Hydro-Locked or seized engine??
 

Well guys I finally bought the blue prelude I really wanted. Now on the way home after buying it from the dealer it rained pretty hard but then stopped. I was following my stepdad who was driving the prelude home in my accord. The prelude has a CAI. Then we came to some very flooded areas which we drove through and made it out fine. Then on the last flooded area there was a huge truck next to my stepdad and when they both started going, the truck threw a huge wave at the prelude and when it hit, the prelude spluttered and stalled out. Now we cant start the car at all. It had to be towed to my house. I think it is hydrolocked :(. When I tried to start then car I didn't get any engine turnover noise, just the clicking sound. Also when I tried to start it, the lights on the dashboard would dim really bad. I honestly don't know what to do. I just bought this car and now I'm at high risk of the motor being gone. it is a 2001 base prelude with 86k. FML

Start by airing every thing out, pull the air filter and dump the water , pull the plugs and dry them, change the oil and run a cleaner thru the engine as your doing that..generally get the water out of all the areas that water could have gone into..

WheelBrokerAng:)

If it hydrolocked while idling, try cranking the engine while the sparkplugs are out. If water spits out from the sparkplug holes, then you should suspect further damage.

Your description of the lights dimming when you try to crank, says the starter is stalling under a big load. Unfortunately, that might be a hydrolocked cylinder.

Ok, I tried to jump start the car with a simple jumper pack. Still no luck. Then I took out the plugs and they seemed kinda dry. Also I stuck a thin piece of paper in the cylinders to see if I would get any wetness but the paper came up dry. Then I drained out the oil and at first a little water came out then all the dirty oil came out. I pulled out some of the fender liner to check the air filter and it was soaked and there were alot of dirty leaves I pulled out. I pulled out the intake from the throttle body and I did see wetness in the intake. I have no idea what to do. I have to buy some new oil to put in. I am so depressed. Also when the car was being lifted on the flatbed water poured out of the tailpipe. I'm not sure if it was because the pipe was under water or not.

so most cars come with awarrenty i know here, on the cheapo dealers they do 3 day ones, you didnt get any? you can just say you drove it home and it died and doesnt start. if they say you have to becareful about the cai say you know nothing about that

The car is sold as is no warrenty :(.

Sorry to see that sold as is thing..makes it tougher to pay all on your own...

Well, seeing as your dad was driving it and he witnessed it happen first hand, he might be willing to help pay to fix it. It does sound like water got in the motor though.

Dry cylinders (through the sparkplug holes) is a good thing. If you're lucky, the filter got soaked after which it doesn't pass any air. So it's kinda like holding your hand over the intake & starving the engine of air.

Was the airfilter torn open or just soaked?

Water in the tailpipe isn't a real horrible thing either.

1- Put in the new oil, new oil filter, but leave the sparkplugs out. Remove the air intake completely so there's no water in that tube. Crank the starter to circulate the oil around. Maybe drain/fill the oil again to remove any more water.

2- New air filter, & new spark plugs.

3- Try again to start & run. That will push the water out of the exhaust. Don't leave the water in there for very long.

IF this happened a few days ago, there might have been some moisture sitting in the cylinders. Corrosion makes the pistion rings stick in the cylinders, maybe THAT's why it won't crank (rather than hydro-lock). If so, squirt some oil, or WD-40, or PB-Blaster into the sparkplug holes to free that up. Then crank (with fresh oil) & continue with the stuff I said above.