Misfire, battery drainage, and random problems since flood
10-30-2013, 02:51 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Misfire, battery drainage, and random problems since flood
Hi everyone. First post and just made my account today, so try not to smoke me too hard! I've used this forum as a great reference many times to save my a**, so thanks everybody!
I have a (white) 1998 ford f150 with a 4.6 liter v8 triton engine. It's running about 250,000 miles on it, and before the flooding we had here in Colorado, it was running BEAUTIFULLY for its age, never had one problem.
When the floods came recently here in CO, my whole street flooded and my truck was up to its grill in nasty flood water (see picture). When I woke up and saw the flooding, I immediately waded out in the street to try and save my baby. I opened up the drivers door and hopped in, and there was already about 4 inches of water sitting in the cab. When I tried starting it, it would die when I tried to give it some gas. After about the 7th try I threw her in reverse and that finally worked. She sputtered and wanted to die the whole time, but I was able to get her safely up the street and out of the water.. [reason i had tried moving the truck was because at that point the water only kept rising and i didnt want the rest of the engine to be flooded]
SO the main point of my post is the problems that I am now having. Since all this happened, quite frankly, its driving like s***. I have an engine code popping P0304 (cylinder 4 misfire), the check engine light is staying on and sometimes it flashes while i drive (which i just found out means a hard misfire), my gas mileage is plummeting, its burning through oil like nobody's business, my battery has been dying randomly (usually in the mornings), I now have an antifreeze leak (guessing, its a clear liquid coming from above the oil pan), and it tends to have an awkward shudder at highway speeds (usually when light is flashing).
Keep in mind that none of these were a problem before the flood, the truck was running great.
So I've replaced both the coils (lifetime warrantied parts) to try and fix the code, to no avail. I'm getting the spark plugs and wires checked out here on Friday (refuse to do those myself on these trucks..).
But I am also wondering why the battery is dying every morning, and even sometimes after sitting as little as 8 hours. I had the battery and the alternator tested and they both are fine, and the battery is only a few years old.
2nd question:
What kind of things should I be checking for after the truck was flooded like it was? I'm looking to build somewhat of a standard checklist of things that should be inspected. I just feel lost with all the things that couldve gone wrong when it flooded and i dont know where to start.
If you read through all this, Bravo! I was just trying provide enough background to help diagnose some of these problems ive been having. Like I said it drove perfectly before and now it's nothing but problems! Thank you guys for reading I look forward to hearing some answers.
Have a good one!
I have a (white) 1998 ford f150 with a 4.6 liter v8 triton engine. It's running about 250,000 miles on it, and before the flooding we had here in Colorado, it was running BEAUTIFULLY for its age, never had one problem.
When the floods came recently here in CO, my whole street flooded and my truck was up to its grill in nasty flood water (see picture). When I woke up and saw the flooding, I immediately waded out in the street to try and save my baby. I opened up the drivers door and hopped in, and there was already about 4 inches of water sitting in the cab. When I tried starting it, it would die when I tried to give it some gas. After about the 7th try I threw her in reverse and that finally worked. She sputtered and wanted to die the whole time, but I was able to get her safely up the street and out of the water.. [reason i had tried moving the truck was because at that point the water only kept rising and i didnt want the rest of the engine to be flooded]
SO the main point of my post is the problems that I am now having. Since all this happened, quite frankly, its driving like s***. I have an engine code popping P0304 (cylinder 4 misfire), the check engine light is staying on and sometimes it flashes while i drive (which i just found out means a hard misfire), my gas mileage is plummeting, its burning through oil like nobody's business, my battery has been dying randomly (usually in the mornings), I now have an antifreeze leak (guessing, its a clear liquid coming from above the oil pan), and it tends to have an awkward shudder at highway speeds (usually when light is flashing).
Keep in mind that none of these were a problem before the flood, the truck was running great.
So I've replaced both the coils (lifetime warrantied parts) to try and fix the code, to no avail. I'm getting the spark plugs and wires checked out here on Friday (refuse to do those myself on these trucks..).
But I am also wondering why the battery is dying every morning, and even sometimes after sitting as little as 8 hours. I had the battery and the alternator tested and they both are fine, and the battery is only a few years old.
2nd question:
What kind of things should I be checking for after the truck was flooded like it was? I'm looking to build somewhat of a standard checklist of things that should be inspected. I just feel lost with all the things that couldve gone wrong when it flooded and i dont know where to start.
If you read through all this, Bravo! I was just trying provide enough background to help diagnose some of these problems ive been having. Like I said it drove perfectly before and now it's nothing but problems! Thank you guys for reading I look forward to hearing some answers.
Have a good one!
Last edited by \m/etal_5280; 10-30-2013 at 05:57 PM.
10-30-2013, 09:31 PM
#3
Senior Member
Dirty water will conduct electricity. You would literally have to dry out every connector that was submerged to get it to run right. Most vehicles that get flooded like that get scrapped. Look at the bright side, it isn't a 2013.
10-30-2013, 09:50 PM
#4
Open things up and put a hair drier to them to easily/slowly dry things out. Clear liquid would be water coming from somewhere not coolant. U may need to dry and clean just about every thing associated with electric component. Open up floor boards to get them dry and kick plates. UR fuse panel may have to come out also. U got a lot of wires that got soaked for who knows. Corrosion will be afoot with this one probably. UR alternator probably got a soaking along with the starter. I would bet that water slogged the ECU and transmission.
Last edited by papa tiger; 10-30-2013 at 09:54 PM.
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\m/etal_5280 (11-03-2013)
10-31-2013, 09:32 AM
#5
Senior Member
little nail is correct BUT if you have the patience you can clear the electrical issues with compressed air and WD-40. I would start with the 3 connector blocks that tie the engine harness to the firewall.(drivers side) Unbolt them, blow them out w/air and spray both sides with WD-40. The other place I would concentrate on is the trans. wire harness. Good luck.
The following users liked this post:
\m/etal_5280 (11-03-2013)
10-31-2013, 08:44 PM
#6
There is an actual electrical spray that displaces water. If u need.
11-01-2013, 07:05 AM
#7
Mark
iTrader: (1)
is it insured ?? Claim it and move along...your gonna have problems forever now...trust me.. you may of even sucked up some water when you started it...
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11-03-2013, 06:12 PM
#8
Junior Member
Thread Starter
[MENTION=13845]techrep[/MENTION] I only had liability on it so unfortunately nothing was covered.. [MENTION=154062]little nail[/MENTION], I think I may have to end up looking at all the connectors and drying them out cause unfortunately scrapping wouldn't be the best option for me right now, I'm 19 and paying my way through college so this is my only to get to and from work and school. So guess I have a lot of connectors to start checking! Lol
11-03-2013, 06:19 PM
#9
Junior Member
Thread Starter
[MENTION=1756]papat[/MENTION]iger, where would you recommend starting. I'm not extremely mechanically inclined but I have the chiltons and Haynes manuals to my truck and I'm willing to spend some time trying to get some problems taken care of. Should I try taking the alternator off and drying that out? In the mean time ill definitely start trying to dry out a few components at a time with the hair dryer and WD40
11-03-2013, 06:24 PM
#10
Junior Member
Thread Starter
[MENTION=139696]Marc D[/MENTION], thanks! I've never had to work on the connector blocks but I will definitely start checking those out. What would the tranny wire harness be doing or is that just a good place to start with cause of it being in water?