Drove through a flooded street, car won't start. Please give any help.

dbledown00

Registered User
Two days ago I drove my car down a street that was flooded. When I realized it was a very bad idea to go any deeper, I turned around and was almost out of the water when my car stalled out. My bird wouldn't start back up at all and I didn't have any electrical play either. I tried to get my car jumped and it still wouldn't start but it gave me some electrical things back. I then went and bought a new battery and tried starting the car and still no dice but all of my electrical options are working. I have a performance cold air intake that runs down into my wheel well. I then started to think maybe water got sucked up through my CAI so I took it apart and sure enough there was water in the intake. Today I am removing the spark plugs to hopefully remove some water. I also added a gas treatment to my gas tank that is supposed to remove the water from the gas tank. Am I on the right track with what I'm doing? Any advice to get my car up and running again? Thanks a lot, Anthony dbledown00@yahoo.com p.s. I understand that I do not have a 4x4 truck and shouldn't have tried to go through the water.
 
I did this with my SC over a month ago. I just took out the plugs, removed the intercooler and drained the water out, and replaced the starter. The starter apparently fried when I went through the water. After I replaced the starter, I turned the engine over with the plugs removed to get rid of the water in the cylinders, put the plugs and wires back in, switched four of the plug wires around because I put them on wrong, and it started right up. Hope this helps. Brandon
 
You're on the right track. Just pray you didn't hydrolock the engine and bend a rod.

bent%20rod%20front.jpg


bent%20rod%20side.jpg


-Rod
 
Man that sucks!!!!!

Its a car not a boat ,A sure tell sign is did the engine bind when you turned it over?If it did probably have a problem similiar to Racecougar,In wich case that would really be bad,,Wish you all the luck bud,
Vetteman




89 SC
76 vette
84 vette
87 vette
70 GT Torino
 
Change the oil too.... I'd change the rear end oil and maybe the transmission fluid if it was me.

Vetteman is right, they suck as boats. I did the same thing in about 8 inches of water and the stock intake sucked enough into the cylinders to let me know it wasn't happy. I lucked up since it wasn't much water and I shut it down in time to avoid what happened to Rod.
 
Just to make things clear, that rod came from a 3.8L N/A that came in a car that I bought. I'm not the one that hydrolocked it.

I put way too much time and money into my cars to chance flooded streets with them.

-Rod
 
Thanks for the help, I'll get started on it today and remove the spark plugs. I'll let you know what happens. Also, I'm from Wichita, Ks too. Thanks, Anthony dbledown00@yahoo.com
BlkSCnKS said:
I did this with my SC over a month ago. I just took out the plugs, removed the intercooler and drained the water out, and replaced the starter. The starter apparently fried when I went through the water. After I replaced the starter, I turned the engine over with the plugs removed to get rid of the water in the cylinders, put the plugs and wires back in, switched four of the plug wires around because I put them on wrong, and it started right up. Hope this helps. Brandon
 
For the gas tank I would drain the whole thing out. Better to lose the couple of buck in gas then to not do it and add to you rproblem if its got a good bit of water in it.

Definitly change all your lubricants. Matter of fact this would be a great time to completely service the car and have everything up to date.
 
yes good idea

yes all your drive train parts have vents,the rear member has a vent in the top of it and the tranny has vent in it too possible water could get in there,regrease all fittings and might go as far as dissasemble and relube,never seize all brake components to.Give the car a good under carriage wash and undercoat. the water may have had corrosives in it like any type of salt or what not.
Vetteman
 
This happened recently with my sis's boyfriend. He drove his 97 stang v6 through a nice amount of water. To make a long story short, he blew a rod, hydrolocked the motor, and put a hole in the oil pan. In the end, the insurance company covered it. They gave him a new motor and filed it under collision insurance.
 
Update!!

Ok guys, here's the outcome. I added a water remover fluid to my gas tank; I let it sit over night. The next morning I got up to start removing the spark plugs. Right before I pulled the first plug I said what the hell and decided to try and start my car. The initial turn of the key made the engine sound like it wanted to start up so I tried again and it started up. I had to keep giving it gas for it to continue idleing but after about 5 mins it sounded normal again. The only problems I see now are: when I increase speed while I'm driving down the street my car sputters/mildly jerks, this usually only lasts for about 5 seconds though and returns to normal idle (this happens at every red light). When I go up the slope of a bridge my car can only get up to 35 mph. Also, while I'm driving at night down the street I notice that my headlights begin to dim then return to full brightness and electrical equipment is acting up. I think I will take my car to Pep Boys or Midas and have a fluids flush done and have them test my alternator and starter. Any ideas with these two problems (sputtering and electrical malfunctioning)? Thanks for everyone's help on this, couldn't do it without you guys. Anthony
 
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