Stumbling after I drove through water.

[Teflon]

Ok, so we just had a bad storm and on the way home tons of roads were flooded. Well I went through about 1-1.5 feet of water and some steam started coming out of my hood... Kinda expected that since our engines normally are as hot as a rocket during take off.. But on the way home I keep stumbling at low rpms just before I build boost. Any idea what could cause this? Did my head warp?

 

[Trav83]

Ok, so we just had a bad storm and on the way home tons of roads were flooded. Well I went through about 1-1.5 feet of water and some steam started coming out of my hood... Kinda expected that since our engines normally are as hot as a rocket during take off.. But on the way home I keep stumbling at low rpms just before I build boost. Any idea what could cause this? Did my head warp?

You might have water in your fuel system

 

[Teflon]

Will that just cycle out?

 

[Trav83]

Will that just cycle out?

Yeah it will, as long as it wasn't too much, otherwise you'll have to drain your tank. If that still doesn't fix it, my bets are its something electrical. You can add a can of fuel dryer if ya want

 

[TSiAWD666]

I did this once, and what happened to me was water got all the way up into the plug wells. You might think it can't happen but it definitely can. Had to soak up as much as I could with the rags I had in my car, and then get home and blow the rest out.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Yeah it will, as long as it wasn't too much, otherwise you'll have to drain your tank. If that still doesn't fix it, my bets are its something electrical. You can add a can of fuel dryer if ya want

Please tell me how a sealed system somehow manages to have water get into it? Please tell me that?

If anything, the car had water sucked through the intake and allowing water into the combustion chamber. Which isn't good. I would let the car sit and idle for a while until it hopefully goes away.

James

 

[Teflon]

Ok I have idled it for awhile and it still is stumbling, how do I get this water out?

 

[counti41]

pull your spark plugs out and replace them they got fouled. and if u think there's water in engine the pull one plug at a time and crank the car over a few times i forgot what fuse to pull to keep the injectors from firing...but try replacing the plugs first though. good luck

 

[Trav83]

Please tell me how a sealed system somehow manages to have water get into it? Please tell me that?

If anything, the car had water sucked through the intake and allowing water into the combustion chamber. Which isn't good. I would let the car sit and idle for a while until it hopefully goes away.

James

I dunno, maybe he removed his charcoal canister and didn't close up the vapor line. This happens to vehicles every now and then, don't ask me how, but thats why they make dryer fuel. Just trying to help.

 

[AlaskanDsm]

Please tell me how a sealed system somehow manages to have water get into it? Please tell me that?

If anything, the car had water sucked through the intake and allowing water into the combustion chamber. Which isn't good. I would let the car sit and idle for a while until it hopefully goes away.

James

As much as I agree with you about the car sucking water into the intake pipe and causing problems, I disagree with your statement about the tank being a "sealed system". As it were designed from the factory brand new... there would be no problems... as it is 12 years old, dependant upon the conditions in which the car has been exposed to, the tank could have rusted in places that would allow water in or the fill tube could have cracks in it allowing water to get in or the seal around the cap could be old as well (not as likely). I know this because my dad's pickup has this problem. The fill tube has a crack in it which over the course of a couple years of hauling water, the tank slowly gets more and more water in it, clogging the fuel filter and causing the truck to stutter and eventually stall. Makes it very hard to start again.

 

[jericho777]

I did this once, and what happened to me was water got all the way up into the plug wells. You might think it can't happen but it definitely can. Had to soak up as much as I could with the rags I had in my car, and then get home and blow the rest out.

This happened to me and was an easy fix I used an air compressor to blow the water out. 1-1 1/2 feet of water is a LOT of water to go through. Water can get into a lot of places and will take a while to get out. Park in a warm dry place with good air flow. As others have said dry gas would help eliminate a possible problem. You may have a combo of teses problems but my first check as TSiAWD666 said your plugs.

 

[My1GLaser]

Water can get into your exhaust thru the flex section and plug up the cat and muffler. I went thru a 2 ft deep puddle once and my car "stumbled" all the way home and wouldn't crank for a day until it dried out. This was on an 85 colt way back in the day, but the same thing still applies.

 

[Teflon]

Will putting seafoam in my gas tank dry it up? I heard somewhere that it will.

 

[Jeff99GS]

Sounds like a WET Ignition system to me. AKA Wet plug wires, wet ignition coil, water in the spark plug wells. Spray WD-40 all over the wires and ignition coil. Pull the plug wires off of the spark plugs and look for water down in the plug wells. If there is water in there then blow it out with compressed air and let is sit over night. I bet it will be fine in the morning.


IF you did suck up water through the intake it could be very dangerous to the engine internals. Mainly because WATER doesn't like to compress...so Instead it HYDROLOCKS the engine and blows a piston out the side of the block. That is the worst case scenario, but it can happen....so be careful next time you go through a huge puddle of water.