TRsome Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Yah, I did something stupid. Thought I would share with you all and then update when I fix it. I have a 71 z with an L28 swap that I just took on a roadtrip from Los Angeles to San Francisco... in the middle of the night. So the car drove fine for the first few hours, then it started to get a little sluggish and sputtering a bit. I pulled over at the next gas station and found what I thought was the problem right away: the fuel filter was black. Cool, so I pulled it out, and without really thinking poured water on the filter to try to clean it. Yah. I know, not good. So I realized what I just did, and pulled the filter insert out, dried off the rest of the container and put it back on without the filter insert. Started it up, and the car was just about the same, maybe worse. So, I was about 3 hours from home, and since the car was running, I just decided to try my luck and see how close to home I could get. So I got some coffee, and went for it... The car ran really bad for about 45 mins.. misfiring, but still able to drive safely at 50-60 mph. ( I didn't try to go any faster) When I pushed down the pedal, it would feel like it was driving normal, but when I let off, it would feel a bit like it was sputtering. Then, all of a sudden, it just cleared up... and drove really smooth. I got it home safely, parked it, and since it was about 4am went straight to sleep. Went out to start it this morning, and it had a bit of trouble, had to give it some gas and finally got it to idle normal. I turned it off and went to work. (I only drive on the weekends.) So here's where I'm at.. and after a workday of stressing out, I think I know what happened: When I tried to clean the filter, I must have had a few drops of water left in the container that got mixed in with the fuel. I think my engine cleared it all out, but now I'm scared that I may have bent a rod or something from that rough period. I didn't hear any knocking, but I'm still nervous. Maybe the drops are still in the engine even. Taking it into Dando tonight to have them look at it. Just felt like I had to share this since I've been stressed all day thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19762802+2 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 The water would have just burned off with the gas doing no harm, people used to put water into the intake while it was running to clear out carbon and such. While it was running rough you were probably just having issues with debris in the tank, filter, or possibly the carbs if you kept the carbs with the L28 swap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStag Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 (edited) You drove from LA to San Fran over night, alone, in an old Z, just for grins? I used to be young, too. Edited September 20, 2011 by BlueStag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sileightygx Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Yeah that tiny bit of water won't do anything. Like it was mentioned, it was common practice to mist in water to steam clean out carbon. You have another issue at hand...how old was the gas in the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitz17 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 You are fine... and if you aren't, Ken & Miguel will figure it out pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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