Water crossing, followed by not running

[claytonfaulkner]

Saturday morning, the road into my hunting spot was flooded. I knew I should turn around but I really wanted to make it before sun up. I just start easing through, get about 1 mile in and decide to turn around, it was getting too deep and moving too fast.

The highest the water got was about 1 inch below the bottom of the door.

Anyways, drove the long way around, about 15 miles, parked and did some hunting. When I got in my car to leave, it didn't want to go. It idles fine, and I can give it a little bit of throttle, but at about 10% throttle, it bogs down. From about 10% to 95% it just runs like a rough, high idle. Then at full throttle, it takes off like nothing is wrong.

It doesn't do it all the time, but it seems to be getting worse.

It seems to run fine in park, but if I'm going down the road and it starts, and I slip the shifter into neutral, it keeps running like s***.

CEL was on, has been for a very long time, always P0401. Went and had the code pulled this afternoon, same thing. Disconnected battery, turned it on, CEL was off, let it idle for 20 minutes, drove around for 15, still no code, still running crazy.

I got nothing, any ideas?

 

[WarWagon]

Water in the distributor maybe.......

 

[greentruck]

Yeah, that's the first thing to check. I suspect the water was just deep enough that the bottom of the fan was splashing, since he was running slow. I take it this was for an extended distance? Sometimes a little faster is better, because you get a bow wave going that helps trap air under the hood and keep the water out. If you run too slow, then the water gets in. Just a theory, as ordinarily short stretches that deep aren't an issue.

 

[claytonfaulkner]

I removed the dizzy cap and everything looked fine.

I keep thinking it's running rich. It reminds me of a 4 wheeler with the choke on. But rich/lean should throw a code.

 

[93yotasr5]

Pull the 02 sensor connectors, blow them out until dry with compressed air then add some dielectric grease.

 

[CruiseOrlando]

Pull the 02 sensor connectors, blow them out until dry with compressed air then add some dielectric grease.

x2. This is your problem.... and it's not so much the sensor as it is water getting in the connector.

 

[greentruck]

Pull the 02 sensor connectors, blow them out until dry with compressed air then add some dielectric grease.

That's a good one, gonna make a mental note of that.

 

[lugueto]

I've seen and been through more than a fair share of water crossings with 80's. Their distributor is actually pretty damn good in keeping water out. I've been on water crossings exactly as you've described. I've been on water crossings where water has splashed on my windshiels. I've never had a wet distributor on the 80. On the situation you describe, the dizzy would be way above water level. The fan couldn't splash as the fan clutch would make the fan stop as soon as it hit water. Besides, a wet distributor would make the engine run rough on the complete RPM range, as well as with any amount of throttle, because you have cylinders that are not firing.

The O2 sensors, however, mightve been fouled, as mentioned. These were most likely submerged and depending on the current state of exhaust even took in water. Check those, I would discard the distributor with the description you've given.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Pull the 02 sensor connectors, blow them out until dry with compressed air then add some dielectric grease.

THIS!!

Had the same problem a while back....

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/temporary-loss-of-power-after-water-crossing.615005/

Pulled the connectors on both plugs, filled them with dielectric grease and she's been fine ever since

 

[claytonfaulkner]

I pulled the O2 sensor connectors, sprayed them out with electronics cleaner, little dielectric grease and everything seems to be running fine now.

The CEL came on about 30 minutes later but it seems to be running fine. I'll go get the code pulled soon.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[084runnerltd]

I was stuck on this water for 1.5 hours with no issues.

I would think my o2 would be acting up.....my vote is that you got something wet in the engine bay.....(not that that helps to narrow it down.....)

 

[93yotasr5]

Do you know how to pull the codes via the paper clip trick?

Super easy and fast. I'm curious to what the code is. Does it stay on or does it go off occasionally?

 

[claytonfaulkner]

97 lx450, no paper clip trick. I guess I should have stated that in the beginning.

I would be willing to bet that it's the same EGR code it always is. It's been coming and going for about 3 years, and I get about 1.5 mpg better with the CEL on so I'm not in too much of a hurry to fix it.