jlong00

I ran up to the gas station tonight to fill up and while I was there the bottom dropped out. On my way home in the terrential downpour I came across a "puddle" doing about 35mph (idle) and I am afraid I may have waterlogged my motor. After hitting what appeared to be a 10ft swell my motor dropped RPM(500ish), then stabilized. The car never died but if I applied any more than very light throttle it would choke -- so needless to say I was VERY light on the throttle for the one mile drive back to the house. Once I got home the car idles fine -- cranks fine -- but after inspection the air filter is soaked. (JLT CAI)

Anyways, I guess what I am after is any expert advice on my situation. I plan on pulling my plugs tomorrow to see if I can find any evidence of water inside, in addition to replacing the plugs and draining/replacing the oil. Is there any tell-tale signs of a motor that is fubar'ed because of water damage? Anything I can do outside of what I have already planned to confirm how severe the problem is? Also, anyone know if insurance would cover damage as a result of flooded roads?

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can lend.

Oh, if it matters, the car is a 2003 GT.

SSFenris

If it was completely FUBAR, you probably wouldn't've made it home. The checks you're already planning are a good start, I'd also recommend pulling the CAI, TB, and intake, see if there's any evidence of water inside. What probably happened is when your air filter got soaked, it basically plugged your engine for a minute... clean the filter thoroughly, and make sure it's completely dry before putting it back on the car.

tempoffroad

pull of the air filter when it got soaked it would not allow it to breath and was keeping you from getting any rmps. you will know if you hydrolocked it when you went to crank it, it would could have bent rods and would not have started without some noises , you are ok but pull your plugs if you feel better about it. this is just my opinion and i have had mud truck that have hydrolocked.

defconfire

+1 if you are not sure you can pull the plugs and turn it over.

wantamustang

yep, pull out your coil packs, blow em out with compressed air, then dab em with dialectic grease. blow out all your spark plug holes with compressed air. Change your plugs while your in there. Also check you air filter. After all this you should be fine.

jlong00

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I pulled the intake and couldn't really tell of any sign of water within the inlet tube. I also checked the TB/Plenum and really couldn't tell much -- other than the soaked filter. I'll pull it apart tomorrow and see what I can find.

Thanks again for the advice -- i'll report back tomorrow.

mustangman281

You would have to drive into a lake at high rpm to get any damaging amount of water in your engine. A big puddle will clog the filter and maybe get the maf wet which is what kills the car for awhile. People spray more water into their engine while racing then a puddle would.