hey its raining here hard....went through a puddle car started sputering and alot of smoke i have an 03 cav with a eco with aem coldair should i leave it running and let it burn it off?? i dont think it sucked in to much enough to cause it to almost stall.. or should i leave it and change the oil asap??? thx any input would be great
Did the engine stall? If not then just let it run. You could pull the plugs and crank it over to help push the water out of the cylinders, but everything else should be fine.
Tinkles
2003 Cavalier 1SV
Bagged and Blown
alright thx alot its idling now seems to be running fine .. im going to check the oil just inase
Hi,
Consider yourself "lucky"!!
Sucking in water can do major damage to an engine. Water in a cylinder does NOT compress like gas vapor does. After sucking in "Fuel" (actually water, for you filled the intake manifold with a giant gulp of it) and the piston now begins its upward travel to compress and ignite the gasoline vapor it will instead hit an unmovable solid wall of water. Hitting a wall of water will stop anything that comes against it dead in its tracks. An engine Spinning at a high RPM rate means that something must give way to the inertia when a piston is stopped suddenly and often it is the top of the piston caving in, a connecting rod will snap, sometimes a crank can snap and if you are really lucky you already have a bad head gasket and this will just finish the weakness and blow it out. None of these things is good and the fix is often a tear down and rebuild or replacement of the engine.
Just a little running sputter means you took in a small sip of water that you were able to largely vaporize and pass through the engine with the vaporized fuel, Be really happy your car didn't gulp the water in!
I think you've learned now to NEVER drive through an innocent looking section of flooded highway. You could pay dearly for the experience with a new engine. Always pause and observe the puddle and others driving through it to gauge it;s depth. Even a shallow puddle which would cause your car no problems by itself can have waves formed by oncoming cars which will swamp out your intake (most often located at or below the front bumper on many newer cars), just be very very wary of a standing unknown section of flooded highway.
Water in your oil is the least of your problems! It's unlikely you got any in considering you didn't stall out and stay stranded in middle. Most engine openings to allow water in to a crankcase are most often on the very top of the engine.
Dave
