My grandfather was driving my avenger in a rain storm and hit
a big puddle, he said it immediately died and wouldnt start,
well we got it towed to the house and i dried everything out
and put new plugs in. Now heres where it gets weird, the car
will start and run if you wanna call it that, it is running
all shudder like and will barely idle, now to mention when you
apply throttle and let off it makes this weird clanking noise,
from the head i think but not sure, it sounds like its about
to throw something, but i dont know, i need to know how to fix
it fast though, can anyone help?

well it sounds like you bent a rod but the first thing i would
do is change oil, then run a compression test to see if a rod
is bent. if you get a really low number in 1 or more of the
cylinders u bent the road and i wouldnt drive ur car anymore
till you get new rods if you do drive it ur at risk of
throwing the rod which will be bad.  the first mistake u made
though was trying to restart you car thats a no no if u
suspect hydrolock
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Mods:
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dash kit, indiglo guages, n other shit

Yeah what he said -- a question for you -- is there a cold air
intake on the car??? Do you have a reason to suspect
hydrolock??  

When I hydrolocked my car -- it just wouldn't start anymore --
the starting part is promising -- the noise is not -- but do a
compression test and hope for the best -- btw -- if you have
comprehensive insurance -- things like this are covered..

Best of luck.

2003 VW GTI 1.8t.. I used to have a 95 Eclipse but well...water sucks.

yes i have a cold air intake, thats the only reason i suspect
hydrolock, not to mention the most logical, so my next
question is what rod is bent, the actual connecting rod to the
piston, and if this is the case doesnt that mean im going to
rebuild.......oh yea one more thing, how much would i be
looking at for all this?

OK MAN, I went through what your going through 4 months ago
today, i went through a puddle and had a cold air intake on,
my car immediatly died wouldnt start and when it did it made a
loud clanking noise...heres what you need to do, A) drain your
oil B) change your plugs C) take your motor out and get it
apart, you DO have a bent rod, id send a pic of my rod and
piston, its on my dresser, so you had better find a rod and if
your lucky like i was i didnt need my motor bored out b/c i
didnt start it but once and their was no sidewall damage D)
might as well get ready to buy some new gaskets cus your gonna
need em! and good luck

-Ryan a.k.a. "r'ICE'r" 99EclipseGS "10th Anniversary Edition" *2Low,2Slow* / Superior Master Of The A604 / 18.418 1/4e.t. .165 r/t

Ok,
That kind of sucks, seeing I really dont know how to pull out
my engine or anything else really, and due to the air force i
sure dont have the time, but thanks for the info......what is
all this going to run in order to get it fixed, including cost
of a shop, would i be better off buying a new engine?

is this problem prevented with a bypass valve or does it just
minimize the chances. i also heard that the bypass valve kind
of makes the CAI pointless because it restricts airflow.
correct or did i hear something wrong