hi, i just recently drove my car into a flooded street, fortunately, i turned the car off before much water got into it...very little water, if any at all got into my engine. the inside and everything got flooded and blah.
luckily, my insurance got it taken care of. the interior all cleaned and they only changed the oil on the engine'which i thought was weird.' so now, i got my car back and its running like a piece of ****. it idles at about 400-500 rpm, and it used to turn off before i changed my ignition coils, but now...after i changed them...all fine and dandy, they were fucked before...all 4 cracked, back to it lol, after i changed them...my car still idles real low and i believe all 8 cylinders are hitting, before it was questionable but now i figure all 8 are hitting and my car will knock and say its revving at 2500 rpm, but im punching it and i can barely hear the engine.

they changed the MAF on my air filter when i brought it back, and found the ignition coils to be bad and i thought that was the problem, but now its all WTF, they are all brand new and idk what to do.. i pulled codes from my car and it says the air sensors under my car are reading bad or are bad or something....i'm really at a panic right now, just bought this car and barely made the first payment a week ago, please help!!

if you think this was brought on because half my engine was under water, please tell me...the insurance wont pay to get my engine torn apart becuause they say its running fine or w/e, so i have to sign something stating if it isnt related to the flood than i have to pay.

1 more thing...it started running perfect after 30mins of driving and at a stop light i kept the engine revving at 1-1.5k rpm's and it just started running perfect again, took it on the highway and hit 110 in like 2secs, it was my car again untill i parked it at home for 15 mins and started it again, drove it and its a piece of crap again.

please help. any suggestions, anything at all would be great.



engine mods that i know of, - headers, (no exhaust, just a 2 foot pipe that ends about at the feet of the back seat from each header), ignition coils instead of opti spark, electric water pump, and a knn air filter.

car - 1997 firebird formula..5.7 LT1

 

Water in any number of connections can cause shorts, unplug every connector you can get your hands on and spray some wd40 in there, and then plug it back together.

 

have you checked the 02 sensors or replaced them?

 

no i havent, but the dealership should have checked that. i thought it was the sensors, but they only came on AFTER the fact i changed my ignition coils. my car is bogging up, misfiring at times and i hear a knocking that sounds like my exhaust.

 

Its sad to hear of an Fbody in this condition

 

Lol, I entered this section to post pretty much the same thing, KadinZ. This (today)is the third time its happened to my car. The only time it happens is when I drive through heavy rain. Yeah you are getting moisture somewhere, but where I've yet to find out.

I was headed home a few minutes ago and was stopped at a light when I noticed it again. I was like, "great, not again". Then the light turned green and I gave it some gas, but it was missing so much the car hardly budged. The people behiend me were laying on their horn, but there was nothing I could do but put the hazards on and crawl until the engine picked up normal rythum.

I'm pretty sure the same is wrong with both of our cars. I've taken it to the shop 3 times, only to have the mechanic say it ran fine for him, or "it just needed a tune up", or my favorite, "those damn longtube headers is why its a runnin so funny. "

Ive had the injectors cleaned, new fuel filter, new plugs and wires, the coils tested (even sprayed the caps with water too see if that was it), and had 3 mechanics look at it and the only thing I can come up with is its getting moisture from somewhere. Maybe in the plugs??

What I can tell you is: Whatever it is, give it time to dry out. Don't ever try and punch it or try to force the rpms to go up. This might damage your engine internally. Those coil packs are expensive as hell and there was probally nothing wrong with the origionals, so don't let any mechanic talk you in to replacing anything unless YOU are sure it needs to be. My mechanic told me Fords typically have problems with the coils f-ing up, not Chevys.

 

ya, made that mistake...took'er on the highway to try and push some **** out of there(i thought it might of had some gas in there from the broken ignition coils missing fires) but it turns out, nope...took it on the highway...drove it slow at first, kept it under 3,000 rpm's than punched it when i hit the left lane...car was going slower instead of...lol, FASTER! it was losing speed and the engine got real quiet...sounded like only a couple cylinders would hit every second.., but the rpm meter said 2,500 rpm's which is good enough to keep my car goin 85, i was only goin 70. so i got up to like 90...than i punched it, it was boggin a bit but it was gaining...than i passed a mustang and he revved that piece up, so i was challenged...we were goin 100 and i punched it and left him...for some reason my car was doin perfectly fine at speeds that kept the car in 4th gear...but i have no idea why.

 

Yeah, mine usually doesn't miss once I get it out first or second gear. For some reason It'll do it the worst in 1st and reverse. . . . only after I drive it in heavy rain.

 

yeah, but im about...95% positive that its the waters fault my car is running bad. i'm going to take it to my mechanic today and have them check it out...i will get back to you guys when they diagnose it.

 

If he can find where the water is getting in that might help us both out.

 

idk about you...my car, before i drove it into a big *** flooded street, it ran just fine in the rain...though, it had trouble starting at night when it was cold/rainy, but it eventually started..i blame that on my 4cracked ignition coils though.

 

Just curious, when did you install your LTs. I was on a similar thread a while back and the guy was having problems with a random misfire just after installing LTs, and he thought that might have something to do with it. Mine started F-ing up soon after I installed mine LTs as well. . . although mine may be something completely different from yours.