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[nastynate]

hey guys I'm Nate, I drive a 2005 Corolla Xrs, and I work at Sears Auto Center in Louisville Ky. I drove through a "puddle" last week and since then my Xrs won't run in gear... Although I have an Injen cold air intake, we are certain that it isn't water-locked, because it will run at idle and will still run through all gears when on the lift, without a load (granted it runs like crap). Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Scott O'Kashan]

Nate, guessing, it sounds like maybe some water was ingested into the engines combustion chamber's and caused damage, like maybe bent valves, cracked rings or pistons. This is especially likely with an open element air filter, which makes it very easy to ingest rain water splashed up from puddles. You'd have to do a dry and then wet compression test and compare the differences to diagnose this. If the wet compression test shows considerably higher compression, then it indicates internal engine damage.

Try removing the spark plugs and looking at them to see what kind of condition they are in. This will tell you a lot about what is going on in each cylinder and maybe at least identify which cylinder(s) are misfiring.