Car problems after driving through a flooded portion of the street

[wan]

It rained pretty hard here in So Cal and unfortunately I was driving through San Bernardino county where the rain usually causes flash floods and generally causes all kinds of madness. I had to drive through an intersection that was flooded with about 6 to about ~10 inches of water at the deepest section. I drove slowly through it and tried to clear it without going into the deep end. The check engine light came on after I cleared the intersection and the car started to hesitate, then started working normally on my 30 min drive home on the highway.

The next morning the car battery didnt have enough juice to crank the engine over as if something drained it overnight. I jumped started it and went to work where I had to jump start it to go home after my shift. Besides that the car ran fine. Later in the day, the car started fine like if nothing had ever happened so I drove to the store where the check engine light came on and the car didnt have any power to move in the parking lot. Once again the car snapped out of it and drove home without any problems. Today I started the car up with no problems and while it was idling, the check engine light came on and the engine started to idle erratically before it stalled. Right after I restarted the engine and it idled perfectly like if nothing ever happened.

I'm going to look it over after work today to see if I can find water in any electrical components/plugs. I'm planning on looking underneath the car and checking all electrical components that water could have reached. Should I look somewhere specific for signs of water?

[sfgearhead]

O2 sensor. If it got water in it it might have cracked the ceramic. Check your codes to see which code was being thrown.

OT: Damn that's a good looking RX7!

[paanta]

O2 sounds like a good place to start. Did the water come up as high as the crank sensor? That can cause all sorts of intermittent problems. Fusible link shouldn't have gotten wet but maybe it blew somehow? Where does fuel pump wiring run through the body?

Water sucks.

[wan]

O2 sensor. If it got water in it it might have cracked the ceramic. Check your codes to see which code was being thrown.

OT: Damn that's a good looking RX7!

I figured the o2 sensor would be a good place to start and luckily I have a new NTK o2 sensor that I havent installed. I looked in the bentley for info on reading the codes but I couldnt figure out what the code(s) were. I'll have to look for a better explanation on how to read and interpret them. Thanks for the compliment on the RX-7. It's a very fun car and now that I have my 535i/5, I usually use it for track days only.


O2 sounds like a good place to start. Did the water come up as high as the crank sensor? That can cause all sorts of intermittent problems. Fusible link shouldn't have gotten wet but maybe it blew somehow? Where does fuel pump wiring run through the body?

Water sucks.

I'm not sure if the water made it to the crank sensor or not but I'll have to check it out tomorrow just to be sure. Is the fusible link under the rear seat by the battery? The fuel pump wiring should run inside the cabin. There's really not much electronics that are exposed on the bottom of the car. The oxygen sensor would be the most vulnerable one besides the engine accessories like the a/c, power steering pump and whatever plugs are down there for the lights and outside air temp sensor.

I hope the o2 was the culprit because I'm not good at tracking down electric gremlins.

[Broseph Davis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bINRMIO67m4

[wan]

I think that was worse than what I went through! I changed the o2 sensor and cleaned out its plug along with other electrical connections in the immediate area. The car seems to be running well now but I havent driven the car enough to really test it out. The old o2 plug had some moisture in it.

[Broseph Davis]

I'm sure after a day or two and a couple miles of puttering around you will be straight.