93' lesabre wont start after going through big puddle

[wingnut691983]

Hi!

I have been looking for a place to get some help for a 'do it yourselfer' who doesnt want to pour a lot of cash into a 13 year old car. We had a really rainy day last week and one road that I go through to get home from work had a substantial amount of water over it, after going through it (i was probably going 20 or so) I went about 200 feet and the sucker stalled out. After that it would not start, i sat there for 10 minutes or so and then it would start and run fora bout 3 seconds and then stall out. It did that several times. Since the last time it did that it has not started since and will only crank.

A buddy of mine and I looked at it today, we found that the plugs are not sparking. Took one out and cranked it and nothing. The wires and all are fine. Suspected the coil packs, took them off and took them to auto zone and they tested out fine. The guy at autozone said we might want to check the camshaft sensor which is one the side of the engine down by one of the pulley wheels, said if that gets water in it it will not work and will not spark.

To "test" that would be 36 bucks for a new one and have never replaced that before so am not even sure I can do it myself so I would like to have some semblance of it being a good idea before I do that. Obviously it wont start so if i need to take it someplace I will have to have it towed. (I was 3 miles away from home so a friend pulled it back to my house with his truck)

Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[Bassasasin]

I suspect your CRANKshaft sensor.. ($200 shop)..
Camshaft sensors are a tough solid sensor and arent suseptable to water being high up on the motor and dont crack with age. But you can cheaply try it.

You can disconnect the Camshaft sensor at the sensor and if the car starts then its the sensor. (as per the Service Manual)

CRANKShaft sensors do crack and are in the harmonic balancer wheel on the forward side and down low on the engine.

Ignition Modules are an easy swap and for that era frequent the junk yards if you want to iliminate it


Good luck

[HotZ28]

A faulty camshaft sensor will not cause a “no-spark” condition. The cam sensor is used for injector timing. If the cam sensor fails, your injectors will fire out of time, but the car will still start & run, if you have spark & fuel pressure.

More than likely, you have either a bad ICM or CPS. An easy way to test them, is to connect a halogen headlamp to the spade terminals that mate the ICM module to the coils. A headlamp is recommended, because it puts more of a load on the module than a test lamp. If the headlamp flashes when the engine is cranked, the ICM module and crankshaft position sensor circuit are functioning. If not, one or both may be bad. You can take the ICM to AutoZone for testing. It is free! If the ICM passes the test, replace the crank sensor.

Also, be sure to clean all terminals with contact cleaner and apply some dielectric grease before reinstalling.( If fact, you may want to try this first)!