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We had a heavy rain storm last night. 19 year old daughter drove 94 Toyota Camry for a mile or two in the worst of it. She hydroplaned, the car stalled, the check engine light came on and there was a bad smell. She managed to start it to get it home. Today it does not start and the check engine light is still on. Any opinions on this? Did she ruin the engine?
I'm guessing the car got some rain sucked up into the engine. You probably should, at the very least, pull the spark plugs and let the cylinders dry out.
You might also have gotten electronics wet, but there's no way of knowing without being there in person.
Hydroplaneing and stalling an engine will not get water into the cyls unless it was submerged besides the air filter would have prevented a large intake.
The odor smell sounds like a wet wire shorted and burnt...thus the check engine light.
Spray a mixture of 50/50 water and gas and the engine will still run.
Hydroplaneing and stalling an engine will not get water into the cyls unless it was submerged besides the air filter would have prevented a large intake.
The odor smell sounds like a wet wire shorted and burnt...thus the check engine light.
Spray a mixture of 50/50 water and gas and the engine will still run.
Right.
But it also depends on where the air intake is on that car. I worked on a late-80s Beretta with a flooded engine. The intake was actually below the radiator.
And while the car might still run - while it's hot - with quite a bit of moisture in it, it won't likely start again when it's cold. The plugs will be wet.
That said, it is odd that she got it restarted and driven home.
Basically though, it's a crap shoot at this point. It's just about impossible to tell what's wrong with his car.
My truck has a fuel pump shut off switch, it has a reset on the passenger side foot well.
My Volvo had a fuse in the engine bay that would stall the motor if over loaded.
If you know what you are doing, read the code, see what's wrong. If you don't know how to work on a car like this, probably this is not the time to start, you need to get to a tech with know-how, wherever the water is, it will cause corrosion if not dealt with promptly.
That said if you can get the car somewhere it will stay dry and dry out, maybe put a couple of fans blowing air through the engine compartment, this may get things dried out to the point where you can start it. Check the oil and make sure there isn't water in the oil, there shouldn't be but check.
Something else that won't hurt is WD-40 sprayed liberally around the ignition system.
The "check engine" light is only supposed to go off after the engine is started. With the key "on" and the engine not running this light should be on in every vehicle, that part is normal.
And yes, water can certainly get sucked in through the intake and go right past the filter, this happened to my '89 Camaro and it bent a rod. In my case the engine started, but it did knock.
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