drove through a deep puddle-Need help

dsc1990

New Member
Sep 9, 2010
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A few days ago i drove 15mph through a puddle that i thought was just and inch deep, turned out it was prolly closer to 8 inchs deep. I was driving home and when i was heading up a hill the car felt like it was going to just give out on me so i took it home and opened the hood and my radiator was steaming, i also noticed a decent amount of steam leaving through the exhaust so i turned it off and took out the CAI in my fender and it was also damp and there were drops of water in the CAI's metal tubing. I ran the car an hour later with minimal steam and it still runs fine, however the idle sounds a different like its a little louder (not in a good way). I no longer have steam leaving the exhaust however i'd like to check to see if i have water in the engine. Does anybody know how to do this an easy way? and if theres anything else i should check?
 
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Start first by cleaning the MAF just in case it got water on it.

If you really want to know absolutely if the motor is hurt, run a compression test. Change the oil

If you want an educated guess, the mufflers have drains to let the water out. Same drains will let water in. If partially filled with water, the exhaust tone would be affected.

IMO, the radiator was steaming because it was hot. After being sprayed with water, steam is the result.

It is also possible that water is making the acc belt slip. This should go away after the belt fully dries.
 
^^ i actually cleaned the MAF when i took the CAI out and dried that, it had a couple drops of water in it but im assuming its fine cause the check engine light didnt go on.

Do you think a compression test is necassary since this happened a few days ago? And if there wasnt enough water in the engine to hydrolock it would, would the water steam off when the engine is running.

I went through the puddlee friday and have driven 50 miles since
 
^^ i actually cleaned the MAF when i took the CAI out and dried that, it had a couple drops of water in it but im assuming its fine cause the check engine light didnt go on.

Do you think a compression test is necassary since this happened a few days ago? And if there wasnt enough water in the engine to hydrolock it would, would the water steam off when the engine is running.

I went through the puddlee friday and have driven 50 miles since

comp test is only necessary if you want to be sure that the engine remains unaffected. I'd still change the oil. If there's water in the oil, obviously it wont protect the motor as it should.