What happens if I get water in my engine through my air intake?

Question

I have a 2000 Neon and I have a cold air intake installed. Last week I drove through a puddle that was across the road(there was no way around it) The puddle ended up being about a foot deep wich I would assume in turn caused my car to suck up water into the engine. My car immediately turned off and took a while to turn back on. Now that it's back on my car runs like it has 40 horsepower. It barely runs at all and it sounds just terrible!! What can I do to fix the problem?

Answer 1

If you get sufficient amount of water in the combustion chamber, the connecting rod will bend or break. This is because water does NOT compress like gas/air mixture. Either that or it will blow the head gasket if that happens to be the weakest link.

At this point, anything is possible. The best thing would be if you didn't try to start your car, but it's too late now.

I would imagine, from your descriptions, not all cylinders are firing. It could be compression, gas deliverly, or ignition. Or - it could be electrical problems, too. I wouldn't assume the worst, yet, but you certainly need someone qualified to give you the answer.

I suggest you take it to your mechanic before any more damage is done.

Answer 2

A few things,,,,,
First, pull the air cleaner out. See if it runs better, if so, problem solved . Buy new air cleaner.
Second, if above doesn't work, pull the plug wires off and make sure there is no moisture on them or the plugs, or wherever they are connected. (Not sure if these have a coil pack or an actual distributor.) If it has a distributor, pull the cap and spray it with a LITTLE WD-40 to displace the remaining water. Replace cap and wires, etc. and try her out. This might be your real problem. Good luck. The Duck

Answer 3

You are actually lucky it runs at all, We had a flood here and at that time I was working at a shop that had some affected flood vehicles towed in the engines were ruined and I want to believe that if yours is at least running one of two things has happened your catalytic converter is now plugged due to it being about 800 degrees and suddenly full of water caused it to fail and likely block up the exhaust and without exhaust an engine cannot run.
The other thing could be the timing belt "jumped" when the engine filled with water..

Answer 4

I am sorry to say you have bent connecting rods, the engine [sounds terrible] is knocking and has no power due to the lowered compression caused by the bent rods, water does not do them any good. you could have the rods replaced but another engine may be cheaper. had a truck do this once ripped the head studs right out of the block that engine ended up as scrap.

Answer 5

Depending on how much water got sucked in, you could have bent a connecting rod or more! Water doesn't compress, so when the piston goes up, something has to give, and that's how rods get bent!
I'd take the car to a mechanic and have it checked out. You could have also fried some sensors.

Answer 6

Don't run it. You will wash the piston walls. First off CHANGE OIL... Than do a retain tune up (plugs,wires,air filter, fuel filter etc). That should help if it still has the same slow problem take it to a shop and have them fix it.

Answer 7

Change the oil NOW, before you drive it anymore. Also, you may have cracked the engine block if the puddle was deep enough and the car hot enough. I would also change the filter as it might be still full of water.

Answer 8

first off replace ur air filter then id replace the dist cap its cracked if the engine was hot when u hit the water replace the cap and roter then if still a problem replace spark plugs they also might be cracked

Answer 9

I would take out the air cleaner element from your CAI. You probably doused it with a ton of debris, and it can no longer effectively pass air through it without severe restriction.

Answer 10

Put dry gas into you gas tanks and spray some wd40 into you air intake.