am not sure if it is the right place to post this thread. if not poll it !

2 days ago i was driving my 02 trans am , it was raining and unfortunately i got into a water pool ?? it was fast .. i didnt know there was a water pool so the car shut down by itself , rpm was 1500 or less , i heard a struggle coming out of the engine and then some clink the water level was up to the middle of the door .. water got it way inside the car , i wasnt able to see the paddles . i didnt try to start it . one guy helped me gettin the car out of the pool.

next day i towed the car to a friends garage . took off the induction tube and the air filter , along with the maf until the throttle, when i opened the throttle manually a huge amount of water came out . so i took the intake manifolds, fuel rails, injectors, coils and the spark plugs off. some water came out when i took the 7th and 8th spark plugs off . water came off the spark plugs holes. oil pan was emptied and reloaded with oil again , there wasnt any elements of water being inside the pan.

sensors was cleaned except for the crank and the cam sensor.

day 2 .. i tried to turn the crank manually and it was turning well with no sounds and smoothly, i was happy but still having suspicion.

got everything cleaned and brought everything back installed and ready to start. except for the maf sensor , the tube and the air filter.

checked the fuses and the relaies. all was fine ..

i put the ignition on and the fuel pump seemed to be working , checked the pressure at the rails and it was 55.

cranked the engine and it was cranking with no noise , but still not starting !!

fuel was delivering OK .. i said maybe its the ignition system ,so i took the spark plugs wires and checked for sparks while crancking . some were giving spark and some didnt in both sides (1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 were ok ). So i took my friends coils and rechecked , and the result was the same BUT different coils were not working ( 1, 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 were Ok ) !!!!

i said maybe its the ECU ..so i checked each red and blue wires in the harness and they were fine . got my friends ECU ( same pins ) and still the engine is not starting , it only cranks ??

any suggestions ?
thank you in advance

 

id start cleaning all the ignition components first.

 

You need to check compression. The engine might be turning over ok but more that likely you have hydrolock damage. Fluid cannot be compressed and I'm sure you are hoping like hell it isnt damaged. Check the compression on ALL 8 cylinders (even #8) and make sure that are with 20% of each other. In the mean time search for a short block on ebay. If you have a bent rod and you start the engine imagine what will happpen at 5k or higher. Right now you might only have a bent rod or crank......if that rod or crank breaks at high rpm it will destroy every part of the engine. Save you money and fustrations. Check comression.

 

The crank position sensor fires the coils. You could try that. But I would check compression before attempting to start the engine again. I have seen two LS1's w/ bent rods destroy the block after starting(both of them broke the starter off).

 

After the comp. test you should still considering tearing it down to the block and putting fresh rings and gaskets ect in their just to be certin you covered all possiable break points/damage.

 

thanx for the input everybody , is it accurate to check the compression while the engine is not starting ??

coils been cleaned and even replaced with new another ones.

i heard the sound of clink clink , i will never miss it since i heard it a while ago !!

i still cant find an answer for the following :
1- why the altered ignition sparks even with the new coils ?
2- I WANT TO HEAR THE CLINK CLINK again at least it would make me certain about the condition of the rods , crank .
3- if i have a bent rod it would still start .. it doesn't fire !!
what am trying to say .. it should fire even with a bent rod then it will clink clink and then KOBOOM .. that would make me relatively happy !! at least i knew the problem !

next step will be the compression test , if possible , then the crank position sensor. after that i will try to use some of the hp tuners features to help me checking the injectors, coils and the security lock ! all are possible casues for the engine not to fire.

i do have an Ls1 in my place and also an Lq9 .. i'll wait and see .

keep the inputs up guys lets hear more opinions.

 

how can a position sensor fires a coil ?

 

it spins on a wheel with all the fireing sensors on it, and each time it pass's by the activator it fires the specific coil, anyhow thats how i figured it worked.

 

the question is, should all coils fire together when u crank the engine ? of course it should follow the firing order , but for our naked eye all coils should fire (why) .. becasue by cranking you are turning the engine at leaset 50 rpms ! maybe ?

otherwise maybe my engine is just doing couple of 360 degrees and that means something is restricting inside ? and am getting only coil 1 , 3 , 6 , 7 firing!! maybe ?

 

You might want to make sure the cam sensor is working, Did you unplug it when you did the intake work? The cam sensor is how the PCM knows where #1 is as the engine cranks over. If you have no cam sigal the PCM can not initiate proper spark timing or injector pulse. You do need to do at least a compression test as was stated here. I have worked on cars that were hydrolocked and the damage is incredible. If the motor injested enough water to get into the intake and cylinders, as much as I hate to say it the chance that you have no damage is low, as you said the car stalled in the water and made a clink noise. You did all the right things by not trying to start it and pulling the plugs, I hope it ends up ok for ya.

 

well you need to get it started quick because in a flood car draining the water and letting it sit is the worst thing to do things start rusting quick

maybe turn it over and prime it with fresh oil

 

do a compression test now and leak down. dont waste any more time on other stuff till you have checked comp. pull valve covers and loosen all rockers, remove p-rods and check for straightness. next inspect all valves they should be same hight, you can use a ruler or something with a straight edge. put on top of valve stem accross springs and all should be level, if not then possible bent valves. .02