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I had the same problem last night. I drove through flowing water (about two feet deep) made it across fine but about ten yards after I was through my engine started sputtering. I turned the engine off and backed into a parking lot. Then I tried starting it but it wouldn't run. I did some research on-line and found that there are two likely causes for this.
The first is that the cold water splashing up onto the distributor cap on my 1996 escort built up condensation inside causing the spark plugs to fire out of sequence. If this is the case with your vehicle you may remove the distributor cap and ensure that it is dry (or allow the desert heat to dry it out like I did).
The second possibility is that water went through your intake and got inside of your engine. This is bad, but several posts on-line recommended that you flush the oil and remove the spark plugs, then to manually crank the engine (I'm not sure how this would be done exactly) until the water is out. Then put the spark plugs back and some more oil.
I am assuming that it was my distributor cap since I went this afternoon to try to start it and it was normal.
Hope this helps. Remember, "When in doubt, chicken out."-Raugust
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∙ 10y ago
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