Last night was a great rain storm here in glendale az & the power went out. We decided to go to the movies & I drove. The streets were flooded, but not so high as to come into the passenger compartment. Today I get into my car to go to the store and when I left the drive way there was very little 'get up and go' power, plus a knocking (not constent). Does anyone have any idea what happened? Car ran fine until the rain storm drive thru.
And to top things off, I just moved (bought a house!) and 80% of my stuff is in boxes in the garage, including my factory service manual, Haynes & Chilton manuals.
Thanks
azcamaro

 

sounds like maybe the esc mod. got wet and not making good contact?

 

Thanks TIMMYS89GTA I'll check that when I get off work.
So far I've changed the distrib cap & rotor + O2 sensor. Checked the oil, no water in it. Very little improvement. When I get above 10-15 mph, it's fine. Just on initial "take off" it lacks power. I did get new plugs with the O2 sensor today, I was going to change them after work.
Thanks again

 

Turns out it's a bent rod. Needless to say, it's parked until I have time to work on it. From what I understand it's a pretty easy fix. Remove valve covers and start car to determine which rod > replace.
WARNING to all Camaro owners that have a car that sits low to the ground. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH WATER HIGHER THAN A COUPLE OF INCHES. IF WATER GETS INTO THE INTAKE = BENT ROD(S)!!!!!!!!!

 

how did rain turn into a bent rod

did someone have a little too much fun

 

lol i think jamon8 is right... sumone musta had sum fun, prob broke traction a few times huh lol spun the engine to quickly, forces coulda bent a pushrod... been there no bent rod esp in rain and snow

if its bent u will be able to tell by just looking at it or spining it with ur finger tips. or just pull the intake base off and have a looks-see

i had a prob like urs..... drove home from school in a really bad rain storm... i kno water was kicking up high bc my altinator belt would slip and squeel like a racoon at every big puddle. car didnt run right, and throttle stuck when fully released... car was running great before. i ended up checking everything, my TPS was a good bit off from the rain. like .46 so i set it to .56, also had to reset my IAC and WD40 my throttle body linkage/spring/blades. after ripping it off and cleaning it completely... and that fixed the problem.

my symtoms were, hesitation, sluggish throttle response, high idling, and throttle sticking to about 1000-1200 then drop to 650 at idle.

 

Same problem I had with my '89 IROC. Trust me guys, it doesn't take very much water to get sucked into the intake, and it WILL bend a rod, it happened to me. Unfortunately back then I didn't know anything about engines, so I sold the car for $750.