I was driving home from work the other day, and it was pouring cats and dogs, a flash flood. I was doing my best to avoid puddles and other drivers, but apparently not everyone else thought like me. Had a car pull up next to me out of nowhere, hit a HUGE puddle, and next thing I know, a monsoon has hit my car, and my car alone. My hood, windshield, and even the roof of my car, were all soaked.
I pulled over a couple blocks later to wait out the rest of the rain, and then drove home when it let up, just under a quarter of a mile. Car was driving fine before the big splash, but after, it was all I could do to get it up to speed in 2nd gear. It was chug-a-lugging along, and I knew I was really pushing it. The motor was revving pretty high - I don’t have an RPM gauge on the vehicle, but I’m guessing it was close to being in the red.
Next day, after the car had had a chance to dry out (or so I thought), we gave it a shot again, and this time, it wouldn’t move at all.
The fluids have all been topped off. It’s a 5 speed manual transmission, usually with GREAT pickup, runs like a dream. It does need a replacement CV joint, but I don’t know if that would help this or not. My suspicion is that water got in the works somewhere and is not able to “dry out” effectively. I don’t know a lot about Nissans, other than I know where to find everything under the hood, and that’s a nice change.
Anyway, thought I’d come here for some ideas. What’s a good way to find out where the water would be sitting, and how do you get rid of that water? Or am I all wet, and the problem is something else entirely?
TIA!
sounds to me like water got into your clutch. Then you burned the hell out of it by revving the motor high to get it to move (don’t do that next time). Now the water is probably gone, but the friction material is gone from the clutch, and so your car can’t move. If I’m right, you need a new clutch.
Oh, and replace the CV joint while you’re at it. That’s a safety issue.
It looks like you’re right. I didn’t mean to rev it so high - the car likes to do that, and we’ve only had it for a week, so I’m still getting used to it. We just had a mechanic come out and take a look, and he’s saying clutch also.
And the CV joint is already in the process of being replaced, it was just a matter of getting the part.
Thank you for your help!
Oh, and I guess I should ask… next time water gets into my clutch (heaven forbid), are you saying I should just be extra careful not to rev the engine so much, or better to wait til the clutch dries out to drive it again? Seems like a silly question, I’m sure…
it’s unlikely to ever happen again, but if it does, pull over and either have the car towed home, or leave it where it is if it’s in a safe place and go get it the next day. You need to let the water dry up out of the clutch completely, because you’ll be slipping no matter how carefully you try to drive otherwise.
Good to know. Thank you!