Engine Water Damage, Drove it into a flood.

[Cammyammy]

I stupidly drove into a rather deep flood yesterday and the car died on me there and then. Left it for a good 4 hours (out of the water) and tried starting and after a while it fired up however there was a significant power loss, maybe 99.99%. Had to floor it in 1st to acheive 10mph going up a hill to get it home! It would also stall if you didnt have your foot on the throttle keeping the revs above 1500rpm.

Anyway left it over night and imediately things seemed a bit better today, it wont stall as easily and there seems to be a normal amount of power. Didnt have much time to attend to it today so cleaned/dried out the air filter and box this afternoon before the sun set. But the persistant problem is that it sounds like the car is misfiring (If Im honest I have no experience with misfires so cant say for definite) The exhaust is going "boom-boom-boom" instead of the normal "brrrrrrrr" And also the car shakes a bit more than normal. The car seems OK to drive, the problem isnt getting any worse, but its not getting any better. Any suggestions to what I can do to help the situation? I thought to check the spark plugs but its too dark now and also Im not sure how. I really do need the car this weekend.

PS. Amongst all this the engine warning light is on.


Cheers

[danny-vts]

take spark plugs out (1 at a time) and dry them
you need a 16mm long reach socket to take them out.
what car is it on?

[baker556]

Coil pack will need a dry out if not replaced.

[saxo-parts]

hopefully its just soaked the electrics or you could be one of the many lucky people who manage to bend rods by driving through water and getting it in the intake. in that case, its time to open ones wallet and let it flow

[sebring]

simple pyhsics, water cannot be compressed, hence getting into the bores will bend you connecting rods. IMO an engine with water damage should be rebuilt or replaced... dont want rod giving way whilst your driving, its only got oneway out of the bore!

[Cammyammy]

Its a 1.1i engine.

Thanks for the response.

Iv just driven a good 20 miles without too much of a problem, what would provoke a bent rod from making a swift getaway? So I can avoid that if thats what Iv got.

Ill try the spark plugs tomorrow if I can.

And if I do have a bent rod, what are my options? bearing in mind the cars only worth a little over a grand.



Cheers

[Jordysport]

the piston rings will go before you bend a rod. take out the sparkplugs, if one or more is coated in oil then say goodbye to that engine. may aswell put a VTR or VTS lump in it.