Very Low and Rough Idle, Went Through Large Puddle, Difficulty Starting

[saucypaws28]

i have a 2000 explorer sport and i went through a pretty large puddle about two days ago and it was fine all the way home after that. the next morning, i went to start it and couldnt, i pumped the gas a little and it started but it was idling a bit rough and under 1000rpms, when i took my foot off the gas, it died, two days later it is still doing the same thing, i figured if it was just wet, it would be ok by now. whats going on and what can i try? 105,000 miles

 

[swshawaii]

Start by checking your air box/filter for water.

 

[saucypaws28]

Start by checking your air box/filter for water.

thats one of the first things i checked, it wasnt it, i just got sparkplugs im going to install them tomorrow and see what happens, i needed new ones anyway

 

[5.0L V8]

Take a flashlight when you pull the plugs and see if there is water in the bottom of the spark plug port. Sounds almost like you got a minor hyrolock. Take all your spark plugs out and crank it over for 5 seconds or so, 3-4 times. Make sure there is NO water then re-install your new plugs. If there are signs of water in your intake box, track it up farther and remove the throbttle body to see how your intake manifold looks.

 

[Sedition]

Compression test

When you get your spark plugs get a compression tester as well and compression test all the cylinders. I believe you may very well have had a minor hydrolock as it is so easy to do, especially with the airbox located where it is. Compression testing your cylinders will show with out a shadow of a doubt if there is something seriously wrong with the internals of your engine or not. Such as a bent rod, bent valve, blown head gasket, broken rings, cracked piston, ect...

There is no point trying to track down the issue with your truck without first confirming the condition of the engine internals. You could end up changing hundreds of dollars worth of parts for nothing.

You may want to have a look into your coolant tank and see if there is any oil in there.