LadyLea

Ok I have the AEM CAI and drove through water this morning....long story that, but afterwards it kept pulsing as I stepped on the gas to get up to speed (that has sorta stopped now) however when I arrived at my first destination and got out of the car, I smelled what I described to my husband as a "battery smell" sorta like fried electronics.

Since the incident I drove about 40 miles hoping whatever it was would go away..I'm a dreamer.

At one point I tried to get up to 50 mph and the car didn't like it, felt like it was straining to go that fast.

So a couple phone calls later and I am told to come home.

Husband goes out for a ride, notices the smell and he thinks it might be the transmission controller and the computer....but I thought if someone else had a similar problem they could share.

I live in Arizona, the water vs. cold air intake wasn't a situation, as my daily drive is a freeway. But my mom was diagnosed with kidney failure and needed a ride to dialysis so there I am...driving to Queen Creek to go get her and take her and run into a puddle....a rather LARGE puddle...but it was too late and I couldn't turn around as there was nowhere to go.

If my mom's diaylsis trip ends up costing us thousands I'm going to be so pissed.

Anyone have ideas what might be wrong?

GSXR-Z

iTrader: (1)

My ex-girlfriend did the same thing in her mustang a few years back, water was sucked into the engine and...to make a long story short, it had to be replaced. Insurance covered it because it was during a "flood" even thought it was her own fault for driving in 3 feet of water when i told her not to.

2005daytonaZ

iTrader: (3)

happened to me once before too....but I've been driving for over 8,000 mile now after it happend and havent had a problem.

<-------(knocks on wood)

LadyLea

Well my husband removed part of the CAI and saw the mass air flow sensor. We are going to replace that..$215...and its in stock. As most people know, the parts are NEVER in stock when you need them.

But whether that is all it needs, I have no idea. If so, I will be extremely happy.

We are on our way to go get that in a few minutes.

350Zteve

iTrader: (6)

I see a JWT Pop Charger in your future

Audible Mayhem

iTrader: (48)

i have had water on my MAF and it ran really bad, hopefully you didnt hydrolock the motor, most of the cold airs for the Z and G sit pretty high, you would have to go through some deep water. i dont think i would worry too much. also, if you let that maf dry out, it might work...


good luck

Wired 24/7

iTrader: (2)

It's not the computer, the computer is in-cabin.

Did you try letting the filter dry out completely?

I agree the MAF might work if you let everything dry completely, filter, MAF, and tube...

FastZ33

iTrader: (29)

just becarful next time. dont run through water EVER.

ThumpAZ

I am the Hubby in this instance.
I wasn't aware that the ECU is located in the cabin. Many of the foreign cars I've encountered had it underhood somewhere.

Replacing the MAF did the trick. Thanks to Rich Page of AZ350Z.com for his Phone Diagnostics. I was convinced that it was something much more dire from the test drive I had.
At slow take off:
The car would do OK until it came time to shift (about 3K RPM). Then it acted as if it was hitting the rev limiter, still at 3K.
Quick takeoff:
forget it... immediate rev limiter action and basically no go
In Park (yeah AT):
Would rev up without problem
Idle:
Slightly rough idle, with surges of about 500 RPM
Smell:
Smelled something like an electrical fire, but not quite

We are extremely lucky that she didn't hydrolock the engine, but she wouldn't have gotten the distance she did if that were the case... well, not without blowing all of the oil/coolant/metal parts out the hole that was created. Best case is a hole in the piston and you only go a cylinder down.

When I opened up the intake, there was evidence of water having been all over the place. Well, actually dirty water. All the way to the throttle body butterfly.
I opened the plenum and saw evidence in there and cleaned all of that out as well. I then cleaned and whatnoted the filter and put it all back together with the new MAF. Test drive and all is good.
I figured out what the smell was, too... it was a SERIOUSLY hot catalytic converter trying to get all of the extra fuel that was beig dumped into the engine due to the limp home/faulty MAF.
We're talking 1/4 tank of fuel in 40 miles!!!

I will not get the popcharger. Just not worth it to me. If I'm going to do anything it's going to be a Stillen supercharger.

Besides, we're letting the Z go in a few weeks anyway. With a baby, it just is not at all practical for us and is worth more than we owe. the wife wants an RX400h (we did the math, it'll be good for us and payback the hybrid option in about 1.5 years with her normal driving scenario).

ThumpAZ

Forgot to talk about the water puddle...
She was going slow through about 4 inches of water on her side of the road. However, the other side was considerably deeper... probably as much as 10".
Well, lo and behold, some **** in a pickup came flying through the water from the other direction and caused a wave of water that came over the hood of the Z.
You can see where the water went over the hood, even.
If I'd have been there and had a working vehicle after that encounter... I'd be typing to you from jail today

Wired 24/7

iTrader: (2)

Glad to hear that you got your issue resolved.

The MAF in the 350z is a "hotwire" air flow sensor I believe. If it gets wet, it may "think" there is an unbelievable amount of air coming into the engine. Then it will compensate by richening up the mixture. In other words, you were probably running so rich that the car barely had any power. Even worse, dirty water could probably permanently damage the MAF and it sounds like it may have done just that.

I wouldn't be surprised if the smell you smelled was unburnt fuel?

At least this is my analysis of the problem.

nissansource

iTrader: (10)

id at least do an oil change

Kenk2

iTrader: (7)

Take it to Caliente and have them check everything out.. They are good peeps there and will make sure everything is good to go with the motor..

Call up Jon and he will take care of you for sure..

Zexy

iTrader: (55)

It's sorta obvious to not drive over water with CAI.

Hopefully your motor isn't a goner.