[nemesis2k4]

Ok im new to the whole Mustang thing. Ive always loved them. My father had a Black notchback and a green 5.0 lx. Recently i have been granted a 1991 Mustang 2.3L. I have had it for about a year and later on plan on doing engine, tranny, etc swap. One day i was driving down a road and went underneath a bridge. there was a very unnoticeable "puddle" their. (rainstorm) I hit it and no more than 5 seconds after no power. I had to be towed home. I replaced the Primary and Secondary ignition coils, the ICM (had to go newayz), and Spark plugs. i do have a bad EGR but that should not cause it to not start right? There is compression and i have ran the codes. i think it said somethin about the Crankshaft Position sensor and we replaced that. While sitting out some1 mustve come and done somethin to it cuz it was broke and i dont wanna buy another until i no wut it is for sure. i did notice it to be a little sluggish even for a 2.3 b4 it died. Im pissed i cannot even drive my fav kind of car that i even own.... I hope you guys can help meout i am going insane without it lol. THANK YOU

[TurboLX]

now the car does not start at all? no turn over? anything???

[nemesis2k4]

when you turn the key its like it wants to turn over but never could get around to it. It tries to start but it just wont turnover

[superbeef1000]

maybe a bad connection to the starter

[TurboLX]

yeah i would agree w/ superbeef you might have a bad connection to the starter or your not getting any spark, did you chek the plugs?

[nemesis2k4]

nope but will do asap

[proud91stangowner]

Yeah once mine had the problem you listed...it tried to start but just wouldnt turn over..the starter made a wierd clicking sound too..turned out that it was just a bad battery. Weird huh? I just replaced the battery and it was fine.

[Clutch]

I had both an 86 and an 89 2.3L. The 89 was a 5 speed and I took that thru a few BIG puddles. Each time It would shut the car off, but it would restart soon after.

In your situation, I would prolly say a frayed or corroded wire. Maybe a cracked dizzy cap?

Did the entire engine bay dry out before you tried to start it again? maybe you have a frayed wire up higher and it got wet, shorting out something else.

One more reason I love my old cars, just enough electrics to get it started and turn on the lights!

[svo8u]

Ok so you went through a puddle of water and now the car wont start. First off what type of air filter is on this meaning conical style K&N or is it the stock air box? Second: very commonly when you drive through a puddle as you say, sounds like it was a little larger than you are letting on but anyway, it is possible that you may have sucked water through the air filter assembly into the motor. I could be wrong but from what you are describing that would be a good place to look. The easiest way to check this is to remove the four passenger side spark plugs and then try to crank the motor over, if you see a ton of water fly out than that was your problem. You can also check your air filter to see if it is soaking wet but most likely if this is your problem it has dried out by now. Keep in mind if you did Hydro lock the motor you will definitely be in a bad cituation due to the fact of bent connecting rods which is caused when this happens. My other question for you is this, when you drove through the "Puddle" you said the car just shut off, was this like an abrupt cut out of the engine or was it a gradual dieing of the engine? If abrupt most likely you hydro locks the engine, if gradual start by disconnecting all of you electrical connections on the engine and blow the connector out with compressed air. If the obove things dont work out for you let me know and i will give you a couple other things to try

Bill

[Clutch]

Bent connecting rods??

Do you mean valves?

I've never heard of bending a connecting rod from that. I mean, I had the same thing happen to my 2.3 and it ran fine forever after, even the 2 three month spans I had no oil in the thing it ran fine.

[svo8u]

Originally Posted by Clutch Bent connecting rods?? Do you mean valves? I've never heard of bending a connecting rod from that. I mean, I had the same thing happen to my 2.3 and it ran fine forever after, even the 2 three month spans I had no oil in the thing it ran fine.

I mean exactly what i said, I am a 11 year tech of Ford Motor Co. and have seen it many many times. Only way you are gonna bend a valve in an instance like that is if the valve was stuck open and the piston hit it!

[TurboLX]

yeah it is kind of hard to bend a valve unless like what svo said this had happened to me before when i tore the ol' 2.3 out in 03' the connecting rod was slightly bent

[Clutch]

Originally Posted by TurboLX yeah it is kind of hard to bend a valve unless like what svo said this had happened to me before when i tore the ol' 2.3 out in 03' the connecting rod was slightly bent

I've done some dumb shit to ALL of my cars, bent my fair share of valves, but never a connecting rod. Hmmm, I guess I'm not trying hard enough!!!!

[svo8u]

It doesnt take a whole hell of alot. i have a bent rod in my tool box from when i way overreved one of my nitrous motors that most people cant even belive is possible the way this rod looks! i broke the crank in four places, broke 4 rods and bent one,blew out the front of the block and all!!!! Only takes the wrong things like water in a cylinder as stated above to bend rods. They are not indestructable.

Bill

[Clutch]

I've heard about them shooting thru the block, but never bending. I figured if they could go thru the block you'd be hard pressed to really bend one. My step dad shot one thru the block on one of his Nova's. Said he was flying down the highway and the thing just *BANG* right thru the hood and the car started slowing down and acting funny. Said he pulled over and that was the end.

That would suck in my car! I got FWD and if the one said was to go, I'd end up with one in the face and look like the chick who hit the toll booth at 100!!

[TurboLX]

actually i know a guy who had an svo and turnd the boost up to 30 pounds just to see what it could do and then BOOM cracked the bottom of the block and pierced the oil pan. so we tore it out popped the pan off to find out he broke the crank in 5 PLACES!! ive never seen that before.

[beeker]

sounds like a bent hever-shaft story to me

[jimi2112]

I had a mustang 2.3L that I ran through a puddle of water just like you did and I had the same results. what I found out after I changed all kind of parts is that if you look at the tfi module from the front, the lower left bolt that bolts the tfi to the intake usually breaks. and this is the ground for the tfi module. IT WILL NOT START WITH OUT THIS STUPID BOLT!

[TurboLX]

wow new guy brought the dead back

[MSO]

Originally Posted by TurboLX wow new guy brought the dead back

look who's talking