I got caught in a sudden downpour on the freeway 2 weeks ago on the way to my friend's house for dinner. I was steady state cruising @ 45 MPH (15 under) becasue of the conditions when the engine starts to sputter a little. My first thought was "Oh ****, hydrolock!" but before I could kill the engine it stopped just as soon as it started. I was worried but I was getting off at the next exit and figured I could make it 2 more miles so I could get into his garage and check things out... As I'm pulling off the highway I get the sputtering again, then the CEL flashes at me a few times so I throw it into neutral and try to coast into his subdivision when the engine dies. At this point I'm thinking the absolute worst... I coast to the entrance and stop, to call him to come pick me up.

After I hang up with him, I throw a ******* fit, say a little prayer and turn the key. It started! I let it idle for a second listening as hard as I could. It holds idle normaly but theres a burble from the exhaust. And there's a little bit of white smoke from the exhaust. I pop the hood and check things out there's seems to be a tick coming from the top end. 2 minutes later Victor pulls up pulls up in his Eclipse, I motion for him to follow me back to his house. I get there and park it, I let it idle for about 15 minutes but the tick and burble never went away. I called it quits and resigned myself to swapping a B18C shortblock and mild cams with my 0% untill next year Chase VISA since I had just switched banks, still thinking hydrolock.

I eat and watch Team America and get ready to leave around midnight. The car starts right up, albeit still burbling and with that slight tick. I felt comfortable enought to drive it home without an escort. I got there fine, the motor still revved freely and I made it home with no further drama after removing the CAI and running open TB.

The next morning I pulled the plugs and drain the oil. The plugs look normal and theres no water or coolant in the oil. I even ran an extra quart through it to see if I could pick anything up. After I threw in new plugs and with fresh oil I'm still right back where I started. I limp over to Autozone and had my friend pull the codes...

P0301 - Misfire on #1
P1399 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0303 - Misfire on #3
P0300 - Multiple Random Misfires

Since then I've put in new plugs, a new distributor cap (still need to put in the rotor, I stripped the retainer screw. ) , swapped plug wires and put in a new fuel filter. I'm still at square 1. Well, -1 since I spent like $54 on OEM parts... So what's next? I'm going back and forth between spark and fuel. I'm on the verge of just getting another OBDII distributor, I saw one for sale locally for $65.00 with plug wires.


Modified by R0ck* at 1:55 PM 6/11/2005

 

youre not gonna get hydrolock unless you drive your car into a lake or youre one of those idiots with your airfilter right next to your tire. its gonna be something minor / ignition related that doesnt like water / condesnsation.

 

check in your dizzy cap and check all the injector crap maybe something came loose its happened to me before. good luck.

 

could be the pcv valve or the pcv sensor

 

replace both and check it out the pcv valve might be clogged

 

also does it rev pass 3000rpm if it doesnt that might be ur problem

if that not it try replacing the ur ecu

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BeeEK9R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also does it rev pass 3000rpm if it doesnt that might be ur problem

if that not it try replacing the ur ecu</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll check the PCV valve in the morning. The car revs freely to fuel cut but I doubt it's the ECU itself though...

 

I think your coil took a ****. Try replacing it and see what happens.

 

why is everybody in this thread all about implying 'it might be your ____ so try replacing it' theres a little thing called diagnosis and that saves lots of time and money. check your ignition related components and other relating parts, dont go and replace your ecu / pcv / coil.

 

Make sure u reset ur codes after u replace something, or u may still be gettin the same cel even though u replaced apart..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by R0ck* &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Since then I've put in new plugs, a new distributor cap (still need to put in the rotor, I stripped the retainer screw. ) , swapped plug wires and put in a new fuel filter. I'm still at square 1.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
How bad is it misfiring? Can you notice it? Does the engine sound like a lawnmower?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DelSol-B-18 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Make sure u reset ur codes after u replace something, or u may still be gettin the same cel even though u replaced apart..</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL You think I replaced the fuel filter with the battery connected?!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chiovnidca &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How bad is it misfiring? Can you notice it? Does the engine sound like a lawnmower?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Bingo!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by R0ck* &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bingo!</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'll take that as a yes. Sounds like a bad missfire, have you done a compression test?

 

I'll try to do it tomorrow, think I may have fucked a valve?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by R0ck* &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'll try to do it tomorrow, think I may have fucked a valve?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sometimes making sure an engine is mechanically sound keeps you from pulling your hair out.

 

1-3-4-2 firing order. You said that the codes where 1 and 3 well 1 is first and 3 is next in the firing order. So what does that tell you????? Well for one thing did you check your dizzy to see if it had water in the cap????? That will cause a short.
I had this same thing happen to me and thought it was everything else. Check that and let me know. Does it do this through the rpms ???? (sputer) hope you get it fixed man.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 96civicls &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1-3-4-2 firing order. You said that the codes where 1 and 3 well 1 is first and 3 is next in the firing order. So what does that tell you????? Well for one thing did you check your dizzy to see if it had water in the cap????? That will cause a short.
I had this same thing happen to me and thought it was everything else. Check that and let me know. Does it do this through the rpms ???? (sputer) hope you get it fixed man.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It sputers throughout the entire rev range. I checked the cap when I replaced it (needed to be done anyway 107K miles)

 

mine was injector

 

There are three basic faults in engines. 1. Base engine 2. Fuel 3. Spark

Eliminte basic faults one by one

Check vacuum, at idle it should be steady between 18 and 22 inches of mercury. If it jumps all over the place then you have fault number one. At that point I would recomend a compression test and then a leak down test to see where all of your vacuum is going to.

If the needle remains steady:

Check for fuel, pull your plugs and crank the engine. Smell gas? Yes? You have fuel and your problem is ignition. No? You don't have fuel. If your answer is no, get a set of noid lights to see if the injectors are pulsing. If you end up not having fuel and you get to this point let me know because I will elaborate further on how to diagnose this.

If you have fuel:

Check for spark, get a spark tester and see if spark is leaving the distributer. If it is not leaving the distributor then you have a problem in either the coil or distributor. Get a helmes manual and see what the resistance of your ignition coil should be. If the coil cheks out then blame the distributor.

 

Thanks man, I'll check it out tomorrow.