your responses, any other suggestions?
#11
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lol its not worth 100 bucks the way its running, I think my 95 nissan pickup can outrun it! Unfortunately I just replaced my plugs and wires like 3 months ago DAMN
#12
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I forgot to mention we did clean the MAF with that CRC stuff and dried it. Did'nt seem to help either. What are the odds that there is actually some engine damage?
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chances are you didnt suck up any water. the intakes on these cars are so high, you would have to have water above your headlights to suck up any. You probably just got something wet that shouldnt have gotten wet and just need to find out what it is.
When I had my old car, I got caught driving on base going to a friends house when there was a hurricane going on and drove through a puddle that was just under the headlights and was fine
When I had my old car, I got caught driving on base going to a friends house when there was a hurricane going on and drove through a puddle that was just under the headlights and was fine
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Screwed? No. If you really hydro-locked the engine, you'd know it. I broke one piston connecting rod and bent two others in a VW I had years ago. The clanking/clattering in the engine when I tried to restart it (like you did) told me that there was more at issue than a bit of moisture present or some soaked sensors. The fact that your car started up and ran at all is a good thing. Remove the lid, filter, MAF, etc. and let everything dry out.
I have been wondering about the lids on these cars though (I'm about to install an SLP one). There's nothing (as far as I know) to keep water that runs into the inlet (ex. SS hood scoop) from going into the filter.
I have been wondering about the lids on these cars though (I'm about to install an SLP one). There's nothing (as far as I know) to keep water that runs into the inlet (ex. SS hood scoop) from going into the filter.
Last edited by johnlv6; 12-15-2009 at 06:59 PM.
#17
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ran some seafoam in the vacuum line, let it stop smoking and took it for a 15 minute drive, at first it was still misfiring then it started acting normal again. Scanned for codes and they were all gone, dont know if its completely cured but maybe it is. Seafoam is the ****! Probably gonna change my plugs anyway