Wet engine, now flooding

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Trav K

Trav K

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Ok this is my first post so bare with me.
New to the old Mopar and I just bought a 73 Dart Sport 340, FiTech 600 EFI conversion with a MSD ready to run. Now I'm not the most mechanically inclined person but figured I've gotta learn somewhere and this seemed like a decent unit to do that with.
So it was a recent build and there wasn't a hood gasket put in afterwards, I was giving the car a quick spray down and water went down the rear hood gap over the distributor and FiTech wiring (no biggy right?). Turn the car over and at first I had no spark, she cranked but nothing there? So I tried 2-3 more times and the Fitech primed the bowl each time, now it's flooded. Put the peddal to the floor and give it another crank and boom she takes off ruff as hell, coughs and sputters and won't hold idle at all.
Kept the RPM up over 1000 and after a bit I was able to run it for a short distance and back again and then she'd hold idle. Shut it down as it was late and came back the next day and same start up process. OK so I'm not playing any more till I change the plugs and oil at the very least (slight gas smell in the oil), but what am I missing with it going from running like a top to a dead weight from a little water? Talked to the previous owner and since it was built it was never run in the rain and only towel washed so he'd never come acros this either. I'll also be pulling the distrib cap too just in case there's some water in there somehow?
Pic for reference.

dart6.jpg


dart 7.JPG
 
that would be my first guess, water in the dist. You may not have to replace the cap, just dry it out really thoroughly. It might be a good idea to leave the cap off for awhile, and/ or run a hair dryer into the dist body to dry out the dist in the mech advance area.
 
If you think there is water in the distributor cap, pop the cap open and spray a little wd 40 in there.. WD 40 stands for water displacement formula 40. Any way good luck..
 
She sat for 12 hrs last night in a heated shop with fans blowing at the distrib area, but who knows maybe water got trapped in there?
 
Trav K said:
She sat for 12 hrs last night in a heated shop with fans blowing at the distrib area, but who knows maybe water got trapped in there?
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I think the water will vaporize somewhat when the engine is hot, but recondense on cold surfaces after it cools down. Did you leave the cap off for an extended period?
 
Ok so got to er tonight, pulled apart the distributor cap (don't ask how much I like that wiper motor ) sprayed some WD40 inside then blew it out with compressed air several times, left a fan on it while I changed out the plugs and changed the oil. Buttoned everything back up and it still wouldn't fire up till I pressed the peddle to the floor. It seems to idle fine in park but as soon as it's in gear it's trying to stall out. Running outta ideas, any suggestions?
 
Trav K said:
Not off the cap I didn't, to be honest when I pulled the cap it didn't look like any water had gotten in there. But I guess I can't go assuming right.
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if you looked closely at the inside of the cap and didn't see any water or dampness in the cap, then that's probably not the problem. You say you pulled the plugs, were they wet with fuel? Of so, I'd suggest spinning the engine over with the starter with the key off, so the FI doesn't throw a bunch more fuel in there. Watch carefully to see if it shoots out a bunch of fuel out of the spark plug holes. If so, the FI is going full rich. Check to make sure all the grounds are making good, solid contact with the block and/or sheet metal of the unibody.
 
Thanks Rusty I'll give that a try, it was running rich when I replaced the plugs they were soaked in fuel still.
I did just run it around the block a couple times and as soon as the rpm drops below 1000 in gear it tries to die out. Got er back to the garage and checked the new plugs...no fuel! But still wants to die in gear and won't start up till the gas is fully pressed. Oh and no water in the plugs. I'm gonna let it sit overnight and try again in the morning. :drama:
 
Trav K said:
Thanks Rusty I'll give that a try, it was running rich when I replaced the plugs they were soaked in fuel still.
I did just run it around the block a couple times and as soon as the rpm drops below 1000 in gear it tries to die out. Got er back to the garage and checked the new plugs...no fuel! But still wants to die in gear and won't start up till the gas is fully pressed. Oh and no water in the plugs. I'm gonna let it sit overnight and try again in the morning. :drama:
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you did say the wiring for the FI got wet, too? how about checking out that? If there are FI wiring connectoids, I'd pull them apart and dry them with compressed air, and reconnect them.
 
rustycowll69 said:
you did say the wiring for the FI got wet, too? how about checking out that? If there are FI wiring connectoids, I'd pull them apart and dry them with compressed air, and reconnect them.
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maybe check both sides of the connectoid (s) for continuity with a DVOM, power off of course.
 
Found the vacuum line off the distributor was pinched under the FiTech wiring. Could this be the culprit ?

9BEE5510-839B-4FD8-AA79-83AE80586A50.jpg
 
Trav K said:
Found the vacuum line off the distributor was pinched under the FiTech wiring. Could this be the culprit ?

View attachment 1715064653
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I doubt that is the issue, but you can fix that while you're at it. Vacuum advance hose should be stoutish rubber vacuum hose not flamboyant vinyl. In the pic there is a 1/4" female spade connector. It's hard to see, is it connected to anything?
 
So I pulled every connector from the FiTech and blew with air, and it started to run smoother. Still having a hard start and running a little lean on a hard throttle. Topped up the fuel with some injector cleaner to see if that'll clean up what's probably a soaked o2 sensor. Confirmed good connection to everything off the FiTech, only 1 connector isn't hooked up but I'm guessing that's for the electric fan control(this winters project).

IMG_3453.JPG
 
You should have a controller for the fitech...have you looked at the setup parameters to see if they are where they should be. a little water can change resistance quite a bit causing the fitech to send corrupt voltage signals to the internals of the tbi.
 
Does that system come with a scanner of some sort? If not, and if it is scanner friendly, you might as well order one today.
Your computer needs specific inputs. Garbage in =garbage out. And so it goes with the guessing game.
The scanner will show you what the computer is seeing. Then you can make a much more "educated" guess and maybe go straight to the problem.

In the meantime, a timing lite can at least tell you what the plugs are seeing.
 
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