Well... my Civic died this afternoon. Driving down the road (in the rain), I guess a water line broke loose and sprayed water all over the engine bay. The trouble is now that the motor wont start. Could I have gotten water in to the distributer? If so, would a simple cap and rotor fix it?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Are you sure you didn't do any damage to the engine? It didn't overheat and then seize up on you did it? If not, starting with the distributor is a good idea. You may be able to simply take it off, remove the cap and dry it out if thats the problem. Often letting the car sit over night will cure it if you've got water in the dizzy. Water in your spark plug wells could also cause soime troubles.

 

I really don't think it got all that hot... the temp guage was elevated, but not at the top of the scale. The starter is able to turn it over (without any horrible clunking noises). I'll pull the cap off tonight and see what's inside.

I'll also check the spark plugs wells... didn't think of that...

Thanks!

 

UPDATE:

Well, turns out that it was a simple matter... the heater hose right next to the distributer broke and ejected all of it's coolant right in to the the distributer. Let it dry out (and put a new cap and rotor on just in case) and all appears well at this point.

Thanks for everyones help...