so i accidentally hit a puddle on the way home from work yesterday. i realized i was too deep, shut off the engine, and neighbors pushed me through the "flood" when the car was dry at the other end, it started up fine, i drove two blocks home and it idled fine in the driveway, a neighbor and my father said it seemed fine.

today on my way to work, it seemed fine at first. about half way there, ~3 miles, everything started shaking, the stick shift shook much more than normal. i think my clutch isn't gripping as well. then the check engine light came on. i was still able to drive for a little bit though, made it up a slight hill, and coasted the rest of the way to work. i got in the first parking spot, and let it idle, again, seemed fine. it was able to rev fine in neutral also.

1998 honda civic cx hatchback
aem short ram <--problem?

do you think there may be water in my engine?, maybe just some water in the exhaust choking it off?

i will have a mechanic check it out asap. i've got a ride home from work for today.

any ideas? thanks!

 

If your running a short ram intake it would be quite hard to hydro lock your engine. You would have to drive into water deep enough to cover the hood and flood the car. If anything it sounds like maybe you have some water in your electrical wiring causing electrical problems

 

thank you for your fast reply, i'll keep that in mind.

i should add that when the rough shaking occurred, this would be at about 20mph, 1800rpm or so, at which i would try 3rd, 2nd, and 1st gear and the car just would not go, hence why i had to coast. the car would shake violently and slow down when i gave it gas (or air rather)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thebinaryman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thank you for your fast reply, i'll keep that in mind.

i should add that when the rough shaking occurred, this would be at about 20mph, 1800rpm or so, at which i would try 3rd, 2nd, and 1st gear and the car just would not go, hence why i had to coast. the car would shake violently and slow down when i gave it gas (or air rather)</TD></TR></TABLE>
Thats prolly your engine mis-firing. Check your CEL's, My bet is you got water on the dizzy and your dizzy is dieing

 

its pretty hard to get water in the dist...ive managed to get snow/ice in it...but the car just shut off and wouldnt start and when it dried it ran fine. Take off the cap and replace the gasket

 

It definitely isn't hydro-locked. If it were, it wouldn't run, hence the "locked".

My guess would also be some sort of electrical issue due to moisture, so you may want to go over things like the distributor and plugs to make sure they're thoroughly dry.

 

a friend at work took a look at it a moment ago. he checked my spark plug wires and said they looked pretty good, except for one, in which the boot on the end at the distributor had a little rip in it when you wiggle it. the car started and idled fine. i drove it 20 feet in reverse, and back forward again, and it all seemed fine. the rain has stopped for now, so maybe that's why its working again, now that everything is dried off. its been a really rainy week in southeastern wisconsin. i'll see how the car drives home, i should be able to make it 5 miles if it's dry. tomorrow i can get it to a shop if the problems continue. thanks for all the help everyone!

 

spark plugs?

 

it definitely is misfiring. i made it home, with engine sputter here and there. mainly under 2500rpm, 2500-4000rpm drives nice and smooth. i can coast under 2000, but if i give it gas it will sputter badly and slow down. check engine light came on again after i reset it. as of this morning the car is now at a repair shop. i'm waiting for a call to find out whats up.

another question... how do i know if a mechanic is ripping me off? how much do you guys think this sort of repair should cost?

 

it depends on what he says...tell us what he says. It sounds like a case of fouled plugs wires or cap

 

check the code yourself...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread/1901557

if the wires are messed up, just buy a new set
and dont pay a mechanic for that

 

here's what the mechanic said. i willl need a new distributor cap and rotor, spark plug wires, and spark plugs. with his diagnostic, it comes to $400. i let him also go ahead and replace the fuel filter and assembly for another $100. i know this is a ridiculous price. but i need my car working NOW. school starts on monday, i need to commute 100miles a day for three days a week, and need my car to be running it's best. i know i could have probably replaced the parts myself, but i am after all a n00b, and i just don't have the time. i did though, have the money from working overtime, so this worked out best. thank you for all the help everyone!

 

Yikes..

 

Wow, I need to quit body and paint and do mechanics, Seriously thats like $100 in parts if that

 

Did you at least get any lube for that *** rape?
You could have done that yourself, all of it, in less than an hour, for under $100 (tops).
Any idiot who can turn a wrench couldve changed those parts. All you need to know is "lefty loosey"
And theres no reason at all for the fuel filter to be changed. Unless you had over 200k miles or pumped mud for gas, it was probably fine.

Hope you at least learned an expensive lesson from this

 

if i had another car to use temporarily, i would have done this myself. a secondary beater car is on my shopping list. having no experience fixing cars besides reading about modifications, and auto tech class in high school, i don't trust myself to get a problem solved correctly, especially when not getting a problem solved could cause other problems. btw, fuel filter was never changed, car has 140k on it.

 

Yeah, you did pay far too much for those parts...but hey, if you have the money and lack the expertise, then it is probably best. The last thing you would want to do is mess something else up in the process.

 

thebinaryman we got one more strom to go and no more rain for this weekend

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MagnaniEG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thebinaryman we got one more strom to go and no more rain for this weekend</TD></TR></TABLE>

woohoo!

 

just picked up the car. runs better than ever. i really like these guys at the shop i took the car too, very nice, even if i did get raped without lube. they said the distributor was full of water. they said that the car ran fine at higher rpms because the alternator was producing more amps and the voltage in the dizzy was able to arc far enough to get the power through to the spark plug, but at the lower rpms, there was not enough amps, and would not make spark. i'm not too upset about the cost, just happy my car is running the best it's been since i had it. also the parts they put in have a lifetime warranty. no cost to replace them if they do fail.

thanks again everyone!