so...i know nothing about hondas and my boyfriend knows little (despite what he says!!). he has a 92 civic and today while he was driving through heavy rain, he hit a puddle that was pretty deep and his car shut off and flashed the dash icon lights. he rolled it to a stop and it won't turn over. i didn't see this, but he said that at first the whole engine area was smoking. when he turns the key, there's a click and the dome light dims, but no engine sounds whatsoever. what we think happened is a short somewhere, but we won't be able to check it out until the rain stops and we get some daylight. please let me know what to check to help us out. thanks!!

 

Hydrolock.

I'm guessing you have a cold-air intake?

 

don't know about the intake...my 91 subaru (no intake) went thru the puddles fine, his just died.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kmw87 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">don't know about the intake...my 91 subaru (no intake) went thru the puddles fine, his just died.</TD></TR></TABLE>

$5 says his car is lowered and has a CAI. Hydrolock is my guess.

 

if it's hydrolock, what needs to be done??

 

check battery

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kmw87 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if it's hydrolock, what needs to be done??</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it's hydrolocked, the motor is completely fucked 90% of the time.

Check the battery, starter, and alternator first. Make sure they didn't get flooded. If those are good ...

then ...

 

the connections? or the charge? what exactly should be checked? fuses as well just in case?

 

swap

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kmw87 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the connections? or the charge? what exactly should be checked? fuses as well just in case?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Take out the battery, alternator, and starter and take them to Autozone. They'll check them all.

 

damn...i guess we'll have to hope for the best. thanks for your help!!

 

HYDROLOCK!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 11secondHATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">HYDROLOCK!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

seriously...

 

He fucked his engine, hydrolock. The reason all the dash lights came on is the same reason if u you yank your e-brake and let out the clutch - when it stalls the lights on the dash come on.. So he hits it, fries his engine, it acts like it stalled (that's why all the lights came on) and that's why it won't crank.

Although that doesn't produce smoke, he probably fried something too. Which makes one wonder if he fried something AND hydrolocked or just fried something...

Find out if he's using a CAI (cold air intake) or not.

EDIT:
You said your subaru didn't have any intake on it and you went through puddles all the time, it's not because of that, it's because on a cold air intake the filter or place where the air comes into the intake arm is at the BOTTOM of the chassis for all intents and purposes, if you have a cold air intake and hit a puddle too hard water'll splash up, if any water gets sucked into your engine it can fry your engine. Only takes I think 1 tsp of water into the intake to kill an engine.

So when it comes down to it, a CAI is more dangerous in wet weather (unless it's got a water shield) than no intake at all. Most CAI's don't have water shields, you usually have to buy them seperately. Shortbore intake's FTW!!!! Better throttle response and no hydrolocking bullshit unless you manage to cover the entire engine in which case you'll probably have other problems like the battery arching first....

 

depending on how much water gets ingested , it can bend piston rods. im thinking he just toasted somin electrical. i dont think he ingested water like you guys are thinking.

 

yes, he does in fact have CAI. it still wouldn't start today, nothing but the click like before. we're getting it towed back to his house and he's already looking at new engines. he's pretty upset but i think he'll be purchasing a bypass valve now

 

HYDROLOCK!!!


Cold Air Intakes are FTL for dumbass's that dont know how to drive threw rain when they know they have that bitch sitting like a foot off the grounds


New Engine FTW