i drove through what i thought was a little puddle, it turned out to be a couple feet deep, and my engine sucked in water. It did not hydro lock, i made it out of the hole, the engine stalled and i coasted into a parking lot. I pulled the plugs and cranked it, not much water came out. I got it home, seafoamed the oil and the gas, and changed the oil. It runs, but its very ruff when i start it cold, and its lacking a lot of power. What else is wrong?

 

also, the engine is making a quiet knocking noise, especially when in drive, did i mess up something internally?

 

fowled out the spark plugs? my guess is its already too late, get lookin for a an engine.

did you change your fluids?

tranny
engine
transfer case
axles?

 

did u get new plugs? might as well go ahead an replace air filter while your there an the plug wires... whats the info on ur truck...year, engine.

 

'99 Ranger Sport 4.0L 4x4 4dr,

 

clean the MAF.

 

I think i hear a 5.0!

 

thats a good choice ^^^^^

 

 

the first thing you should have done is check your air box and air filter. if your filter is wet, it wont let air into the engine and it could suck up water that might be in there.

 

its a 1999 4.0L OHV, i did change all the fluids, im doing the plugs tonite. we cleaned the MAF when we were tearing everything apart, but the filters a little dirty still (i cleaned it, but i should replace it), i'll clean it again tonite. Im trying to avoid a new engine or even rebuilding this one.

 

It sounds like you don't need a completely new engine...you may have to change the oil a couple more times...I just changed (in May) the oil in my gf's hydrolocked Passat (1.8L Turbo) 3 times before everything began to run like it was supposed to. You have a 4.0L. You will definitely need the new plugs (I recommend Autolite, it has worked well with my OHV), as well as a brand new air filter & oil filter. Please, don't be cheap and just dry the old one. There may still be a lil bit of water in the valves and around the manifold, so it may be as simple as just waiting it out with time with that aspect.

Do this, take 2 pills, and call us back in the morning.

 

i replaced the spark plugs and cleaned the MAF somewhat, and now its running worse! wtf?

 

What exactly did you do? Just the plugs & MAF? It runs worse? How worse? Sounds? Idling?

Did you reinstall the MAF correctly? What did you do? Was it dry when put back in? Did you dry the surrounding assembly? Did you get the new air filter, instead of using the old soggy one?

Do the above, and try changing the oil again after cranking. At least it is running...all hope is not lost. Change the oil again (yea, it tedious), and make sure you change the oil filter as well. Make sure plugs are dry, and if you have some compressed air, you can try blowing the water out of the plug sockets in the block. If no compressed air, take a clean, dry cloth and dry out the spark plug sockets in the block. While at this time, make sure your plugs are gapped to .035"...

Another thing, what kind of plugs did you use? I have noticed that some spark plugs make ya run more crappy than others...

Did you notice if any water came out of the exhaust? If so, this is a good thing and you are getting the old water out...

G'luck...


Pete

.

 

i havnt put on a new filter yet, but everything is dry. Im going to put back in the old plugs and even though the book says plug gap .052" a smaller one might help. Yes, everything is put together correctly, i had it scanned and it has a random misfire, im hoping cleaning everything, changing plugs, oil, and filters and putting dielectric grease on my wires helps the situation. I probably need new o2 sensors too, because my engine has been running lean for a long time, and ive just about narrowed it down to that. This is really agrivating,,, but thanks for all ur help!

 

Sorry about that....052" - .056"...but having a smaller gap does help. It sounded like your old air filter was still wet and just shook the dirty out. Random misfire: it may still be your spark plugs. The O2 sensors would not be throwing it off that much. Have you checked your distributor cap to see if it was in working condition? If you are so inclined, take off the top/head and clean/brush the contacts and check to see if they are dry. That COULD be a smaller problem, too. Seeing as how everything is running (just funny), it wouldn't hurt to do this either. It kinda hard to tell without hearing it...

But agreed. Cleaning everything one more time will help. It takes a few tries to get everything back to how it was before. The new plugs should not be giving you that problem at all.

Random misfire...in one specific cylinder on the scan, or in general of the engine? If it is in the engine, it is still just water in the oil somewhere, and the air/gas/+water is not fully compressing in the cylinder. IF that is how it is misfiring, change the oil + filter again.

What's the running total of parts so far? I had to spent ~$70 before the gf's "Benny" was in fully working order. But her stuff is premium, and a pain. I still have her cab air filter to do, which has been slightly foul-smelling in this Texas heat...

G'luck Troy...

 

I took out the new plugs and put back in the old plugs, it runs the same but all 3 plugs on the right bank looked like that hadnt been firing, so im thinking its the coil pack.
So far i've spent about $50 on oil and filter and plugs, but i will have to do oil and filter again, air filter, and the coil pack is another $64, so i'll let u know when i get this all done. It's probably going to be around $150,,, that and when i put on the high flow filter thats been the problem, the adapter doesnt fit right has a very small gap at the top, which i just found. Thats a HUGE problem, because it lines up with the MAF sensor. Then im going to have to build a new intake,,, so like i said,, ill let u know

 

after all the trouble i went through, i finally got it running good again, all i had to do was clean the MAF sensor with MAF cleaner, REALLY GOOD. i cleaned up my filter and put the old plugs back in, cuz the new ones sucked, and it runs fine

 

I had the same problem with my old 96' ranger. I went through a huge water hole and obviously sucked in a lot through the intake. Well the truck stalled in the water hole and when i tried to crank it up to get the truck out I apperently snapped a connecting rods. The dealer installed a remanufactured engine in the truck for me under warranty! I never tried to get the water out or change the fluids and all. Whoops! lol