Jetta that went through some water

[Prox282]

I need some help I was driving in a bad rain storm and went through a construction area and there was a deep puddle I went through about 10-12" deep the car stalled and I had it towed back to my house that was close by. It will start really hard and will idle but if you increase the throttle it hesitates and dies. I replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor, changed the oil and filter, drained the gas and had to replace the starter. Any tricks or ideas to try to get the motor to be back to normal and start and run right?

I have a 1997 Jetta GT 2.0 Manual vin A

Prior to this everything ran great with no issues or problems till I went through the water.

[MDL_VR6]

Good question, Did you drain the try flushing the transmission? (its a possibility)

Good luck

/Mike

[Prox282]

ok an update is I replaced the ignition module and it starts every time now but still does not run more than a 60 sec at a time and the dies or dies if the throttle is increased.

I am leaning in the way of a bad injector or two I pull the fuel rail off and pulled all the injectors and cleaned them and then put them back in and the car ran perfect for about 2 min and then went back to the stuttering low idle around 600 RPMs. I also pulled the wiring harness off the #1 injector and there was no change in the engine performance so I am thinking I have a bad injector after all?

?????????

[sdhelzer]

To be super safe it was a good idea to drain your gas tank, replace oil and filter. You should not have had to drain / refill a manual tranmission unless you had a leak or spent a prolonged period of time in the "puddle". You should not have had to replace your starter motor unless you were having prior starting problems and / or you spent a very prolonged time in the "puddle".

To be absolutely super safe you should have replaced your fuel filter and air filter; since you did all of the above (almost equivalent to a complete tune-up).

Replacing the cap, wires and rotor should have not been necessary. Replacing the iginition module is questionable as it is a hermetically sealed unit and usually not susceptible to short term water infiltration

Unfortunately, I think you may have drowned your computer.

Take your vehicle back to your dealer or a trusted mechanic and have your computer scan coded.

Good luck and please advise your results for others.

[keehn]

Originally Posted by sdhelzer

To be super safe it was a good idea to drain your gas tank, replace oil and filter. You should not have had to drain / refill a manual tranmission unless you had a leak or spent a prolonged period of time in the "puddle". You should not have had to replace your starter motor unless you were having prior starting problems and / or you spent a very prolonged time in the "puddle".

To be absolutely super safe you should have replaced your fuel filter and air filter; since you did all of the above (almost equivalent to a complete tune-up).

Replacing the cap, wires and rotor should have not been necessary. Replacing the iginition module is questionable as it is a hermetically sealed unit and usually not susceptible to short term water infiltration

Unfortunately, I think you may have drowned your computer.

Take your vehicle back to your dealer or a trusted mechanic and have your computer scan coded.

Good luck and please advise your results for others.

Drowned your computer? The ECU sits up above the firewall, right by the fresh air intake for the cabin. Also, the ignition module/ignition coil is notorious for failing in water conditions (mine had very visible cracks that made it short out to the firewall). It may be possible the ECU was short-circuited, but not drowned. Unless the water level came up over the hood, the ECU water-wise was fine.

Also, some logic here. If the transmission is in neutral, why would it impact the engine's idle? While in idle, the engine is moving 750-900PRM, a manual transmission in neutral would be moving 0RPM...even if the trans. had ZERO fluid in it, it should still have no impact on the engine's idle performance.

OP: check the codes for free at AutoZone, post the results here, and we should be able to help you then. Throwing your money at tune ups and trying to assume the fix is akin to walking around a maze in the dark...why not do it the easy way? Just get the codes and start there.

[Prox282]

I have a OBD2 code reader and there are no stored codes that was the first thing I checked. I think maybe the ecu got shorted by something else that got wet.

I dont feel like I am wasting money everything I have done so far would have been in need of being replaced in the future any way so I dont feel bad.

I pulled out the ecu and have found one on ebay for a good price $79 and it is tested and guaranted to work. I am going to talk to my dealer tomorrow morning and go from there. I just wish there was a way to test the ecu without having the car at the dealer.

I have also looked at the Cat and made sure it was not clogged and made sure the O2 sensor was working properly.

Besides the ecu that is my last resort and final thing to try.

[goatmonkey]

A manual transmission in neutral can still effect the engine idle. If the clutch is engaged you're still turning the input shaft and a few gears. it should be insignificant compared to in gear but if your transmission is shot, the input bearing is going, or something to that effect, it can slow down the engine. But if it's that bad you're probably hear some noise from the transmission.

Had an input shaft bearing go bad on another car. Sounded like a garbage disposal when you let off the clutch pedal. It was RWD too so heard it nice and loud. The shaft had noticeable play in it when the transmission go pulled.

[Prox282]

I ordered the ecu this morning and should see it by the end of the week I will post the results after I install it.


What the dealer said is the ecu did not drown it was some thing else shorted that got wet and when I went to try and start and run the car before everything had a chance to dry out. In short if your car even goes through a little water you need to dry stuff out before you try to run your car.

I hope this might help any one else that might run into this in the future. I am a car guy but this being my first vw I am getting a crash course in what makes a vw tick. Thanks your all the info.

[Prox282]

I put the new Ecu in this afternoon and no change. Any other ideas?

[96GTIVR6]

maybe you hydrolocked. did you try replacing the distributor itself, as well as the coil?

[goatmonkey]

Try unplugging the MAF and see if it runs better. Kind of a stab in the dark but it'll cost you nothing to check at least.

[keehn]

Okay...ecu is NOT the problem.

No engine codes are being thrown...a sensor wire is being shorted, therefore, sending the correct signal to the ecu? (possibly).

Check the hall-effect sensor in the distributor (water could have been scooped up by the oil pan straight for the distributor).

Verify cylinder compression values are within tolerances.

Check for leaks in intake manifold (could happen...).

Remove and clean the grounds in front of engine. Will it fix problem? Don't know, but one less thing to diagnose.

Meh, remove the MAF...see what happens, don't expect much though.

This does bother me though that a VW can't splash through a puddle without coming out with problems.

[goatmonkey]

Don't REMOVE the maf, just unplug the harness going to it. Should put the ECU in open loop mode so if it runs better you know it's a sensor of some sort.

Check that you're getting enough fuel pressure. Idling but not revving is a good sign you're not getting gas. I know exactly what it sounds on a bike from all the times I hit reserve. Could the pump be fubar? I don't even know where it is in these cars.

[keehn]

[quote=goatmonkey;283919]Don't REMOVE the maf, just unplug the harness going to it. Should put the ECU in open loop mode so if it runs better you know it's a sensor of some sort.QUOTE]

That's correct. Only DISCONNECT the wire connector. I failed to explain that better in my post.

[Prox282]

I am happy to report that I ended up having a defective coil from the dealer.
I exchanged it bolted it up hooked up the wires and it fired right up! I have been driving it for a couple days now and all the cleaning I did has really made a difference in performance and it idles much better.

Thanks again for all the input