stalling in puddle?

[nic0]

hey NC,
i need some help answering some of my questions. today when i was driving in San Diego my car almost got stuck in this massive puddle. when i went to go park my car, a lot of smoke was coming from the engine bay. i checked my oil to see if my oil pan was leaking and i checked the coolant which was at an okay level. soo my questions are...

1. is this steam coming out just water evaporating?
2. is my engine fxcked? bring it to a mechanic? :marky:
3. if my car is too low can i still hydrolock with a stock motor?

thanks guys, i need the help since ill be here in the rain for the rest of the week.

[KazCelica]

Do you have a CAI? How deep was the puddle?

[nic0]

the puddle was pretty deep, deep enough to submerge a CAI. luckily im on a stock motor, no more CAI.

[Sty09]

1. Water + hot engine= steam.
2. Check your dipstick for water.
3. Go have a beer and relax.

[Klint]

Nico, what color was the smoke? It was most likely water on the lower exhaust manifold heat shield evaporating.

[KazCelica]

If you had CAI then you should worry. but since you dont i think you can relax its was probably just steam :)

[RomanTaylor]

When car deep into puddle, you will see steam.
Don't think you should worry.

[Klint]

im curious what you mean about stalling though.. ?

[farm]

Water got into your engine most probably.
My friend almost got hydrolocked like that with his stock airbox.
His engine would stall right after he tried to drive away on the first gear.
Luckily he just waited through night and the car ran normally, but he had to change his oil right away.

What you might wanna do is :
-Dry up your air filter
-Pull out your spark plugs and see if they're wet.
-Crank the engine without the sparkplugs to get some of the water out of the engine.
-Change your oil ASAP.

[RomanTaylor]

Was the puddle deep enough to cover the exaust?

[nic0]

^ yup :(

[alpha Q]

^yea, it was raining like crazy down here in SD

[Kangaroo]

my money is also on steam...

you never elaborated on the stalling... and hitting a big puddle slows your car down... if that was your 'stall' it was steam

i used to go puddle bashing in my old saturn all the time (cause i didnt give a rats ass about the car) lotsa steam... sometimes the brakes wouldnt work well right after, and some big puddles will indeed slow you to damn near a stop. also if you are in gear, and dont clutch in... the slowing down from the puddle would drop your RPMs low enough that the car stalled out because of that. EDIT: (your sig indicates an auto... but for other paranoid puddle bashers... its something that can happen)


have a beer or bowl and relax

[HENd0g]

aha dude that sucks, i was driving back from sd yesterday and 3.5 of the 4 lanes on fvcking highway 5 were flooded about as high as my tire. i was about to spend an extra night before heading back to sj but i said fvck it haha

[6strngs]

There were some deep puddles by my house yesterday so when I came home on my lunch break from work I took my alltrac back instead since I have a CAI on my GTS. So yesterday and today I've just been smashing through puddles on purpose :gap:

Anyway, the steam was probably just watter evaporating off the manifold. If it was a blue color it would be oil, white is coolant/water. If the car stalled/bogged for a second you might have gotten some water into your engine. A little water is ok, even beneficial (why else would FI guys use water injection?), if the car runs normal now then I wouldn't worry about it.

[nic0]

thanks for the help guys! car worked fine this morning. tomorrow is disneyland! i hope it doesnt rain hard...

[TeamXceli]

so if i have a cai and i have to drive the car on a daily and it rains alot wtf do i do ? lol

[Klint]

so if i have a cai and i have to drive the car on a daily and it rains alot wtf do i do ? lol

stock or sri.

[TeamXceli]

well thats gay

[6strngs]

after the rain we've been having this week I'm thinking about buying a SRI for the winter time and then just switching to the CAI in the spring

[nic0]

^ not too much of a difference. might as well keep the sri right?

[yebron69]

I have a full ramCAI...my celica is dropped ..n ii got stuck in a massive puddle flood. My car shut down as soon it reached the puddle. water got into the CAI and into the engine I think because my filter was soaked with water. The puddle was about 14 inches deep..i got out the car and disconnected the CAI asap...I open throttle and there was some water in there. After an hour a tow truck pulled me out the car and took it to my house. I tried starting it but it only started for about 3 seconds and then shuts down.. So I took out the spark plugs n start it again. but no water came out. the spark plugs were dry. Then I put it back together, and it starts for about 5 seconds and then shuts down again. what should I do??? Some help please!!!

[Klint]

I what should I do??? Some help please!!!

Search. & not thread hi jack.

[6strngs]

I have a full ramCAI...my celica is dropped ..n ii got stuck in a massive puddle flood. My car shut down as soon it reached the puddle. water got into the CAI and into the engine I think because my filter was soaked with water. The puddle was about 14 inches deep..i got out the car and disconnected the CAI asap...I open throttle and there was some water in there. After an hour a tow truck pulled me out the car and took it to my house. I tried starting it but it only started for about 3 seconds and then shuts down.. So I took out the spark plugs n start it again. but no water came out. the spark plugs were dry. Then I put it back together, and it starts for about 5 seconds and then shuts down again. what should I do??? Some help please!!!

did you put an intake back on it? with the MAF unplugged or with a large air leak after the MAF the car will run for a few seconds then stall like you said.

[alpha Q]

I have a full ramCAI...my celica is dropped ..n ii got stuck in a massive puddle flood. My car shut down as soon it reached the puddle. water got into the CAI and into the engine I think because my filter was soaked with water. The puddle was about 14 inches deep..i got out the car and disconnected the CAI asap...I open throttle and there was some water in there. After an hour a tow truck pulled me out the car and took it to my house. I tried starting it but it only started for about 3 seconds and then shuts down.. So I took out the spark plugs n start it again. but no water came out. the spark plugs were dry. Then I put it back together, and it starts for about 5 seconds and then shuts down again. what should I do??? Some help please!!!

Damn, time to part our your car