So I have to go pick up my son from daycare during a rain storm and the main street through town was flooded, about 6 to 8 inches of water on the road. I keep on rolling at about 25 mph, hit the water and that was all she wrote. lights flashing, steam billowing and then nothing. Dead in water literally. I could crank it but it would spit and sputter then stall if I even thought about giving it gas. After multiple starts I was able to inch it off the road and into a parking lot. Once there I let it idol for a while till it finally cleared up and straight back home I went. As for my son, I watched my wifes little Escape shoot through the flood to go pick him up like it wasn't even there...

 

there are several ways the water could have killed it.....the first place to check is the fenderwell mounted computer (ecu) . a lot of us have had wet ecu problems ....when new it was probably sealed ok...but now ..years later....it leaks, or in my case had corroded through....unhook the battery, remove the ecu and open it up....dry it out carefully and seal it back up......worth a look

 

ECU is one of the few things that will kill it as you describe - and recover. Getting a big slurp of water in the MAF sensor can stop the truck, but frequently kills the MAF sensor, which is the price of several flat screen TVs.

 

Snorkel is cheap insurance

 

For the MAF...not the computer.