Well let me start off by saying its got 160K on the engine. It's my daily driver so it probably goes through hell. Anyways I was driving and hit a big puddle of water, which cause all the power on the car to shut down and display the check gauges warning light. I checked the gauges everything is fine but the oil pressure. Well I stoped it and started it back up and it seamed fine. Ever since then I have had a hard time getting the engine to crank and today drivng in the rain if a hit any type of deep puddle the same thing would happen. I dunno if it is related but the low colant light keeps coming on and I have checked the coolant and it seams fine. Also there seasm to be a loud metal rattling sound from the engine bay. If anyone can help out that would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

This happened to me when I first got my car in 1996. Turned out to be a corroded coil wire and connection. Replaced it and it ran ok again. However while trying to start it it would backfire badly and actually melted the catalytic converter brick (found this out a couple of years later when adding headers)...

So if you get it running again yet it stutters and hesitates once warmed up, check the cat...

 

Well this does not sound good. When you hit that puddle what most likely happened was you sucked water into your intake which then got into your motor and stalled it. At that point you should have not restarted it and had it towed. Then from there you would have to change your oil, with the oil out comes the water. Water in motor equals bad. The noise you are hearing is most likely a rod knock. The water in there wiped out your bearings. When you rev the motor does the sound go away, or keeo rapping? This of course is a worst case. I could be 100% wrong.

 

Geezers when I take off the sound disappears. It's only there when the car is stoped or going very slow like at a stop light or stop and go traffic or parking. At speeds over 10mph the car sounds just fine.

 

I sucked water in to my motor once through my SLP CAI, it shut the car off completely, tried to start it up and it was a no go. Towed the car home took the plugs out and water immediately dumped all over me, turned the motor over with all the plugs out and about 1-2gallons in all came out of the motor. Be greatfull that you didn't hydro lock your motor when you started the car back up.

 

I'm afraid thast what happened because i run the slp cai too. It runs but anytime theirs mosture in the air its hard to start and it can't run through any stand water puddles without shutting down.

 

You would know if that's what it was, have you checked your plug wires? You might have one that the protective rubber and what not is worn down or torn and when the car is in standing water it could be submerged shorting the car out causing it to turn off.

 

Honestly I'm not sure I've changed plugs and wires in like the last 40k miles. I guess I should do that. I know stupid

 

You cannot hear a rod knock at idle or revving the engine.

 

I beg to differ. You can't hear a main bearing knock at idel or revving, but you sure can hear a rod knock. I speak from experience, unfortunately.

 

The only way ya heard it is if it was fixing to window the block, in which case it should have been pulled out before that for repair.
I also speak from experience,about 40yr's worth.
A main bearing can be heard at low speed under a fairly heavy load like going around a corner and leaving it in 4th and putting it on the floor.

 

A main bearing CAN be heard at idle. It sounds quite similar to that of a cracked flexplate.

 

Post a video of the car making the noise....

and if you toss in some girls in wet t-shirts I'm sure you'll get more replies too.

 

Listen to what LR has to say, and don't disregard it lightly.

CAI's with the filter mounted low are practically made to inhale water if you cross deep puddles. Putting one on your car means you can't do that anymore!!!

No oil pressure and loud knocking do sound pretty bad. A bad misfire can sound kind of like a mechanical knocking to the untrained ear sometimes, though. I'd hope for that if you are very very lucky. But the oil pressure going away at the same time you developed the noise, after hitting a big puddle, pretty much screams engine damage due to water ingestion.

Change your oil and look for signs of water. Hopefully you will find none. Plumb a good oil pressure gage to the motor before you restart it. If that one shows zero or very low pressure at restart, shut it down right away and start planning your rebuild. If you have good pressure, continue.

Compression test might show if you hydrolocked and seriously bent a rod. But I think you could have some internal damage that would not show up with a compression test, so it would be inconclusive. Might as well run one and see if it tells you anything.

The fact that when there's moisture in the air the car runs poorly indicates an ignition problem, regardless of whatever else may be wrong. I'd try wires first, but of course an old Opti could be causing trouble for you. With your mileage you might as well replace it now, and the coil, too. Fix the misfire, and see if the trouble goes away. Long shot. Parts you buy will be used if you need a motor anyway, so you might as well get them now.

That's how I would tackle this if I were you. If I were me, which I happen to be, I'd just skip all this crossing my fingers and hoping, and build me a new motor. That's my .02. Good luck.