Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Guys, I was driving my 98 SE in the rain today and my car just died when I went through a little water (VERY little). It sputtered momentarily and gave out. Now it turns over like a champ, but won’t start. Any ideas?

Here’s the background: I have an oil leak from the timing chain housing. It drips down the underside to the front bottom corner, then falls onto the alternator casing or past the alternator to the ground or plastic shield underneath. It doesn’t seem to have affected the alternator at all, except that once in a while the oil burns and you can see and smell a little smoke. One time, I let the oil level get too low and the car sputtered and died, I’m assuming as a preventative measure. When I filled the oil it started up. Well, I don’t think that’s the problem this time.

Help!

Hal

Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Why don't you get the oil leak fixed first of all???:smash:

Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

:D

I know someone who disregarded the warning light on a 2002 Q45, and the engine seized because they tried to drive it again AFTER it went into limp mode. :(

He didn't have coolant ... but no oil = no lubrication & no cooling capability too. I would have gotten the oil leak fixed too.

Your first step is check your oil level. If it's not visible on the dipstick, you may know why. Or could just be coincidence.

Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Drove THROUGH water? Or over water? I think there's a big difference there. :rolleyes:

I've heard that your car can stall if the water level is too high and backfeeds through your exhaust ... true?

Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Sounds like an electrical problem. Maybe some wire was exposed and got a splash of water, shorting it out. Check all your fuses, and if that doesn't turn anything up, take the battery to autozone to make sure that's not the problem.

Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

OK, first let me address the oil leak. It's very very slow. And will cost at least a thousand dollars in labor I don't know how to do myself. That's generally what's known as an acceptable leak -- until the leak becomes a potential cause of more damage, but I don't think that's the case here.

The Max, as far as I've been told, has an emergency sensor that shuts the engine down before the oil level gets dangerously low, so I'm not really worried about that other time it died on me.

OK, back to the starting problem. I drove through a "T" intersection. The intersection is at the depression between two hills, so I was coming down from one direction, splashed through a puddle (in the trenches left by cars that wait at lights), and the car stalled on the other side of the intersection.

Here's what I think happened. The water caused the stall because the engine wasn't hot enough yet to evaporate the water soon enough. I let the car sit for about an hour, and it started right up. It seems like the water evaporated, the car started, and all's fine.

Now, is this stall-causing splash avoidable? Are there exposed wires I need to be concerned about? Is this normal?

Hal

Re: Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Do you have an aftermarket intake?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Nope. Bone stock except cleared ambers and FSTB.

Hal

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

Ah, the FSTB must be the problem.

:laugh:

I'd get under the car and look for any loose connectors or striped wire that water could have gotten into.

Re: Re: Re: Car died in the rain today and now won't start
 

After you drove through the water and it died...did it even crank or try to turnover to start...or did you not even get the crank...Because if you don't have a CAI you car should have stalled unless there was an electrical problem. On thing that had happened to me once was my car would start to die while I was driving and I would rev it up and I would be good...and what had happened is that actually my positive cable on my battery had jarred loose and I guess was bumping around and touching the battery sometimes and finally had fallen of completely and I was just running of the charge my alternator had. I would check all the connection on the battery and check if there is like other people suggested an exposed wire. Because if it was something actually like water in the engine...whick would be a hard thing to do bone stock. You would have most likely had your engine light pop on. Just my 2 cents.

Alternator, wires, dist. cap (if you have one).

The Direct Injection system of all 95+ maximas made the old school spark plug wires and distributors caps and rotors completely obsolete:)

DW