Hey guys,
I just recently bought a '94 GSR 5-speed with a short ram intake system on it. Well, I went to the carwash yesterday and got the underbody wash and forgot about the intake. I left the car running and I think I may have sucked in some water or gotten something electrical wet. When I was driving home from the wash, my car felt really bogged down and slow, and i couldnt rev past 3500 rpm. Things have just gotten progressively worse now. That was yesterday, and now when I try to start the car it starts up fine, runs for about a second or two and then runs rough and dies. Any help on what I should do would really be appreciated. Thanks!
-Randy

 

dont worry its not hydrolocked...

what probably happened is you got some wata in your dist. take the cap off dry it off etc let it air out for a little while.

if it still wont kick, check for spark. to do this...

pull one spark plug out, leave it plugged into its wire. touch it to your ground wire (from engine to firewall) and have a friend crank it.... if it doesnt spark, you will need to replace your distributor.

should be an easy fix, i swapped my distributor out in about 20 minutes time.

 

Ok, I took the cap off and I will let everything try to dry out while I am at class for a a couple hours. Another question though: what would be the worst case scenario for this situation? If its not just the distributor, I mean. Thanks again.
-Randy

 

i think the worst case scenario is dead dist. doesnt sound like anything too serious to me... how many miles on your car?

 

actually my car had the same problem after the dealership pressure washed my engine..heh.. had to drain the 1st cylinder because there was some moisture stuck in there. $400 or so but the dealership paid for it

 

I would take all the plugs out and blow dry it in case some water got down in there. Second take your filter off and make sure it is dry, it may still be drenched and you could be sucking in moisture. 3rd get some water remover to add to your gas tank it'll help burn off any moisture in your motor should you have sucked some up. 4th next time put a plastic bag over your filter if your gonna go to a public car wash. Ok to drive like that in the car wash area, but don't forget to take it off before you leave or it will choke you out.

 

Ok, its been a couple days now...and nothing's gotten any better. The car won't even start now. It just turns over. I recharged the battery, so it should be fine. I put new plugs in, hoping that might help, but no luck. Since I seem to be getting spark and air flow, could this be a fuel related problem? I can still hear the whine of my fuel pump after i try to start the car. So could there be something wrong with my fuel filter, or what else should I take a look at? Thanks again for any help.
-Randy

 

did you actually check for spark? if you did and you are getting spark, change the fuel filter, make sure your banjo bolt is right or else you will cut off flow....

if all of this doesnt work, do what i did... get pissed off and buy a truck

 

Well, to check for spark all i did was hold the plug wire about 1/4 inch from one of the bolts on the valve cover. I had somebody try to start the car and i saw that the plug wire arched to the bolt. I tried this for all 4 plug wires and i got all of them to arc. Not sure if this is a surefire way to check or not...btw, what is the banjo bolt?

 

im not sure i understand waht you did.... but yeah arc = electricity = spark.

banjo bolt is a bolt where the fuel line meets the filter with a hole in it.... if the hole isnt lined up in the direction of flow, then no fuel is getting past the banjo bolt and your car wont start.

another thing id try is starting "in flood mode" a lot of times after repeated attempts to start, the car wont allow itself to turn over cuz it lets the spark burn the excess fuel off.... to bypass this, hold the pedal to the floor while you crank on it, keep crankin for a few minutes, it might fire.... sounds like total b.s. but my friend (who is a tech at Acura) told me to do that when i was having problems starting my car and it worked...