aach

Recently, there was a bad storm, I was driving my 944 back from a friends house when it started to rain, and a part of the road was flooded, where the water went up at least half the height of the tires. After going through that section of road the car seemed to drive fine, until I got it home, and it seemed to not accelerate as well as it used to. I shut the car off, and waited a few minutes. Now when I start the car, it seems to struggle into idle, then when I accelerate, still it seems to be a little slower on accelerating. It sorta feels that the car will just stop randomly, or at least I am afraid of that happening. I guess I should just take it into someone to look at it? Or, are there any ideas on how to fix this problem?

IceShark

Well, you didn't totally hydrolock it or it wouldn't run. Not sure what a partial hydrolock is like as that could bend the valves I suppose and cause a problem. But you should have noticed that straight off.

The other items are the electrics, especially the distributor. Maybe flywheel sensors. You can try and dry them all off but it is a nightmare with the 944. If you went into water that deep it is almost certain water got into the timing belt cover and got whipped all over and probably into the distributor cap. Especially if you don't have that crappy designed cover around the rotor shaft in there anymore.

aach

Well, driving today seemed okay, after it struggled to get idleing... I did notice if I floor the accelerator, the engine seems to quit, and rpm goes to 1. Otherwise, it seems to drive okay.. Probably will have someone take a look at it, just to be sure exactly what it could be.. Well, thanks for your reply!

IceShark

Before you spend money you may as well pop open the hood and let the engine bay dry out in the sun for a day or two. Put some sort of stick in to keep the hood open so the wind doesn't slam it shut and bend something.

And take off the distributor cap and dry things off. It is sort of a bitch to get a stubby screwdriver on the lower spring loaded locking screw, I think Porsche actually has a special tool for this - who in their right mind designs a distributor cap that takes a special tool to remove! - , but it will come off if you press in hard enough. And it is a good idea to take a look at how burned up your rotor and distribution terminals are and maybe replace. Danno has a picture of a burned up rotor you wouldn't think had a prayer of working. It can get pretty bad in there.

BeerBurner

Just out of curiosity, have you checked to see if the computer brain is wet? The area under the battery box likes to rust out and water will run onto the computer. During all of this, the car will run like crap, too.

The heavy rains could have triggered that problem as well.

BB.

Mongo

it doesn't sound like water may have gotten into the combustion chambers of the engine. try pulling some plugs just to be sure they aren't damp in the cylinders they are resting in. A fully hydrolocked engine would be swimming in water. most likely water has gotten into the bell housing and screwed your flywheel and speed sensors up too as well as the ignition system.

There may be more damage then seen. These cars are extremely temperamental when it comes to large bodies of water. If your results are inconclusive, a trip to the nearest independend mechanic is a must, try and tow the car instead of driving it to prevent any other damage. This isn't going to be cheap...

Best of luck to you...

Andy