I drove through a large puddle of water tonight and my car stalled out. I had to push my car out of the water which was up to my shins.

I opened up the CAI at the TB to try and start the car. That didn't work. There was a little bit of water at the throttle plate, and it looked like some might have gotten behind it.

My car still wont start and I was wondering if this has happened to any of you?

 

if water got in your engine is probably done for...hydrolocked

could be ok if nothing broke....

 

ahhh man sorry to hear that. This happend to someone else as well.... Dont try to start the car... Let it dry out. You prolly went into hydrolock. Check your sparkplug and coils.

 

sorry to hear about that. looks like your CAI sucked in some water thru the puddle you drove in, made its way into your motor and caused it to hydrolock. Start thinking about a VQ swap w/ lower miles

 

Oh man, I tried to start it up at least 6 times after it stalled out. Am I seriously going to have to replace the motor?

Is there anyting I can do to help dry out the motor?

 

dont try to start it for a day.. let the water dry out

 

this hapened to me just take out the plugs and crank the water out of it you might have water in the oil and the back of the intake. my car is still runing strong after this happened to me so you might be in luck

 

aaww fawk, i still dont understand why ppl put cai on there car, so much loss of low end, and the trouble you go threw, your better of staying short ram or hai, but ppl dont understand.

neways sorry to get off topic, but ppl read about driving in puddles with cai, but still ppl take the chance and leave the cai on there car.

neways bro im sorry to hear, more than likey your motor is hydrolocked, and you probably bent up all your connecting rods, especially if u had water near your tb

 

How would I crank it out? Do I have to take off my intake runners?

 

Take out coil packs and spark plugs and remove the fuse for the fuel pump located inside the car then crank away.

 

I had some water in my other car. We dried it out by stuffing a rag down each spark hole, and cranked for a few seconds. The point is, hopefully you'll soak up some of the water as the pistons shoot up. Be careful not to suck the rag in! Also, don't crank so much you drain the battery or kill the starter.

Jae

 

The motor will be fine. Just crank it without the sparkers and let everything dry out. Also change your oil since you prolly got water in there too. I'm speaking from experience since this happened to me a couple months back.

And to all the misinformed people that said your motor hydrolocked, it wouldn't even be able to crank if that was the case. It would literally be "locked".

 

If you get it running, be sure to do an engine flush, it could help prevent rusting.

 

When I tried to crank it over, the lights dimmed and it maid a single click noise. Each time only one click sound. It never actually turned over, it felt like it was about to turn but then it stops, and the click sound happens instantly.

 

I would try to turn the motor over "by hand" to eliminate the starting system as the culprit. You can do that by putting a 21mm socket IIRC on the crank pulley bolt and ratchet it clockwise. If you can't ratchet it, then the motor really IS hydrolocked.

BTW. Next time you try to crank your car make sure it's with the spark plugs removed.

 

If the car is cranking, but not starting, then it's not hydrolocked! A hydrolocked motor doesn't spin.

 

my car didnt turn either, take out the sparkplugs and crank it

 

I kinda already said that...hehehehe

 

I think I'm going to try and key crank once today before I go into taking out the sparks and hand cranking. If that doesn't work I will need to find a Vq35.

 

Well if key cranking with the sparkers in does nothing, then remove the sparkers and key crank again.

 

I have my maf disconnected, will that affect the crank?
I also checked the oil with the dipstick and there were a few beads of water on the stick above the H mark. I dipped it again and there were fewer beads. I think I will have to take the plugs out now.

 

There is definitely water in the oil so changing it is a given. So remove the sparkers and crank. And no, having the MAF disconnected will be of no consequence when you try to crank.

 

I don't have a spark plug remover right now, should I just drain the oil out for now to get something accomplished?

 

Yea. As long as you don't forget that there's no oil in the motor next time you crank it.

 

There should be enough oil residue left to crank the motor for a short amount of time. If I actually get it to crank over, I can refill the oil then.

I am really worried that this is going to be a motor replacement.

 

Now that i think about it, i suggest you wait til you can remove the spark plugs to crank the motor. For your starter's sake...

But yea, drain the oil. Let it drain as long as possible so as much water as possible can come out.

 

Go with all the stuff people said on this thread. But, if you've been trying to crank it for a while, and now your lights dimmed with a single click, your battery might be worn down. (Car does the same thing when the battery is weak.) Do all the other stuff, but check your battery (or get a jump) to see if it cranks to eliminate the starting system as a culprit (easier than manual cranking).

 

The starter has been acting up recently, but I'm sure its the water. The battery is straight. I'm on my way down to drain the oil right now. I'll pull the plugs tomorrow when I have the plug socket. Then I'll take care of cranking it over.

 

why did u go through a puddle that was up to your shins?
was it an accident or what? it sounds like you drove through a creek.

 

The road didn't look like the water was that deep, It was like any other puddle but It actually was 8 inches deep; the splashing water is what took out the intake. When my car stopped dead in the water it was one cm above the water all around.

 

Damn Darrius, I hope it works out alright. If you get it running again you better get yourself one of those CAI bypass valve things so this doesn't happen again.....Good luck man

 

I'm gonna go with the short ram style next time. We'll see how it turns out.