CAI through 2 feet of water

[resevil83]

Today I had class, my street was flooded and I thought I could make it through. I wasn't quite sure on how deep it was, yet I knew it was too deep. At first you read this and are probabally confused. To explain in further detail, I had a plan of attack. My block has two entrances to the main street, so I went around to the second entrance where the street wasn't as flooded. A house is on the corner with a raised driveway that actually connects to the main street. My plan was to shoot for the driveway and go to the other side without getting too deep.

Didn't happen. My car got about half way and then stopped. The engine shut down and the SES went on. I am assuming I sucked in too much water. I tried to turn on the car and It just clicks once.

My car is lowered... Please tell me its my starter? I am hoping my car isn't hydrolocked... If it is what can I do? What should I do? Change the oil? Change the air filter? I am sooo worried. I am going to let my car sit there for a couple of hours and try to start it again.

[KeyserSosa2000]

The thing that concerns me is if the SES light would come on if just the starter died? I don't think it would, you said that the car stopped and then the light and then when you tried to start it back up, all it did was click....From the way things transpired it may be the H word.

If it is Hydrolocked you know that an oil or air filter won't help, if it's the starter you're still kinda in trouble because the car is still sitting in the water and I don't know too many people that are gonna drive out there and jump it for you.

I'd say 70% chance of it's F'd, 25% chance of atleast needing parts and 5% chance that it'll start when you go back out.

[Boostd94]

pull a couple plugs on the front bank and look for water, or even easier pull the intake and look for water residue inside it. if you see water pull all plugs and take your intake off and crank the car wide open throttle to try an get it to pump the water out and you might get lucky

[KeyserSosa2000]

Originally Posted by Boostd94

pull a couple plugs on the front bank and look for water, or even easier pull the intake and look for water residue inside it. if you see water pull all plugs and take your intake off and crank the car wide open throttle to try an get it to pump the water out and you might get lucky

he said all the car did when he tried to turn it over was click...doesn't sound like he can "crank the car at wide open throttle"

[Slim]

If a car is hydrolocked, you can pull all the spark plugs and try to crank it over. If there's any water in the cylinders, it'll be pushed out. After that, you would need to change your oil and filter.

It happened to a friend of mine and he was able to fix it doing what I just said above.

[tenspeed]

if he didn't bend a rod......

Like Slim & Tenspeed said. Pull all the plugs turn it over till no water comes out & hope you didn't bend a rod or worse.

Do'h

[cavingman]

I had a bmw in the shop i work in the other day that went into a creek. highest compression it had was 15 psi during a compression test. it still turned over though, just wouldnt start

first thing I did was what slim mentioned though. thats your best starting point.

[resevil83]

wait a minute... pull out all the plugs and try starting the car without the plugs in!??! Will that work? Change the oil after or before I try to start the car? And take off my cai and just let the maf be the end of the intake?

[Sprucegagt]

Do you know what hydrolocked means?

Look it up, then you will understand why you remove all the plugs and turn the engine over.

[tejohnson]

You may want to read the code too... Since it will not even turn over, you could have just burnt up the fusable link. Don't think these rods really bend... More like snap

[lone_wolf025]

I think he's f***ed. Plain and simple.

[resevil83]

i know what hydrolocked means... its just that engines work in mysterious ways to me... I understand what the components of the engine are and what they do, its just hard for me to know where things are placed and how they are all linked and contained together. I've never really taken apart an engine, so I have difficult times imaging the setup.

I am just going to take the car in and have a mechanic deal with it, I have work all weekend.

What I do want though, is your opinion on something. Lets say worse case scenario my rods snapped or my head cracked whatever... I am interested in the milzy motorsports stage 2 kit, I was wondering what plugs to run and what wires? I am going to be getting a gatorback belt as far as prevenative maintenance and I was planning on changing out the plugs, if I go the stage 2 route would I get something different from the TR55IX Irridium plugs? I was planning on draining my trans pan and other things, I just wanted to know what things I can do to prepare for this type of setup. Also, for example, I need to change my fuel filter, stock is fine? or no?

[Sprucegagt]

Before you can start deciding on upgrades you need to know what is wrong first. Have your mechanic check the car and find out what is wrong.

Get a bypass valve for your CAI while you're at it.

[gaowners32]

bypass valve wont do **** in 3 feet of rain.

This the main reason why i dont drive my car when it gets that bad out. Just sits in the garage.

[resevil83]

well the mechanic told my dad it is an intake manifold gasket. He said that I blew it. So he wants 800-850.00 to fix it. Unfortunately I am a poor college student. My dad does not pay for anything. I am on student loans and I just paid off my car. This all means that I don't have 800.00

Can I get a new gasket? for cheaper and do it myself? My friend is a BMW mechanic and said he could help me. Is that job worth 800 dollars?

[Panacea]

If he's charging $80-90/hr then yes, that price is right. Most people get it done at the dealership for $5-600. Is it worth it? Sure, if you're not mechanically inclined. IT takes the better part of a day to do, so thats where the high price comes in. I believe the gasket is $100, but I may be wrong.

I don't see how this is the problem though?!?

[resevil83]

yea I'm going to call him tomorrow and talk to him personally. I don't know how this is the problem when I drove through a RIVER.. not a river, but you know. Anyone explain the logic here?

Anyways I did some searching on the board and found this link Engine Oil or Coolant Leak (Install New Intake Manifold Gasket) #03-06-01-010B

This shows that there are new bolts and gaskets out for our car. I also found a thread where members were complaining that these new gaskets didn't last long at all either. They said not even 3k miles. I think I can tackle this job, I just need to find instructions on how to change out this gasket. And I pray that the gaskets work for me. I will make sure I torque them down in the correct order and properly. Any suggestions?!

Like I said I don't know what parts I will be able to change out from there, but anything internal that I can do while I have that manifold off? Might as well right!! I take back my pervious post about not having the money... I just got accpeted for a credit card that I have no interest for 12 months. I can pay off that in 12 months no problem.

[normal]

dont take this the wrong way, but i am trying to understand, you said you were interested in doing engine upgrades if you messed stuff up on your engine, but you turn around and say you don't have the money to fix the LIM? i completely understand being a college student (read: dirt poor) but if you don't have the money to fix the LIM how would you pay for upgraded parts and installation? just something to consider, and best of luck with getting the car back up and running