Whats up org. So i have a 99 i30 that wont idle, itll crank over but it wont idle it just turns off. The problems started today because it started raining and on my home the streets were flooded with water and i didnt want to drive through all that water because my car is a little low and i dont have my splash guards. I had no other way of getring home so i just kept going and hoped that the streets wouldnt be too flooded but i ended up making it about two streets down when my car turns off on me. So i pull to the side and try to start it, it starts but it just doesnt stay on. Im thinking i might have got the alternator wet or something electrical. Hopefully thats the case but im just hoping none of the water got in the motor or anything like that. If anyone has any opinions on this that would be great. Need to get this on the road asap its my daily. Currently waiting for towtruck to get me out of here.

 

When I used to take my subaru to mudfest I had to put silicone on the plug wires because water would leak past and the ignition would short out through the water puddling up down by the spark plugs to the heads. I would try removing coils and blowing air down there.

How deep was it? I would pull the air filter too and see if it ingested any water.

 

how deep was the water, and how fast did you drive through it?

+1 about water injestion. I lost a Volvo 145 that way once.

 

Checked filter no water in there. Going to check coils and plugs after trying to dry the alternator. Doesnt look like water got all the way up to the coils though. going to try to post up a vid of what the car does in a little.

 

Water was pretty deep it was covering a lane and i was driving pretty slow because everyone was trying to avoid the water

 

it appears that no water got into the engine, so you can rule that out. The alternator should not prevent your car from starting. no need to check that. your coils are on top of the engine, they should all be fine, or at least most of them.

I have not personally done what I'm going to say next, so just suggestions....

look for sensors down low. crank sensor. cam sensor.

 

the car does start it just doesnt stay on. will look into that.

video of car

 

I assume the check engine light is on? What does the code reader say?

 

No check engine light at all. Will hook it up to scanner though

 

Check your crankshaft sensors. Maybe water is shorting out your sensors. Spray them with MAF of electrical cleaner and dry with canned air.

 

I would check the throttle position sensor and the IAC valve.

 

maybe wait for them to dry up?... Doubt that will work though, how low is your car? sucks when its too low and it rains pretty hard..can screw you over easy >.<

 

Do you have and after market intake that will suck up the water in to the motor and it's game over. The depth of the water how deep was it. The sensors could of gotten wet cam and crank pos sensor. It sounds like you were driving into a 2 feet water.

 

He doesnt have an aftermarket intake. I highly doubt your car hydro-locked. Id start with checking your alternator if you got the dionide wet it can damage it internally causing it not to crank.

 

Going to put the tps and iac sesnor on hold because those were not wet but if all fails will check those. Lol water was not two feet it was about almost as high as a sidewalk and my car is dropped about 2 inches. Im going to check my cam and and crank sensor tomorrow. Yea dont have intake so no worries there. So say if my alternator were to have gotten wet is there any way that the alternator would still be functional after? Appreciate all the suggestions u guys have mentioned.

Pic of how low the car is

 

that is one clean I30, I like the color..considering how low you are, you have no fender gap. so yeah i can see why the rain could be an issue..hope you find out the solution, and when you do.. tell us! don't leave us hanging lol

 

Thanks. Will do ill keep u guys updated. Thanks for all the help.

 

Alright guys wasnt going to work on the car this morning was just going to leave it but we ended trying to fix it real quick this morning and we saw there was a lose hose by the vacuum and we definitely thought that was the problem and boom right after the car stayed one and idled fine. Guess it was just a vacuum leak, somehow a hose got loose while i was in the rain and something caused my car to turn off which made thing it was something elcectrical. Anyway thanks everyone for ur help i appreciate it. I feel like a total noob because it was just a vacuum leak.

 

Nice i30

No worries man, it happens. When I had my 4th gen, my car was idling funny and bogging on acceleration. If I pushed it hard from a stop, it would creep for a few seconds and then surge forward. I didn't know what to think, so I took a blind shot and ordered a new MAF. When I went to replace the MAF, I found that the rubber accordion tubing at the TB was torn . So, at least you didn't put any money out to repair yours

Thanks for following up

 

Thanks yea had my share of problems with maf's too. Glad it wasnt nothing serious or didnt have to spend money. I hope this thread helps someone in the near future with similar problems.