possible water damage

[tribalman]

2 days ago there was a bad storm passing through the area and streets got flooded, cars were stuck but i was lucky to be on a street that didn't flood. the problem came when i had to drive a friend home from work (no car) and driving around town was tough. i was avoiding driving in any puddles big enough to spred across the whole road, until after i dropped him off. i got boxed in from behind by other cars and couldn't go another route as they were all flooded.the water didn't seem to get too high as i was driving, but there was some steam as i was going thru, so it was atleast up to the oil pan. the car seemed ok until i was driving yesterday. normally when i start the car it revs at 1.5k until i put it into gear at that point it drops to 800-900rpms. yesterday it was at 2k and in gear 1.1k. also the car will sometimes jerk to a stop, never done that before. and on the highway going 70 it's normally at about 2.3krpms, yesterday it was reaching up to 3.2. do you think there is water either in the engine, tranny, or elsewhere? anything i can do short of taking it in to be checked out? thanks. i'm hoping that it just needed to be dried out a little more so i'll see what it does later today.

[zionzr2]

I'm not sure and dont think there would be water in your engine. Some things to try or think about....1. check engine air filter replace if dirty wet or damaged.2. disconcet battery for a couple hours. Then reconect and start and idle for 10-15 minutes.3. Change oil4. Sometimes our cars have high idle speeds in cooler weather till they warm to normal operating temps.5. check wheels and breaks for any build-up of crud. clean as nessessary

[Digger]

I would say it is more computer than other problem. the shift spots and Idle is off a bit. I would try the reset.

[tribalman]

acutally, a little more news, zionzr21. going to check that.2. going to try that.3. i actually did 4 days ago. i used 5w30 like the manual reccomends. i didn't have time to change the filter also, i was having trouble getting it off and i had to leave for work and didn't have time to fiddle with that and fill. actually. cause i had a friend over fill his oil pan, after i put one bottle in and checked the dipstic., according to the dipstick it was full, how is this possible? i also ran the engine for a short time to move the oil around and warm it up a bit, and it was still above the second dimple. not sure what's going on there. seemed like more than one bottle came out. and tonight i checked it again after problems stated after 5, and it was even higher.4. i read about that, but it was 80 the day after the storm. it was idling faster and at highway speeds even with the engine warmed on colder days, about 52* when i go to school normally right now.5. new problem.... it was time to rotate the tires and i noticed the front were more worn than the back but i saw last night on the forums that this was normal. i rotated front to back, keeping same sides, like pontiac reccomends. afterwards i started getting horrible shaking after going 60mph. stopped and looked, front right was low on air. i had a pump in the car and hooked it up. did nothing. ok that tire was the one that had a nail in it and i had it patched so it was just over worn. went to a store and i had it replaced with the same tire as the other 3. now the car shakes at 65 the car calmed down a bit on the jerking to a stop, but now it is doing it when i go after comming to a stop, or even a slow moving stop. i'm not accelerating any harder than i have for the past few months.about the shaking i'm going to recheck to make sure all the tires are on fully.and as i was comming home, on highway, the check engine light was on. temp was ok, didn't smell anything or hear anything. i'm gonna use one of the computers that tell you what's up with the car in the morning before school. any other ideas? thanks for any guidance.

[zionzr2]

get a four wheel balance!

[tribalman]

i took one wheel off and then put it back on, some shaking went away, so that is my error, gonna do the other 2 later. on wednesday night, check engine light was on, and i hooked up one of the computer things and it said something was up with the trans. so the jerking and high rpms are caused by the trans, gonna get that checked out soon. thanks guys for all suggestions!

[zionzr2]

no problem thats why were here!Good Luck and let us know how it goes!!

[tribalman]

ok, i feel really dumb. when i get tired i make mistakes and i forget things. lots of work and school too is just to much. i finally got some sleep and took time to really check the car out.tires. i took the tires off and re-did them. this time i found a torque wrench and put the lug nuts on with 100 foot pounds of torque. more shaking wore off, but not enough. gonna get the tires rebalanced when i am going to get the brakes replaced, they are starting to wear and after this, i'm paying to have someone else do it.transmissionopened the hood. found the transmission dipstick and checked it. shoulda been the first thing i did but i somehow was blind to it's existince. pulled it out. way too low and waaaaayyyy to dirty. spent an hour going to parts stores only to find i have to go to a dealer for it. put some in and it shifts better, but the slight damage was already done. still is kinda picky when i'm breaking. revs are slightly high, but better. does anybody know if i HAVE to use the T-IV transmission fluid? i REALLY don't wanna pay $14 a bottle for it, or somewhere else besides dealers that sell it?also, as i was in the parts stores, i was looking for the tech/work manuals for either the vibe or the matrix but they don't have them. dealer said they cost $100 from them, is there a tech manual out somewhere? it would really help me when i'm working on my car. something like this http://www.gregsonline.com/esh...M.htm.

[ColonelPanic]

I thought that price for fluid was high too... But..... When that automatic transmission died in mine and would have cost me in excess of $4,000 to replace had the warranty not been there, I figure $14 a quart for fluid isn't such a big deal. I would use the fluid that the transmission is designed for and that only. Go buy the fluid from Toyota and it is cheaper that what it is when it is repackaged from GM.If you search around, you can find a softcopy of the 2003 Matrix manual which can help you out some.