Hello all. I'm looking for a little help on this please. My wife got caught in a rainstorm yesterday and followed a line of cars through a moderate size puddle - nothing too bad as all the other cars made it through easily. Something happened to the van though - the engine died and left her and the family stranded in the road. After 30 minutes she had it towed back home and parked. This morning she tried again and it won't start - won't turn over - only one click. All lights work, power is fine. Battery is less than a year old, starter was replaced a year ago. Normally I'd run some tests and troubleshoot but I am on the other side of the country for another week.

Currently my fingers are crossed that it just needs to dry out.

2011 Dodge Grand Caravan - 3.6 - 72k - new battery and starter in the last year.

Thank you for reading.

 

I think the main pcm drivers side under the light. might of got wet and fried or not sending correct signals. but I not sure 100%

 

If the water is high enough to reach the head light, I am going to say she hydro lock the engine. Check if Air Filter is all wet.


Check if engine turns over by hand. Crank Pull is a 27 MM Bolt. You should be able to access it by turning your steering wheel all the way to the right.


I hope you have Full Coverage flood insurance. Most likely going to need a new engine.

 

Beat me to it. Yea not to be a negative nancy, but the symptoms sound very hydro-lock-y. Water cannot compress like air, so when water ends up in the combustion chamber, the piston cannot compress it and bad bad things happen .

I've heard of scenarios where people have pulled all the spark plugs and turned the key a couple times to expel any water, but thats assuming no internal damage. I have not done it myself so I cannot speak to the effectiveness.

Best of luck, please keep us posted on how it goes.

Cheers

 

But if the water is high enough to reach the headlights, wouldn't it be more than high enough to enter the exhaust, causing her to stall out in the water or shortly thereafter?

 

Wouldn't say it's impossible, but the OP states that now when trying to start the van a "click" is heard and nothing else. This sounds like the starter trying to turn over the engine, but being unable to.

 

I don't have an update yet but wanted to thank you all for the suggestions so far. I have had the van towed to a garage I trust to diagnose. I will be updating this thread when I find out more. I will be flying in and will see for myself next week regardless.
Thanks again.

 

Thanks for keeping us posted on how it's going. I certainly hope it turns out well.

 

Air filter was soaked. Air box had water sitting inside and a gallon seemed to be trapped in the intake hose between the air box and the engine. Pulled the plugs and tried to turn the crank by hand and wouldn't budge.

Hydro-locked the engine.

I found a 16k mile engine (with warranty) and will be installing this coming week.

Thanks for all of the help - although I couldn't believe it you all pointed me in the right direction and helped me diagnose.

 

Ugh, man. That's a bummer. Not covered by insurance??