Ever since I hit this big puddle one the side of the road the other day I have been having some wierd problems. My car would spontaneously lose power and kinda sount like backfiring untill i give it more throttle, which seems to make it go away. Also sometimes at stop lights it dosent like to idel smoothly and when i give it gas to start moving the car just falls on its face then comes back. Could there be water in a sensor or something? I have a 93 SE. Anyhelp would be great.

 

my cars been doin that also. i dont know of any puddles that ive gone through but when i come to a stop , at about 5 mph-stop, i shakes and then when i take off it pudders and if i get on it it will go but it takes a sec.i need some help too

 

possibly ruined the oxygen sensor.. it's the most common thing to blow up when you drive through deep water. the sudden heat change like that can damage it. take a multimeter and check it. (read the FAQs at the top ot the forum for a link to chilton's online service manual for a way to check it.)

if it's bad, replace it, and hope that's all it was.

no guarantees, but it's the first thing that comes to mind when you try to drown the car.

 

Make sure Distributor Cap is dry on the inside..

 

SEs have distributorless ignition.

 

yea theres no distrubutor its direct ignition. (coil packs) however mine does the ame thing but mine once in a while loses all power then when i push the clutch down the motors on ? i think it stalls then starts again from the clutch being down. however theres no power. until after i press the clutch and release it again it annoying.

 

One other thing that it does, is when it does lose its power its almost like the motor isnt running because i dont hear any exhaust noise, but the rpm's are still up. I hear the intake sucking in air, then when I hit the gas more it slowly comes back. Could it be a fuel pump, and i am not getting any gas so there is no combustion?

 

my 91 gxe does the same thing. hey Matt, if it was the O2 sensor wouldn't we be getting a CEL?

 

if theres no combustion then the motor would not be turning. mine just dies as im driving then i depress the clutch give it a rev or 2 and its back on again. release the clutch and it drives as if nothing happened. weird. you may not hear any exhaust if the car is on the verge of dying. the rpms could be extremely low right on the verge or not running.

 

But if i was driving down the road and was in gear the transmision would turn the engine over and keep the rpm's up.

 

check your fuel pump, on my friends 92 se did the same thing ... then he changed the fuel pump and "POOF!" it all went away. or at least for him it did.

 

I did the same thing last year drove through a puddle and bam! I had buckin' bronco for a car. I had to replace the MAF and I thought distributor cap, but it sounds like maybe not the second. Anyways after that car worked fine.

 

Found out what the problem was. I had it diagnosed and it turned out to be something wrong with the connection at the MAF.