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Good day all! I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I did some searching, and I'm a bit confused. We had some heavy rains and flooding the other day, and my wife drove through some high water. After that, the car began stuttering, running what I would call rich, and is in limp? mode (it won't go above 3K RPM). I'm hoping I can work toward a fix on my own, rather than take it to the mechanic, but it may not be that easy, and I don't want to just throw parts at it hoping something will stick. I feel like the driving through the water and the codes are no coincidence. What I don't know is if they have anything in common.
As far as I can tell I'm getting multiple cylinder misfires on cylinders 1, 3, and 5 (codes below) and the other codes are due to the misfires.Is there something that would cause cylinders 1, 3, and 5 to go down at once? Is it really possible that all 3 coils went down at the same time? I can't imagine all 3 plugs fouled at the exact same time, but I guess it's a possibility too.
of course they are the hard to get at cylinders next to the bulkheas requiring removal of the intake manifold to examine.
just throwing out some thoughts for now....
each crank has its own sensor so it could be a bad bank 1 camshaft sensor or connector or the wiring that controls those 3 coils
1,3,5 are firewall side cylinders. 1313 is catalyst damage (in other words don't drive it AT ALL until fixed) 1316 is catalyst high emissions.
1313 and 1316 : NOTE: This DTC will flag ONLY
when accompanied by an
individual cylinder misfire DTC:
P0300 – P0306
Driving (I assume fairly quickly) through standing water is dandy, smh. OF COURSE IT'S RELATED.
Unfortunately because this is the hardest bank to access, diagnosis is harder. Could be as simple as water still standing in wells (had this on my BMW when dealer steamed the engine bay), could be it fried the coils, could be wiring shorts or fried wiring from water egress. Could be other things as well but start with standing water in firewall side wells.
of course they are the hard to get at cylinders next to the bulkheas requiring removal of the intake manifold to examine.
just throwing out some thoughts for now....
each crank has its own sensor so it could be a bad bank 1 camshaft sensor or connector or the wiring that controls those 3 coils
One of my search results said the same thing, the camshaft sensor. Do you know if I swap the rear and front sensor if it would change the faults so I can prove (or disprove) the sensor?
Originally Posted by iownme
how high was water?
I wasn't with my wife, but she said it was like 4 inches deep.
Originally Posted by Dell Gailey
1,3,5 are firewall side cylinders. 1313 is catalyst damage (in other words don't drive it AT ALL until fixed) 1316 is catalyst high emissions.
1313 and 1316 : NOTE: This DTC will flag ONLY
when accompanied by an
individual cylinder misfire DTC:
P0300 – P0306
Driving (I assume fairly quickly) through standing water is dandy, smh. OF COURSE IT'S RELATED.
Unfortunately because this is the hardest bank to access, diagnosis is harder. Could be as simple as water still standing in wells (had this on my BMW when dealer steamed the engine bay), could be it fried the coils, could be wiring shorts or fried wiring from water egress. Could be other things as well but start with standing water in firewall side wells.
I figured it was related :-) I have no idea how fast she was going. I assume it was relatively quickly, but she's not a speed demon, so it was probably more of a case that the depth of the water caught her off guard.
I'll definitely look for standing water in the wells in short order! That's a relatively easy one to start with.
the spark plug wells are not easy to access at all.
in an ideal world, the rubber "seals" on the coils would stop water from entering the well, but the aluminum rim of the well rots with age and does not always make any kind of a seal, so to check the wells requires removal of the intake manifold and the 3 coils.
get back if you need help wih that deteriated spark plug well rim
Thanks! I'll get back after I swap the cam sensor and test. I want nothing to do with taking off the intake. I was under the impression I'd see water sitting on it and could blow it out. I'm new :-D
Because of the transverse engine, you'll see descriptions of left and right for the part(s). To us it's really front and rear. Both are the same part number.
the rear bank next to the firewall/bulkhead is bank 1 and houses cylinders 1 (left) 3 (center) 5 (right)
the bank closest to you when in front of the engine is bank 2 and houses cylinders 2 (left) 4 (center) 6 (right)
although you cant easily get to the plug wells... there is a 1" or so depression along the bank where the coil heads sit.
from the left side of intake you can likely see in there or perhaps feel...you will be able to see the head of coil cyl #1... so just feel around there to see if theres any standing water
Swapping the cam position sensors had no effect, the same cylinders are reflecting misfires.
The wiring does not appear to be brittle or damaged.
The coils and boots I can see look to be in good serviceable condition.
Is there any way to validate that the coils did indeed short out or something else and are bad, short of pulling the intake? As you can see, I'm concerned about pulling the intake :-)
Dreaded fault codes
