Water in Engine Bay?

[Bowman]

Alright so I had the hood up on my car a few days ago. (checking fluids, cleaning battery terminals, nothing really mechanical) I left the hood up thinking nothing of it and went inside for about 15 minutes. Keep in mind I live in Florida where the weather is extremely unpredictable, anyways I stepped back outside to find a heavy drizzle rain shower. I quickly shut the hood and went back inside. Later that evening, about 5 or 6 hours later I ran to the store to pick up a few things and on the way my car started chugging horribly. acceleration is very slow and sluggish. it just didnt want to go. If I let the car idle the RPMS drop to about 3 or 400 and then immeadiately jump up to about 1200. Idle is rough, it has stalled once and comes close to stalling often. I first thought water may have got into my intake filter, so I pulled the spark plugs, which seemed fine, not wet or fouled. I tried turning the motor 3 or 4 times for about 15 seconds to see if water was in the cylinders and I couldnt find anything. I then drained the oil and put new synthetic oil, oil filter, and brand new NGK copper plugs and gapped them to spec. also put some fuel/injection cleaner in the gas tank. (it says it also helps seperate water if present) I started the car up and it ran smoother but still sounded like it was missing. let it idle freely for about 10 minutes then took it for a 8 mile ride. THE CAR RAN PERFECT! no hesitation or stumbling, good solid idle, and overall sounded and felt great. I wake up to go to work this morning and the car is back to running horrible. Has absolutely no power it stumbles and jumps around irrationally and sounds like the motor is missing. There is no ticking or knocking noticeable in the motor but I dont want to keep driving it and potentially cause further damage. I previously had a CEL for an exhaust 02 sensor, but the car ran fine since ive owned it. What else do you all suggest? what else could it possibly be? could the wires and coilpacks of gotten wet and caused damage to them? Im clueless and kind of stressing it because its my daily and need transportation for work.Sorry its a long post, just trying to be as descriptive as I can. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[Bowman]

Well ran to autozone, picked up new wires, and coil packs. I was positive that was it. Put them in cranked the car up and it ran fine for a minute or two. Then the same exact thing started occurring that I explained in the previous post. Misfiring, huge loss of power, choking itself until it almost stalls. Rpms dropping way low for 4-5 seconds sometimes more, then the car jumps way up in rpms. I have no idea. I'm stumped. Need some help here guys

 

[got_psi]

check for vacuum leaks, inspect and try cleaning the MAF.....also does the problem go away as it gets to temp or does it stay with it?

 

[Bowman]

It's pretty much doing it all the way around from cold start to normal operating temperature. It occasionally just runs okay for a minute or two. There's no pattern to it and not predictable. Its so bad I can't even drive it a shop if I have to. I'll have to have it towed. The car literally has no power. Ive looked all over for leaks. Hoses and lines appear fine as well as my couplers and clamps. At idle my vacuum is reading -19 but when driving it holds at or very close to -20

 

[Bowman]

Im starting to lean towards there being an issue with a sensor. That might explain why its not constant. The car is no where near driveable. I just dont really know where to turn to next. Im gonna inspect the MAF and try cleaning that next I guess. Im almost positive it has to be water/rain related. The car ran fine before this incident.

 

[Bowman]

Heres some videos of it.. You cant really hear the car well, at least on my laptop. I recorded with my phone so I know its bad quality. if you turn the volume up you may be able to hear the idle. the whistling when im standing in front of the engine bay is my blow off valve slightly open. I know these videos really are not going to help diagnose it but you get the idea of how choppy the throttle is. and you can see my vacuum is holding constant. I also reset the ECU hoping that might magically help. No codes came back up, but it clearly isnt running right. (Notice how much my RPMS are fluctuating in the second video from the very beginning to end.)



This video was right after starting the car. completely cold start. Its idling okay. It still sounds a little funny. doesnt have the same tone that my car normally does. you can kind of hear it begin to chop a little then it catches itself. about 15-20 seconds after I stopped recording this video is when it got worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbg_9PjcySE&feature=plcp

Here its starting to act up bad. again the video doesnt give a good clear idea of how it sounds or drives in person. its very rough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjeCXJyqUs&feature=plcp

 

[pbarton14]

You must clean that maf! With maf cleaner. Water is the enemy when it comes to the maf

 

[Bowman]

I'm actually on my way to autozone yet again to pick up a can of maf cleaner and give that a shot. I'll let you all know how that goes.

 

[Jasonjames]

I listened to the audio and whilst the engine sounds reasonable, it did seem to be hunting, which is an indication of running too rich. Being turbo its something I'm not familiar with,..except to say the turbo complicates the diagnosis.

A mechanic can check fuel-mixture [air-fuel ratio] very easily.

JJ

 

[Bowman]

Yeah I don't have a wideband in the car which would make things a little less complicated. It doesn't smell of fuel when the car is running. When I pulled out the old spark plugs they were way off recommended settings. Almost twice what the gap should of been. My friend works at a lube shop and they put the previous set of plugs in. The set I put in last night I double if not triple checked to make sure they were gapped correctly. I just threw the maf back on and Im making sure its all dry before trying to crank it back up.

 

[Bowman]

Well that didn't do anything for me either. If I can get ahold of a better camera I'll get a better quality video tomorrow. I'm stumped. Cranking the car without plugs to get water out, fuel injector treatment, oil and filter change, replaced spark plugs, new coil packs, new wires, cleaned the MAF... Still no real progress. Idle is still sparatic and fluctuates from like 400 to 1500, chugging, huge loss of power, and occasionally stalling. I did notice something else though. When it starting acting like it was gonna stall I tried giving it gas and holding the RPMs around 4k. Even while holding the pedal, the rpms will still dive really low. And eventually catch itself after a few seconds and gradually climb back up.

 

[Jasonjames]

I think the rain incident may well have been a co-incidence and any effects from that are gone. Car engines can tolerate some moisture no worries,..except if its running a pod-filter which would act like a sponge. If you have one on the car it'd be worth inspecting.

If the engine fuel-air ratio is all over the place, it'd give you your symptoms. Mechanics sometimes hook up a portable air-fuel monitor and take the car out for a run to see what its doing. Ignition timing which is moving around can also give the same symtoms. One other valuable check would be manifold vacuum. A fluctuating engine vacuum can point to vac-hoses perished or split, brake booster diaphragm leakages,.a faulty booster-valve. Usually tho the driver notices reduced braking at slow speeds in these cases. If a poster with a turbo can throw some light on the problem would be excellent

JJ

 

[got_psi]

can you get your hands on a scan tool? if you can check your short and long term fuel trim. if its hanging 15+, id check out your pre-cat 02 sensor in your manifold. if thats worn out that can give you really rich conditions. also check your BOV or BPV, which ever you have. when i got a cheap china ssqv, it idled just like that and made the car almost undriveable.

 

[Bowman]

I have a turboxs rfl Bov. It's been installed for at least half a year. Bought it brand new and I haven't had any trouble with it. My buddy's dad just bought a scan tool. I haven't been able to get ahold them. I've called over and over the past few days. Im hoping to get it hooked up to one and see whats going on. And I really don't know if the rain was coincidental. The car ran perfect right up until the incident. I've looked around and checked for moisture under the hood but I can't find anything. If it is water related, what else could possibly of gotten wet that is giving me these symptoms?

 

[Bowman]

Well heading back out to mess with it again. Going to pull the plugs back out and try blowing compressed air in the wells to see if there's any water. I'm reading similar issues online and that fixed it. Also I read hitting the engine with wd40 to disperse any water that may be on connections or wires. At the same time I read that it could be detrimental and may cause harm to it. Would this be smart to try or no?

 

[Bowman]

im sorry to keep putting so many posts. Well after pulling the plugs (checking the gap yet again), I tried blowing compressed air in the wells and had no luck. so then decided to take a heat gun and tried drying the wells out just so I can be 100% sure and rule out that it is not a possible problem. Put the coil packs and wires back on and just did another visual inspection to see if there was anything I may of somehow missed. All looked good so I fired it up and let it run. Idle is horrible and I finally got a video showing how unstable it is. The car still hasnt thrown any codes and Im unable to drive it anywhere. Hoping I can get ahold of someone with a scanner. My last option is to have it towed somewhere to be checked. Im beyond frustrated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiVQSzWelGQ&feature=plcp

 

[Jasonjames]

Anything which is easy to do, and may well clear your prob,..is worth trying. Remember any water will evaporate as the hot engine operates,..it will be all gone after an hour or so of driving. I'd check the pod-filter as it may have water sitting on one side due gravity, introducing small droplets into the intake.

Best of luck,..JJ

 

[Jo060]

I don't think the rain had anything to do with it, just coincidence, you could soak your bay with a hose and it'll be fine.
How old is your battery? Have you tried a friends battery? I had a problem very similar to your 2nd video, swapped in a new battery and it ran perfectly.

I'll be in Orlando tomorrow if you need help.

 

[Bowman]

I don't think the rain had anything to do with it, just coincidence, you could soak your bay with a hose and it'll be fine.
How old is your battery? Have you tried a friends battery? I had a problem very similar to your 2nd video, swapped in a new battery and it ran perfectly.

I'll be in Orlando tomorrow if you need help.

I haven't tried hooking up another battery. I've owned the car a little longer than a year. I knew the guy I bought it from and he said it had a new battery. I just went out and took a look and the battery has a date sold sticker of May 2011. So its not even a year and a half old. I started the car today and let it warm up and it was acting fine, so i drove the car around my neighborhood for about 15 minutes today and it didnt show a single problem. Then went to try it about two hours later once it cooled down and it instantly was having the same issues as the videos posted above. It comes very close to stalling at idle but hasn't actually stalled since the first day I started having problems. Rpms will drop regardless if I give the car gas or not, misfiring, loss of power, and stumbling are still present as well

 

[Jo060]

How is your air filter, is it filthy?
If you look into your throttle body does it look nasty inside?