Hey all. I flushed and refilled my radiator yesterday, drove around with no problems. This morning on the way to work, about halfway, the car started to stumble around 2000 rpm. It doesn't do it on gentle throttle tip-in, only when I get on it. It also does it when the engine isn't under load, i.e. sitting in the parking lot this morning revving it up.

Any ideas? I don't know if it's related to the flush/fill or not. I'm hoping it'll go away but I just don't have the money right now to go replacing things one at a time to try to find the problem.

TIA

Sounds like the MAF.

However, you should check your ecu and see if any codes pop up.

Just a thought.

Will it throw codes even with no check engine light?

Car was even funnier on the way home - the rev band in which there was hesitation moved all around and finally almost disappeared, but it's still there. It's almost like it's missing under almost WOT, but only in certain places in the rev band, and they don't stay the same.

Help me out here guys, my baby's sick!

Water in the number one spark plug well... Hmmmmmmm...
More later.

It doesn't sound like anything to do with the flush & fill, but just some tuning issues: plugs, wires, cap, rotor, MAF sensor(ground), and possibly TPS. Give it a check.

Pulled plugs and dried them, let the wires out for several hours to allow the wells to dry. Car seems to be running fine this morning. I'll update if needed.

Thanks for the input, guys.

As far as I know, the ECU will throw codes even if the check light engine is not on.

I had an idling problem a little bit back and took it to a mechanic. He checked the ECU, and lo and behold, it was throwing a code out. I'm almost 100% sure that the check engine light was not on (except on startup).

Can anybody clarify if the ECU will throw codes even if the check engine light is not on?

As for the water on the spark plug? Hmmmm....maybe it's time to change the spark plug cables. Were you washing your car? Left the hood open while it was raining?

Wouldn't having water in the engine be really bad?

Anyway, keep us posted. I would really like to know more about it.

Melvyn

The ecu will store codes even if the check engine light doesnt come on. The check engine light usually is triggered by hard failure. For example:
If a sensor is out of spec the ecu will recognise it and store it in the ecu but wont trigger a light because the sensor is still "working".

Originally posted by Rittmeister
Pulled plugs and dried them, let the wires out for several hours to allow the wells to dry. Car seems to be running fine this morning. I'll update if needed.

Thanks for the input, guys.

When I cleaned my engine I got water in the plug holes. I have an air compressor and shot some air down there and it dried them out enough to make it run fine. If you don't have an air compressor, try a tire pump that you would use to inflate a bike tire. It will give you enough pressure to blow out the water.


Good luck!
Curt B. Shumaker