so, went to an automatic wash, then some smoke came from under hood for about a minute. checked in engine and didn't see a point source. nothing major though. then a CEL came on but I was almost at work. after work, CEL gone, but car surges once engine hits 2700-3100 rpms. if I go past 3K rpms it struggles a bit, and at interstate speeds, I can't hold a steady speed; I can feel it surging and it's annoying.

anyone with some initial ideas? i haven't had time to check rotor cap etc. or do anything for that matter. i figer something got wet, fuse blown or something like that. anyone????

 

Could be... Did you spray water on the engine, underneath????


If it is water, not much can be done now... Leave it alone for a while and see if the water evaporates...


fs

 

no, i didn't open the hood and spray, but the machine probly did one of those underbody sprays.

this was on saturday and it's still sketchy. weather here has been nice so evap should've happened by now.

 

it sounds like you should check all your ignition part. like make sure all spark plugs are in tight and also the wires.

 

*edit*

i miss read the post and i do feel like a ****** retard. had similar expierence but not with a car wash

on me


Modified by screech at 1:41 AM 3/2/2004


Modified by screech at 1:42 AM 3/2/2004

 

Take a hair blower to it... Look around, unplug things dry them out...

You don't need to change your oil... It has nothing to do with it...

fs

 

sounds like part of your ignition is wet. I had a similar problem before after cleaning my engine bay. It was the plugs and wires. They got wet and had to be replaced.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by screech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if there is water in your enigine just change the oil. let it drain completely. then you should be fine</TD></TR></TABLE>

Heh, heh.... Are you serious? Je-sus CHRIST.... how is this guy supposed to get water in the "enigine" from a car wash... even if it did spray up from under?

but ok ok, lets just say there is water in his oil.... Just drain it and it will be fine? That sounds like an awesome solution, Water in your oil is something a little more serious than just draining the oil to fix it...


Modified by freezerburnv2 at 11:43 AM 3/1/2004

 

The symptoms described don't even tend towards water in the oil.... Forget about that... Don't need to change it...

Water is always oil... Condensation forms all the time... That is why an engine operates at a high temperature.. To burn it off...

If that is the case, then i guess we need to change our oil every time we drive in the rain...


fs

 

"if there is water in your enigine just change the oil. let it drain completely. then you should be fine"

DUDE! Are you farking serious?! I'm no auto expert but **** you're retarded.

 

Do you have a cold air intake?? if so you may have some water in the intake manifold

 

sounds like something ignition related. check all your ignition parts to see if they are wet, and dry them out.

 

this is my guess the smoke was from the water touching the header. water most likley got inside the distributor cap which is why the car is surging. take it out dry or just change cap and rotor its not that hard.

 

yep, cap + rotor was my intuition just that I hadn't had a chance to take a look.

why did I get a CEL and then the subsequent disappearence?

 

Yeah try your dizzy cap and rotor button.

THat's what happened to me. You need to always make sure that thingi s tight or it'll make your spark jump.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fraggle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do you have a cold air intake?? if so you may have some water in the intake manifold</TD></TR></TABLE>

OOOOO another one! Funny, last time I check if it was more than a small spray of water you would get...


so I would think if there was enough water in the intake manafold you would end up with the result of a limp rod ;p

 

how much water did you hit?

 

You may have gotten water into the spark plug holes. This can cause misfiring etc.

Check that out. It's happened to me. We blew the water out with an air hose.

 

its definitely not water in the engine. like the guy said above with the pictures, ur engine would be alot more fucked up. it is something to do with the ignition. just make sure the dizzy is dry and check the spark plugs. you probably just hit the header or something and thats what made the smoke.

 

ok, thanks for some input. hosed the dist. down with WD40, then some electronics cleaner and let it sit overnight. in the morning i hit it with the warden's hair dryer, added new cap & rotor, got one block down the road and bam, back to the surging again.

i replaced the plugs (no there was nothing wrong with them after the car wash) and the wires are fine. now with the rain we're having i've got the CEL again. so now I really don't know what to do. on saturday my step-bro will be in town so he can help but til then what else should i be looking for?

 

try to pull the cel code.

 

yeah, that's the plan. but since it was running fine, autozone was closed and it's like a biblical flood here i ain't movin my car. even if az were open, half of my interior would be soaked from tryin to do this. but i'll do this after work.

 

any updates on this???

 

**UPDATE**

Changed all ignition components, fixed the idle, and checked timing. Timing is ok, so I advanced it a tiny bit. Fine for a couple of miles, then back to the surging. So now I'm thinking it's the fuel system and/or filter. Thing is I just changed the filter maybe 3 months ago--perhaps I bought some of that crappy Missouri gas ? So, that's on tap for tomorrow.

Considering the way it drives the fuel was my first suspicion but oddly enough it wasn't a problem til the engine got wet in the car wash. But it's not like this was the first time it's been wet recently either.

 

check speed sensor on top on tranny.....unplug it and let it air dry!

im 95% sure!