Hey guys I just bought an 04 s2000. I did something really stupid ... i went through a touchless carwash The car has an AEM V2 installed on it and I think it sucked up some water. Ive never had a aftermarket intake installed on a car before so i had no idea about "hydrolock" or water in the engine.

Anyways when i pulled out and tried to VTEC it there was no power. I drove it home did some research (which i should have done before) and let it sit for a few hours. (Water was dripping out of a hole in the intake) After there was no more drip I drove it again to test ... It was fine under normal driving conditions although i felt alittle stutter in first but as soon as I vtec'd it again there was no power and this time the CEL came on and was blinking. I stopped accelerating immediately and the light went away.

Ive searched "water in engine" and "hydrolock" but no one seems to have the same issue as I do cuz i can start my car and drive i just cant get the vtec to work.

Have a screwed up my engine? Is it hydrolocked? What should i do? Let it sit overnight and test it again tomorrow or dont even bother (could i do more damage "testing"?) Do I get an oil change right away? Is there anything else that needs to be done?

Any help is greatly appreciated thanks

 

im sure something is messed up now since you tried to hit vtec, a blinking CEL means its missfiring or something bad along that line.

Pull the oil dipstick and look at the color of the oil if its a milky light brown then yes u have water in the engine, check the oil cap as well.

Hope nothing is messed up.

 

Thanks azunboy ... I checked the oil and the cap and it seems fine clear brown not milky. I hope nothing is messed up either.

So if the cel blinked a few times and went away right away is that still really bad? Should i even bother driving it tomorrow and checking or just bring it straight to a shop?

Thanks again

 

I would still run a scanner on it before you drive it again, why cause more damange if there is some already..

 

Youre right ill get it checked first thing tomorrow.

 

I'd change your oil immediately, and take out your spark plus and crank it to see if any water shoots out.

 

There shouldn't be any water in it now, since he said after it happened he drove it around and tried to hit vtec and it stumbled.. By that time the water would be gone..
But I agree, it would be a good place to start, pull the plugs to see if there damaged and then perform a leakdown test/compression test... And of course get that code pulled first so you know what the car is trying to tell you.

 

You didn't mention this, but if the engine started properly it's not hydrolocked. An engine becomes hydrolocked if it ingests enough water to stop the engine from running. Damage occurs due to the non-compressible nature of water. But it takes a lot of water to make that happen. It's possible that your car burned through some water, but unless it actually did not start or stopped running, it's not hydrolock.

Regarding your problem, the first thing to do is to pull the code. Don't bother with any diagnostic testing until you know where to start. Report back with the code and we can advise from there.

 

Hey thanks for all your reponses you guys are truly amazing ... what a community! Anyways heres the update my neighbour who is a mechanic and who previously owned a s2000 took at look at the car. He told me he has seen this alot before with his friends integras and whatnot.

He told me as long as the blink only came on for a split second under those conditions but now runs fine under normal driving everything should be fine. He checked the plugs which were fine and he changed the oil.

I drove around and everything is back to normal. Pulling strong in VTEC with no issues. The reason why he didnt check the CEL was that he was 100% positive there was no issue and I dont have the radio code so to check he would have to pull the plug i guess and he didnt want me to go through the hassles.

Thanks again ... nightmare over.

No more carwashes ... I had no idea that convertibles or any car that you care for should not go through a high pressure wash. Now i know

 

um yea, so you didn't pull the code....
(oh to add I woudn't go back to your neighbor, he obviously isn't a mechanic if he says a flashing check engine light is no big deal if it turns of)

unfortunatly nightmare might not be over..
it just might slowly creep up on you..