80 bogged down out in flooded street (1 Viewer)

[Flank]

Although I am a long time cruiser enthusiast, I am on my first - 95 fzj80, late model in year. (until now, i have had to covet my dad's 60 and 80s).
In Dallas, we had some pretty good flooding this week... streets very filled with water. As I was charging through the water, up to 6-8" deep at maybe 20mph (who watches the speedo in this situation?), my engine began to bog down, hesitate and shutter.
Check engine light blinked during the shuttering, then when the engine steadied out, the check engine light remained remained on.

I checked the air filter - dry. Cleared out the check engine light by disconnecting the battery cable for 30 sec. Stays off and engine runs fine now.

Is this normal behavior for an 80 cruiser? I was under the impression I should be able to ford a bit of water. Was I sucking up water somewhere, or depriving the engine of air? My experience with my 02 Tahoe was that it could easily do this. Very surprised the cruiser had trouble. Is this a symptom of a larger problem i should be looking for?

Thanks in advance for any advise or pointers. I love my new truck! My wife is happy to get the Tahoe. Funny thing, my 13 year old toyota with 180K on it feels a hell of a lot more solid than my 6 year old Chevy with 85k on it...

Flank.

 

[Lka1988]

You may have gotten water in the dizzy. How long was the engine sputtering?

 

[trojan_knight]

when the check engine light is flashing it means catalyst damage is occurring. It remains on so you will take it and have it checked.

So with a flashing check engine light, meaning a rich misfire, I would assume that you got water in the distributor.

 

[GXO]

VERY common. The belts run such that they spit water up into the distributor's drain hole...just dry it out and go on your merry way.

 

[Koffer]

you went too fast and sprayed everything under the hood with mucho water . since the dizzy is in the front its prone to getting very wet. Time too pull the cap and wires clean all the crud on the inside and outside of cap all dirt and oil off the wires and spray with silicone. The crud on the outside of the wires and cap are just as bad as crud inside the cap and wire connections since when wet it helps with a path to ground .

I just forded water in my 80 that was over my 35" tires and it was fine but I took it slow and kept the wake just ahead of the truck to keep the water out of grill,fan,and air cleaner fender intake.

 

[jvazquez53]

X-2 on Koffer. I do water fording all the time here, we get a lot of rain and never had problems. BTW my 80 is factory stock an I had H2O up to the bumper.

 

[Flank]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I admit, I was probably a bit cavalier about the water. The engine was sputtering the first time for about 20 sec, the second time for about 1 min. I will pull the distributor this weekend.
As the for Cats- I recently was told by a Toy dealer near me that they needed replacing - to the tune of $2700. I believe aftermarket will be the way to go there... If I told my wife my new toy NEEDED $2700 worth of exhaust work, right after buying the truck, I might be searching parts bins for a new butt.

Glad to newly be part of this community!

Flank

 

[trd55]

I understand the water being sprayed up, but 6"-8" of water should barely get 1/3 of the way up the tire. Not to mentino there is the skid plate under the belt area on the 80s, unlike the 60s and 40s. Then there is all the other stuff in the way from the belt to the dizzy. Then the dizzy is supposed to be booted wnd have the air hoses in and out which help to keep it dry if water does make it back there.

I suspect that water might be intuding at the O2 sensor connections, and shorting out the wires, causing an errant read. If the wires happen to lay on the exhaust, the sheathing gets fried off, and now it is open to the elements.

I am no master tech, but those are my opinions. good luck...

 

[Flank]

I understand the water being sprayed up, but 6"-8" of water should barely get 1/3 of the way up the tire. Not to mentino there is the skid plate under the belt area on the 80s, unlike the 60s and 40s. Then there is all the other stuff in the way from the belt to the dizzy. Then the dizzy is supposed to be booted wnd have the air hoses in and out which help to keep it dry if water does make it back there.

I suspect that water might be intuding at the O2 sensor connections, and shorting out the wires, causing an errant read. If the wires happen to lay on the exhaust, the sheathing gets fried off, and now it is open to the elements.

I am no master tech, but those are my opinions. good luck...

Certainly something to look at. Looks like I crawl under this weekend as well. Time to get to know the beast a bit - give it a bit of "hows your father". Will check O2 sensors and any exposed wires as well as distributor this weekend and report back.

 

[Atoyot1031]

I understand the water being sprayed up, but 6"-8" of water should barely get 1/3 of the way up the tire. Not to mentino there is the skid plate under the belt area on the 80s, unlike the 60s and 40s. Then there is all the other stuff in the way from the belt to the dizzy. Then the dizzy is supposed to be booted wnd have the air hoses in and out which help to keep it dry if water does make it back there.

I suspect that water might be intuding at the O2 sensor connections, and shorting out the wires, causing an errant read. If the wires happen to lay on the exhaust, the sheathing gets fried off, and now it is open to the elements.

I am no master tech, but those are my opinions. good luck...

Yeah, but 20MPH is haulin' ass through water. I only do that if I'm trying to impress someone or get a good picture (see my avatar).

 

[Flank]

Yeah, but 20MPH is haulin' ass through water. I only do that if I'm trying to impress someone or get a good picture (see my avatar).

Yeah, I was getting after it a bit. At 34, I still have not gotten over the love of circling the supermarket parking lot ten times to run through the huge puddles - my wife rolls her eyes. Would she love me so much if i grew up? I will gamble on no...

 

[Koffer]

I understand the water being sprayed up, but 6"-8" of water should barely get 1/3 of the way up the tire. Not to mentino there is the skid plate under the belt area on the 80s, unlike the 60s and 40s. Then there is all the other stuff in the way from the belt to the dizzy. Then the dizzy is supposed to be booted wnd have the air hoses in and out which help to keep it dry if water does make it back there.

I suspect that water might be intuding at the O2 sensor connections, and shorting out the wires, causing an errant read. If the wires happen to lay on the exhaust, the sheathing gets fried off, and now it is open to the elements.

I am no master tech, but those are my opinions. good luck...

The old F motors had all this great stuff to keep it dry or dry it out very quickly But the 1fzfe dissy was moved to the front of the motor next to the belts and fan plus didnt get all the cool little boots/and vacuum lines just a drain hole
Also with the plugs mounted into the head through the valve cover (hemi style) too much water will get past the rubber boot and fill up the hole and cant drain ending up with a bad miss (washing the motor is biggest offender of this )

I say clean everything up good silicone spray everything and go play in the puddles
Life is too short to grow up as I'm been 10 for 28 years now, just have cooler toys now