We recently had a hurricane that dumped tons of water all over the county. My fiance and I HAD to venture out the day after the storm to get his paycheck, we ran into several spots of high water. It was flowing like a river across the road but I had no choice but to drive through I just didn't realize it was THAT high. I'd say it came up to at least the bottom of the doors. I drove fast enough to make it thru without getting swept away but I didn't gun it or anything. So now my car is sputtering when I'm still and go to accelerate, if I let off the pedal and hit it aging but easier it will stop and once I'm up to 2nd gear it's fine. I checked the air filter and it is dry. I also put Heet in it to remove water from the gas just in case. Now idk what else to do. A mechanic told me just to drive it because it would eventually atop but how long do I let it go on. Like this? This is a new car, had it 1 month, 2014 Honda civic. I can not afford to lose this car!!! What do I do?


The first thing I would do is check the oil if it looks normal then you there's no water in the engine which is the big thing. If the oil is milky looking then get an oil change.

It doesn't sound like you got that deep in to water, and engines/transmissions are pretty resilient, the most vulnerable part is the electrical system, which may have gotten doused. It's running, which is good news so it can't be that bad, but wet cables can cause all sorts of rough running issues. If that's the problem then they'll probably dry on their own, but there's always the chance something got fried.

The other thing that got doused was the exhaust system, it's possible you got some water up your tailpipe. That can cause rough running as well because it interrupts the exhaust air flow, and can foul emission sensors.

I'd suggest you go to an auto parts store and get them to read your OBD codes, many will do this for free. Those codes may tell you exactly what the problem is, be it a sensor malfunction or something else.

Please don't go out in a hurricane again, no paycheck is worth it! An extra foot of water and you could have been killed.

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