water in tank

i lost my gas cap and forgot when i decided to get a car wash. needless to say, this
84 has nothing to keep foreign objects out so water is in and car won't start? what has to happen and approx how much do you think it will cost me. can i drain the tank myself?
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I think the no-start problem probably lies elsewhere.

I do not think an appreciable amount of water can get into the tank, even with no cap.
Your car has the filler behind the licence plate, right?
Also, the filler neck should have the little flap door on it, right?
These two obstructions should deflect virtually all water from an automatic car wash anyways.
Finally, most gasolines these days have quite a lot of ethanol in them, which does a good job at neutralizing the effects of a small amount of moisture in the gas.

Did your car stop working when it was in the car wash, or did it not start later on?

Have you checked for spark when cranking the engine?

i lost my gas cap and forgot when i decided to get a car wash. needless to say, this
84 has nothing to keep foreign objects out so water is in and car won't start? what has to happen and approx how much do you think it will cost me. can i drain the tank myself?
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) VZW:SCH-i910 PPC 240x400


with a long tube suck the gas out of the tank....with the flexible plastic tubing 3/8 to 1/2 in. then with the gas in the container observe if you have water at the bottom [gas floats]

remove the fuel pump line at the carb put hose on that with clamp and crank engine observe gas in container ,,water ?

with a long tube suck the gas out of the tank....with the flexible plastic tubing 3/8 to 1/2 in. then with the gas in the container observe if you have water at the bottom [gas floats]

remove the fuel pump line at the carb put hose on that with clamp and crank engine observe gas in container ,,water ?

i'll try this once i get it home. first i have to fork over tow money. i can't believe i F'in did this. the car actually shut off while in the was and will not turn back on. does this make my bad problem a much much worse problem?
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in the interest of full disclosure, this actually happened to my 74 catalina. i do have an 84 caprice and i joined this forum when i got it. the caprice forum has been more than helpful with my caprice issues and the last time i tried in the pontiac forum, i got nothing. i hope this doesn' put you guys off from helping me, i wanted to be honest though. thanks in advance for any and all help.
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Okay, thank you for the full disclosure. The extra info makes a HUGE difference.

If it died actually IN the car wash, its definitely NOT water in the tank that's caused the problem. Likely the ignition system is wet and shorting out. If/when it dries out, you should be fine. No repair would be required, just time to dry out.


At low-speed running, even if you shoved a firehose down the gas tank, it would take several minutes for the engine to die, because the engine would have to use all the gas in the carburetor float bowl and the fuel line first.

Your '74 Catalina most likely does NOT have a modern HEI (high energy Ignition) system. It probably has the old-fashioned points-type distributor, which is far more vulnerable to moisture and subsequent shorting-out. The system does not even have to get directly splashed with water... mist/spray/sudden high humidity can do it too)

I think '74 was the last year for points in GM cars.

This is more likely if your plug wires, cap and rotor are old. (BTW, this can also happen to an HEI, too, but is less likely)

you're correct as it is not a hei system. i did change the cap, rotor, and plugs about a week ago. i'm here with the
car 8 hours later and still nothing. it's a pretty hot day so i would think it would be good to go if drying out were the answer. i don't want to keep cranking it and nothing happen but i need to decide on towing or waiting more since it's on a public street.
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on the water in gas theory, when the cap is off, it's a wide open hole for water to go into the tank. just an fyi to give you an idea as to what i thought problem is.
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on the water in gas theory, when the cap is off, it's a wide open hole for water to go into the tank. just an fyi to give you an idea as to what i thought problem is.
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I understand why you thought of water in the gas first. :)

If you have any tools with you, remove the distributor cap and look for dampness under the cap and around the rotor, points and condenser. Let it dry with the cap off for a bit..... try to wipe it down very gently with a dry cloth. Make sure the plug wires and coil wire is dry.

If you leave the cap on, it takes a long time to dry out on a humid day like today.......

well, i put some water remover stuff earlier and nothing happened. i read your post about it getting wet and honestly, doubted it. Then, as i sat in the car waiting for tow truck, i turned they key, and it started. not that i doubted your knowledge but i didn't think it could be that simple. i'll stick to hand car washes from now on. thanks for the help because holding out that hope kept me from spending a lot of unnecessary money. this is why i like automotiveforum.com and more specifically, the caprice forum.

well, i put some water remover stuff earlier and nothing happened. i read your post about it getting wet and honestly, doubted it. Then, as i sat in the car waiting for tow truck, i turned they key, and it started. not that i doubted your knowledge but i didn't think it could be that simple. i'll stick to hand car washes from now on. thanks for the help because holding out that hope kept me from spending a lot of unnecessary money. this is why i like automotiveforum.com and more specifically, the caprice forum.

with the water at the tank bottom you probably sucked all the water that entered the tank and sent it to the engine,,,then after a period of time that the gas water remover had time to do its job..

the 74 catalina had a side fill for fuel tank ?? if so that would get a lot of water in it..

the 1974 year was the last year of the point distributor,,,
it was also the year of the bad/defective sheet metal that rusted from the inside of the metal...rust blisters every where...toyota began its climb to the top....

i didn't think it could be that simple. .
I know a lot about old cars and their tricks. I own lots of them. In decades past, wet ignitions were a common problem.... and the remedy was always the same..... wait a bit and/or dry the parts off.

It hardly ever happens to newer cars, due to better waterproofing and designs. But we are so used to newer cars, where problems require complicated and expensive repairs, we forget the old simple designs are often simple to fix.

with the water at the tank bottom you probably sucked all the water that entered the tank and sent it to the engine,,,then after a period of time that the gas water remover had time to do its job..

the 74 catalina had a side fill for fuel tank ?? if so that would get a lot of water in it..
Respectfully, This is a classic case of wet ignition. Water in fuel absolutely was not the problem.

If water is preventing the car from starting it means water is IN the carb float bowl, not just in the tank.
Water is too viscous to get sucked up by the carb jets. It stays in the float bowl until it is drained. No amount of cranking will clear it. No amount of cranking will suck up water remover, either becaue it has a mechanical fuel pump which only pumps fuel when the carb gets empty.
How can it suck up the water remover with a carb full of water?

Also, as posted earlier, the car died in the car wash. There is no way water can get in the tank.... get to the pick-up...get through 18 feet of fuel line ..... and to the carb in the few seconds that this car was getting wet.

BTW the gas filler on that car is covered by the licence plate, preventing water from getting in. It is not a side-fill.

Finally, "water remover" does not remove water. It is just methyl alcohol, which surrounds the water and allows it to pass through the fuel system as an emulsion. Todays gasolines already have up to 10-15% alcohol as it is, which is very effective at negating the effects of small amounts of water in fuel, no additive required.

It could be as you say a wet ignition...problem I have is with new wires/cap etc this died while running in the car wash and the gas cap is missing...

I still believe some water must have gotten into the fuel...

my 1973 never had any problems with water/ignition...

maybe he did not put the cap on correctly something like that ,,,,but if it was water in the ignition the cap will be arced up inside for sure...so I would remove the cap and check for that...

back in 1973 my impala died,,,going 20mph down a very small smooth street,,,,no warning just like the key was turned to off...

I quickly determined it was not getting any fuel ,,,so I took my shoe off and hit the carb where the bowl is located ...engine started ,,,120,ooo mi and 10years later it never repeated or died on me...but those rust blisters ,,,