Hello, Well I have quite the disaster to show you guys. I really need help getting my jeep working again after this mistake. I'll let the pictures tell the story and ask more specific questions and add details l8r. Thanks for your help. She is cranking but has no spark.

I really need help the no spark problem is odd.

















Safe at home.


Home sweet home. Glad to have her back and not across the damn lake.


Gutted the interior, All seats and Carpet are out.. working on getting everything dry.


Fuse box, is the Yellow box the computer? spraying all connections with Silicone based electronics cleaner / dryer


Jeep is on it's way back to pavement.

 

Dry? How deep did it get? Doesn't look like it was deep enough to get the interior wet...

Test the CPS and check for water in the distributor.

Change the fluid in the axles, engine, transmission and transfer case.

 

Did you check all of you connections. Might be good to remove some fuses and check to see if the connections have corrosion on them. Did it just stop running out while driving or after you got back from you trip.

 

I live on a lake called Vallecito in the Rockies above Durango in Colorado. We have just gone through what they call a thousand year storm. I picked a bad time to get stuck on the lake trails. Within two days the water ended up above the stick shift ****. At that point I was wading/ swimming out to the jeep so I didn't take any pic's. I have been researching the CPS heavily and have check for water in the distributor on my todo list for today. I Haven't changed the fluid in the axles, oil, trans, or transfer case. Do you think I should also change the plugs? Would you change the fluids before trying to go through the electronic connections etc? I bought 2 can's of electronic cleaning silicone / drying spray. I have free towing from AAA and a snow storm is coming I'm halfway thinking of just sending it to Auto Surgeons (the guys who just put my rebuilt engine in.) I really like fixing things on my own but this problem seems to have many possible cause's.

Here are a few pics with the carpet out etc..







I haven't checked all the connections yet but I checked the one's having to do with the Distributor and Ignition. After I got it towed out the the gravel part of the lake bed I let it dry overnight. The next morning I went back and my buddy was messing with the wire that goes from the ignition to the distributor as I was trying to start it all the sudden It fired up and ran very smooth for about 10-15 minutes. Then as I was strapping the battery down and closing the hood to drive home it just died. Must have bumped a connection or something. Since then it has cranked smooth but has never started or got spark. Being that it did start and ran very strong with no white smoke or any other symptoms of water in the engine I have a feeling it's just a relay, fuse, ground or connection. But now i'm thinking CPS but that is very new to me, i'm not that sure what to do.

 

What year ?

 

The Jeep is a 1988 inline 6 4.0L Manual. I just checked the oil dipstick it was milky so I decided to have it towed to the Mechanic who recently put the engine in.
I don't know where i'm going to come up with the money for this if it turns into something major.

 

Just throw a cps on it ...

 

I've lived in a flood plane. Saved a few. Since you are manual trans you could come out OK. Once an auto is silted it's rare it will ever work long. It's a long list that will be spendy at a shop. The diff's, transfer case, tranny and engine all drained. For lack of a better idea I used a hand squirt bottle with kerosene to rice what I could in the diff trans and engine of an old Ford once.

I guess WD-40 is the army's 40th try at a product that displaces water. (Water Displacement-40)(stronger capillary action). I've also tried alcohol since it mixes with both water and oil base...major fire hazard and not sure it ever helped.

You can check your CPS output with the info in my, or cruisers sig. If your flywheel is all mucked up you might pull the plate and clean in there, junk there could prevent the CPS from taking to the ECU.

 

Thanks soo much for the great information. The first thing I did is use good ol' WD-40 it's a great way to clean gunk off stuff and prevent corrosion. Also displaces water and add's a simple teflon coating.
I guess once I saw that the dipstick had milky oil on it I decided to send it off to a pro. I'm hoping the dipstick looked milky bc some water ended up going down the dipstick tube. I'm going to call and check on it right now.

 

The milky dipstick is water in the oil. It can happen in the winters of the great white north if you don't warm the engine thoroughly. Condensation gets in the oil and causes a milky foam. It's probably best, in your case, to change the oil completely.

 

bump :-)

 

Oil & filter before you try to crank again.

You should have changed it before cranking the first time, but it's a little late now. Bearing damage may have already been done.

Anything electrical is suspect at this point. It could be minor, could be major. Further diagnosis on-site is necessary.

 

Thanks Firestorm, It's at the auto surgeon right now.. I'm a-little afraid to call and see what I have done.