Car trouble

[Dirkgreatness]

OK so i was driving yesterday in the harsh weather. I wasn't able to see the road clearly so i accidentally went into a deepish puddle. Then, my car just shut completely off. I was able to turn it back on and continue driving. But today i noticed a clicking sound coming from the engine i think. Im not sure where its coming from. Any ideas on how to fix it or whats the problem????

[chumdawg]

I'm afraid you will need to be a little more specific.

But at first blush, I doubt that the "clicking sound" has much to do with the deep water.

[Dirkgreatness]

Actually i think i does because i took the intake system out and it was soaked with water. I'm letting in dry right now and the clicking sounds coming from the engine seem to be lighter now. I'm going to give it time to dry and if it doesn't work i'll just take it to a mechanic.

[left texas]

drown out~could be bad problem

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by Dirkgreatness

Actually i think i does because i took the intake system out and it was soaked with water. I'm letting in dry right now and the clicking sounds coming from the engine seem to be lighter now. I'm going to give it time to dry and if it doesn't work i'll just take it to a mechanic.

You took the "intake system" out? What do you mean by that?

[Dirkgreatness]

You know where the car air filter is located. I took that out. I'm letting it dry a bit.

[chumdawg]

The air filter has jack shit to do with the way your car runs.

[Dirkgreatness]

Not according to my girlfriends bro-in-law which is a mechanic btw.

[Dirkgreatness]

Btw the filter IS in the intake system so im not saying the filter just got wet. The intake system itself got water in it. And that basically how the car engine breathes, so i'm thinking it has a lot to do with how the car runs.

[chumdawg]

If your filter is a little bit wet, that still means jack shit when it comes to a clicking sound.

[Dirkgreatness]

It wasn't a bit wet it was soaked. There was a lot of water in the air box. The puddle of water was like a foot deep. But i don't know. Maybe its some of the wiring thats wet. This is frustrating.

[Ummmmm Ok]

Change all of your fluids, oil, antifreeze, transmission, and rear end fluid. Trust me on this. If water got into your engine through your air filter, you might have bigger issues, but this might help your situation. Nothing sucks worse than water in your engine or your transmission, not unless of course you was already in the process of replacing them.

[mary]

People shouldn't try to fix things on their own - its un-american.

j/k

[Dirkgreatness]

Originally Posted by mary

People shouldn't try to fix things on their own - its un-american.

j/k

lol. Well in this case i think I'm going to have to get someone to fix it for me.

I have no clue what the problem is. All the liquids like oil, coolant, etc seem to be fine. If i were to have to guess i think water got in through the air filter to the fuel injection system.

[Dirkgreatness]

UPDATE (which im sure no one cares):

Alright, so we found out a piston rod had broken. I just had the whole engine be rebuild (lots of money). But, the thing is the people doing the rebuilding have a hard to finding parts for it, so its been in the shop for 2 months!!!! So yeah, pretty much i've been living on getting rides to work and school. GAY!!!

[tcat075]

Sell your car, buy a motorcycle.

[Usually Lurkin]

broken piston rod?? That was probably less of a click than a clack. And you shoulda called those guys. THeyr'e funny.

[Flacolaco]

I am so ignorant about cars and engines and whatnot. I like to tell myself that my whole generation is like that, but I suspect it's just me.

Maybe you should have just waited. Cash for clunkers will likely give way to cash for engines. Then food, HDTV's, tennis shoes, reach arounds, etc. You know you're entitled to all of those things.

[Usually Lurkin]

Flaco, I think you are right about your entire generation. You watch too much tv. That and cars are a lot more complicated than they were a couple decades ago. You gotta hook most cars up to a computer these days just to do basic maintenance. And you would know about computers if you didn't spend all your time playing video games. (oh, wait - is this the rant thread?)

[Dirkadirkastan]

Video games are awesome. Car parts are not awesome.

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

Flaco, I think you are right about your entire generation. You watch too much tv. That and cars are a lot more complicated than they were a couple decades ago. You gotta hook most cars up to a computer these days just to do basic maintenance. And you would know about computers if you didn't spend all your time playing video games. (oh, wait - is this the rant thread?)

Damn. I knew my degree in Computer Science is worthless

Seriously though, that's what my father tells me. Cars are too complicated now, and you have to plug them into a computer to do anything.

Oh well. I just feel so helpless every now and then when something goes wrong with a car, and a I almost jokingly open the hood and just sort of stare at the engine and my eyes glaze over and sort of roll back in my head. Of course, that's all after I high five someone because I figured how to get the hood open! Yeah!!

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

Video games are awesome. Car parts are not awesome.

You raise a good point, sir.

[DirkFTW]

All my car knowledge comes from Chilton's Repair Manuals. But I think the car has to be a few years old before they will publish a manual on it.

I used the manual to replace the ignition switch to my old 1988 Acura Integra several years ago. It took 3 hours, but felt like one of my bigger accomplishments in life. Then the front driver's side tire fell off while I was on I-35. I'm pretty sure the two were unrelated though.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Damn. I knew my degree in Computer Science is worthless

sorry, flac. Getting to the end of 4 different Final Fantasy games is not a degree.

Oh well. I just feel so helpless every now and then when something goes wrong with a car, and a I almost jokingly open the hood and just sort of stare at the engine and my eyes glaze over and sort of roll back in my head. Of course, that's all after I high five someone because I figured how to get the hood open! Yeah!!

me too. It's not just the technology, though. People live in cities now, and yards are so small that the neighbors notice when old oil gets dumped in their back yard. And HOAs complain if you keep a car up on blocks in your own front lawn for more than a few weeks. So we all use jiffy-lubes.

[Justin Credible]

If you're looking for an answer as to what happened it's this: Water can't be compressed. If you drive through deep enough water it will enter your intake and eventually travel past the valves into the cylinder, where the piston will rise in an attempt to compress it before the usual air/fuel mixture is ignited. If water gets in there and can't be compressed you will have catastrophic mechanical failure, such as bending a rod or a couple (few?) valves.

Moral of the story? Car ≠ Boat. Never drive through deep water at all unless you're fully aware that you're rolling the dice on spending a hell of a lot of money for no reason other than silliness.

[Dirkgreatness]

Dang this car has been a hassle...

Ok well they finished all the engine work now. But i noticed some noise coming from the timing belt and its like squealing or something. Its very annoying. Anyways i took it to the mechanic (same one that rebuilt my engine) and he said it was normal because he had put a new timing belt in and it needs to settle in or something. I don't know why but i get the feeling that new timing belts don't sound like that.....

[Dirkgreatness]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

Video games are awesome. Car parts are not awesome.

I disagree. But its close. I do love my video games.

[GermanDunk]

Piston rod and clicking ? Ummmm...OK... I first though about an electrical problem.

Breaking piston rods and driving into the water ??? This i´d call coincidence.