A couple days ago, we had a flash downpour on my way home from work so all the sewers got backed up in my neighborhood. I wasn't paying attention where there was a slight dip in the road, and I drove right through some high water. I think the water level was maybe up to the bottom of my stock Z24 front bumper, but I'm not sure.
As I went through the water(at about 10 mph), the car almost stalled, but I made it through before the car quit. After that, the "ETS Off" light came on, and the car started to give off a nasty smell. I only drove about a half mile more to make it home & parked the car. I started the car up the next morning & the ETS light was still on, but it went off as I pulled out of the driveway & it hasn't come back since.
However, since that morning, the motor is making a bird chirping sound, and then there's also a kinda ticking/rattling sound from the very front end around the radiator area it seems. The ticking/rattling is mainly noticeable at idle where it seems the idle is a little rougher than it used to be. The chirping/squeaking sound happens all the time whether it be at idle or driving.
Does anyone know what might be the problem? I'm hoping I didn't mess something up after having the car running so well for so many years.
I have the AEM short ram.
Driving through the water probably tossed water up in the air along the sides of the car up to the windows maybe. The section of water that I drove through was probably about 10 feet long from start to finish.
Do the sounds change with engine speed(RPMS)?
Well if you don't have the filter in the bumper, I don't think its an engine issue so much,
Maybe some water got splashed in the engine bay and shorted something out?
<img src="http://www.majhost.com/gallery/HCAJosh/crap/shooshined.jpg">
- putting the pieces back together -
did you look under the hood. I drove through water at least that high and the only thing that hapened was my horn got clogged. my car is also lower than yours. i would say that the a/c might be the culprit since its low but you said the car almost stalled, im not sure
I pulled into my garage yesterday & left the engine running. With the hood closed, it seemed like the sound was coming from the radiator area, but when I popped the hood, it was clear that it was coming from the very back of the motor.
From what I could tell, it sounds like it coming from where the header connects to the block on the back of the motor. It's a mixture of light bird chirping/squeaking sounds & another sound that is really hard to describe. I've actually noticed that this other sound increases & becomes more fast paced as the RPM's increase. It's almost like a slight water sloshing back & forth sound with a kinda "chicka-chicka-chicka" sound that gets faster as I push on the gas. It's not so much as noticeable on the highway as it is when I'm going from a stop to about 35 mph.......from idle to 35 mph is when its most noticeable.
It's been really warm for several days since this happened so I don't see how water can still be hiding somewhere without evaporating, but it does sound like its kinda sloshing around somewhere. Anyone have any suggestions? Performance of the car hasn't been affected, but I want to make sure I'm not hurting the motor by driving it like this.
Pullies will make a chirping/squeaking sound when the bearing go. The belt would too. Get some WD-40 and spray on the pully bearings as see if the noise stops. Do them one at a time, cuz if the noise stops, thats the bad bearing. Same thing with the belt, spray it and listen.
Thats all i can think of now.
Had the car looked at yesterday, and they said it's not the belt or pulley bearings. They told me that it's the timing system that needs to be replaced. He said it sounds like the guides are broken or wore out, and it would be a good idea to just do the whole timing kit(2 cam gears, crank gear, chain, 3 guides, & tensioner). It's gonna be $200 in parts and $400 in labor. Does this sound normal? Should I have them replace all the gaskets for the cover as well?....because they didn't include those in the parts they would order. My 2.4 has about 148,000 miles.
Since I've been driving the car for 2 weeks like this, could I have damaged anything else? I'd like to try & do it myself, but this is my only car & I don't have the time or garage to work on it. I don't have the experience on replacing any internals either.
^^^Slight correction on my last message: They quoted $250 in parts & $350 labor. (not $200 and $400)
if you end up getting the work done have the replace your water pump too.
i dont see how water could have fouled your timing chain
i think the ets is the emissions thing in our car and if the rear o2 sensor isnt plugged in it turns on. so id think that if the rear o2 sensor shorts out it would also turn on. that could have been what happened with the ets light...
no clue as to the other noises.
check your oil.
z24 - CAI - Magnaflow Cat - PaceSetters
--exhaust and unorthadox pulley soon
