I HAVE THE WORST LUCK. I THINK I BLEW MY ZC

1384 Views 23 Replies 10 Participants Last post by UltimX, Mar 4, 2002

crxcrxcrx

Discussion Starter · Mar 3, 2002

tonite it was raining in my area. i was hungry so i went out for a bite at wendy's. when i get around there, i drive right through a puddle of water (i have a cold air intake) and my car stalls so i drift it into wendys. i went and ate, and came back out like 30min later, and it wont start up. it kinda starts up but won't finish. so its still at wendy's and im home. i have the worst fucking luck. anyone had a similar problem? does anyone think it'll start tomrrow? what should i do?

1 - 20 of 24 Posts

crxrocks

· #2 · Mar 3, 2002

Give it a chance to dry up and I bet it will start. It would have to be a pretty deep puddle to suck up enough water to kill it.

Chris

zcivic91

· #3 · Mar 3, 2002

let us know wat happens.
check to see if u got a hole in ur block.
how long was u goin through the puddle?
it doesnt sound good man..

88zcrx

· #4 · Mar 3, 2002

just crank it up

it's cool.. You just gotta crank it up and let the water get out.. The water is restricting the air to flow in, so it's causing it to die... or won't start all the way up.. Just crank it, and punch on the gas so the water goes out the exhaust manifold.

ol'skoolrex_PH

· #5 · Mar 3, 2002

Re: just crank it up

88zcrx said:
it's cool.. You just gotta crank it up and let the water get out.. The water is restricting the air to flow in, so it's causing it to die... or won't start all the way up.. Just crank it, and punch on the gas so the water goes out the exhaust manifold.

you do know that water does not compress, right?

UltimX

· #6 · Mar 3, 2002

you could of goten the electrical wet.... that will cause it not to start.

B16ACrx

· #7 · Mar 3, 2002

Did you drive through a lake? If you just went thru a small puddle you may not have hydrolocked yer motor. If water went up in there don't try to start it. If you just got the electricals wet then it should start up ok. When a piston tries to compress water thats where you get your holes in your motor. Good luck.

TEG1CRX2

· #8 · Mar 3, 2002

it's cool.. You just gotta crank it up and let the water get out.. The water is restricting the air to flow in, so it's causing it to die... or won't start all the way up.. Just crank it, and punch on the gas so the water goes out the exhaust manifold.

Guess someone cut school the day they were teaching how air can be compressed and water can't in Science class. LOL. Probably got the distributor wet.
Once things dry out and you get the car home, go buy a tube of dielectric grease and coat the inside of the distributor with it. I have done this to every vehicle I have ever owned since my Mustang left me on the side of the road 10 years ago from driving through a puddle. I have never had a problem with water since. I can even spray my engines down with water to clean them (a cool engine) and then crank them right up when I am done.....

CRX-RX

· #9 · Mar 3, 2002

!!!!!!!!!!FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO IS TAKE OUT ALL OF THE SPARK PLUGS AND TURN THE CAR OVER FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS!!!!!!!!!

This will clear any remaining water (if that is the problem), then put the plugs back in and give it a try (after checking to make sure yu have spark as long as the plugs are out). If water is/was the problem do an oil change as soon as you get your car home. It really does take quite a bit to hydrolock an engine, but I do know of some honda's that have stalled out before hydrolock, wouldn't start until after being left apart (spark plugs out) for a couple days, then back to life with no problems (even pulled 224 all motor on the dyno

). Good luck, let us know of any other problems (hopefully none, huh, you've had your share so far) here.

crxcrxcrx

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 3, 2002

CRX-RX said:
!!!!!!!!!!FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO IS TAKE OUT ALL OF THE SPARK PLUGS AND TURN THE CAR OVER FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS!!!!!!!!!

This will clear any remaining water (if that is the problem), then put the plugs back in and give it a try (after checking to make sure yu have spark as long as the plugs are out). If water is/was the problem do an oil change as soon as you get your car home. It really does take quite a bit to hydrolock an engine, but I do know of some honda's that have stalled out before hydrolock, wouldn't start until after being left apart (spark plugs out) for a couple days, then back to life with no problems (even pulled 224 all motor on the dyno). Good luck, let us know of any other problems (hopefully none, huh, you've had your share so far) here.

how do i "turn the car over"?

it wasnt a lake or anything, just a puddle that when i drove through water splashed everywhere and my car stalled

TEG1CRX2

· #11 · Mar 3, 2002

crxcrxcrx, does the car even crank when you turn the key? This is what crx-rx was referring to. Pull the plugs and then crank the engine with the key. If it won't even crank (turn over), then the starter got wet. It should be dry by now and crank the car. If not, then the starter is going bad and needs to be replaced. If the car will turm over, hook up one of the plugs and place it near a ground on the engine and look for a spark. If you don't see one, then that is you proplem. Pull your distributor cap,, and look to see if there is any water (or moisture). If there is, go get a new cap and rotor (might as well seeing how you have them off) and coat the inside of the cap with dielectric grease. Also check to make sure there is no water down the cylinders seeing how you have the plugs out. By now most of everything should be dried out, so reinstall everything and try to fire it up. Let us know if any of these helps. Good luck.....

zcivic91

· #12 · Mar 3, 2002

dam if ur distributor got wet...then that wasnt just a puddle..so if wat hes sayin is right nothin above the bumper shouldve gotten wet..

he probly just sucked some water in and it punched a hole in the motor..oorrrr theres water sitting in the pisotns right now causing it not to spark and maybe rust out the rings!

id would hurry up and take out the spark plugs crank it, dry them off and pray it starts.

PSIKOTICsi

· #13 · Mar 3, 2002

we are all praying for ya hoping your zc isnt messed because that would totally suck.

hopefully yer filter was jes a little too wet and thats why it didnt start because it sucked up some water. just hope for the best....think positively.

crxcrxcrx

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 3, 2002

so take out all the spark plugs, push teh clutch in and act like im starting the car? is that cranking? turning over?

UltimX

· #15 · Mar 3, 2002

yeah, if the filer is wet and no air can get into the car, the motor will not start.

CRX-RX

· #16 · Mar 3, 2002

Ya, pretend you're starting it without the sparkplugs in. This will allow any accumulation of water in the cylinders to be pushed right out through the spark plug holes. Unfortanetely I have a good reason for knowing about this, my freind sank my jet ski about 5-6 years ago, and I had to go through this process to get it back and running again. Anyways, make sure that no one is holding the plug wires when you're turning the engine over so no one gets shocked. After that first step, this will tell you if in fact there was water in the cylinders, or at least let you know that's not the problem. Let us know the outcome, and we'll help you get through whatever's wrong.

UltimX

· #17 · Mar 3, 2002

wouldn't that be a bad idea to take out the sparkplugs and then crank it over? why not juse use a cloth or something and soak up the water? also, if u really want to know if u have h2o in there, just take out the spark plugs and look inside with a flash light. solution solved.

crxcrxcrx

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 3, 2002

ZC UPDATE!

heres an update on my rex.
i took the spark plugs out and cranked it. my friend said it looked like water was being burnt while i did it so i guess that was it. also when i took out the spark plugs, i noticed on the far right spark plug hole, that i was all brown and had a tiny bit of oil in there. i tried starting it up after cleaning off the spark plugs n shit, but it wouldnt start. it sounded like the distributor was having a problem. so i was about to leave, then i was like, dude im gunna try it one more time. i tried it again and it seemed like it wanted to start, so i was like hmm... so i kept trying to start it and it seemed like it got better each time, so finally after like 6 tries, it started up a lil bit i reved the engine and a LOT of black smoke came out, but i started, and i kept revving it, and it seemed ok to drive home. so i drove it home.
while driving it home, it seemed like it got better. i am burning gas (as usual though because my ECU chip makes me run rich). so i turned it off at my house, then started it up again, and it was fine. it runs like normal.

the only thing im worried about is, my car idles around 500 - 1000.
is that normal?
i havent had my alternator working for a while, i just fixed that problem a couple days ago so i forget where my idel should be.

should i replace my cap and rotor? get my car checked out? any ideas? do you guys think my car is ok?

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zcivic91

· #19 · Mar 3, 2002

glad to hear its running again..take off the cap and rotor and replace.

CRX-RX

· #20 · Mar 3, 2002

Sounds like water, now that it's home OIL CHANGE, INCLUDING FILTER!!!!!! Before you drive it anywhere. If everything else was ok on the way home, you should be fine. If you want to change the cap and rotor because you haven't in a long time, go for it, but it doesn't sound like it's necessary, I'll never tell someone to to change it though, it never gets done often enough. Glad to hear that it sounds like it's ok.

Oh, and your idle is fine, target idle is 700-900.

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