Given any other choice, I wouldn't have made the drive, but the damage is done and I could use some help.

A few days ago, my car stalled out in some fairly deep water. After pulling it home and doing some research, I swapped my spark plugs, air filter, and changed my oil.

The engine turns over and runs, but only with my foot on the gas. The car still can't idle on its own. At this point, really not sure what to do, but would still like to get my car running on my own.

What else should I be checking?

 

Wow if it runs then the only other things that are down low are the O2 sensor and crank shaft sensor on the pulley end of the engine. I guess since you changed the air filter it was not full of water so unless the air intake on the engine still has a water puddle in it, that should be okay. Unless your air flow sensor got wet or dirty. Was the air filter wet? How long have you got it to run? Long enough to warm it up?

 

The air filter was drenched when I pulled it out. The car runs indefinitely if I sit on the gas, but once I try and let it run on its own, it immediately dies out. The longest I let it run was about 5 minutes at a time, just to see if I could clear some water out of my exhaust and get rid of any back-pressure.

The MAF sensor was the next thing on my list, but with the way the weather has been lately, just hasn't happened yet.
Just wanted more advice before I jumped into that.

 

Yeah the maf would be the first thing and if you are still getting white vapors out of the exhaust you could either have water in the tailpipe or a blown head gasket if water actually got into the cylinders and over pressurized it. Something called hydraulic lock. Sounds like you got into some really deep water if the air filter got water in it. I wondered if the radiator was blocked if it would be possible to plow through deep water and keep the engine dry as long as you kept moving.

 

Don't think it's hydro-locked. I was under the impression that if it was hydro-locked, the engine would turn over at all.
The water was way deeper that I thought it was; came up fairly quick in a few minutes.
Haven't seen any water vapor blowing out the tailpipe.

Would the MAF have to be replaced, or is that something that could dry out? Assuming it'd have to be replaced completely.

 

The maf is a temperature sensing chip that is electrically heated, as air flows over it, it gets cooled as more air flows over it, it cold more and it can tell how much air is flowing by how much it is cooled. If dirty it changes how it gets cooled and screw's up the sensing so just cleaning it should fix it. The real question is what caused the stall, wet plugs? And when it dies does it run rough or just fade and lose power. Can you drive it or get it to move without stalling? Is there water still in the bell housing?

 

To be honest, I'm not sure what caused the stall. When I tried to start the car back, it seemed that my battery had completely drained.
The engine runs decently while I'm running the gas, but when I let off the pedal, it just fades out and dies. I can get it to move if I put it in drive; I was even able to get it up ramps to change the oil.

Not sure. Where is it located?

 

Bell housing is the area between the engine and transmission where the clutch or torque converter is. I think by now it has drained out, I could tell better if I could hear it run and stall. It's odd since it starts OK that it doesn't run at idle. As for the battery going dead when it got wet you probably had the starter motor under water. I think you need to get the engine warmed up really well and check every wired device that was under water on the engine or that got wet. Check the battery voltage when it is running too since if it drops too low it would stall. I think the fuel injection or the timing is the problem, water in the gas could be it too but that system is sealed and should not have gotten water in it.

 

Depending on how much water got into it, you could've done a lot of damage. It might not be running right because of low compression, for whatever reason. Might want to take it to a shop if you can't isolate the problem. Further running may cause more extensive damage. How high was the water that it managed to get into the intake o_o

 

Compression test needed to see if you damaged your pistons or rings.

 

The water was about a foot high, if that. Couldn't really give a great estimate since I was under pretty stressful conditions. Would a video of the car running help any, Jan?

I suppose I'll be biting the bullet and just bringing it into a shop.

 

Yeah a video would help to hear it stall and running showing the tach at different RPMs. Be good to hear the exhaust as it stalls too since it will show misfires. If you were going slow enough it should not have sucked any in since the intake is behind the headlight but faster and splashes around....

Was there any water in the oil? Thinking the variable valve timing may have water in it and not adjusting.