QuestionQUESTION: I recently drove my santa fe through about 8" of rain water.
The check engine light momentarily flashed.
About 2 miles later while going uphill the auto transmission would not shift past 2nd. After driving a few more miles all things returned to normal.
Could driving though water cause this?
ANSWER: It's possible. The water could have found its way into a circuit monitored by the engine or transmission control module, or enough could have found its way on the plug wires to cause misfiring.
I'd say the best course of action is to check which diagnostic trouble codes are present in the engine and transmission control modules, and the check to see if everything relating to that code is currently operating correctly. If so, erase the code to see if it returns.
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QUESTION: Let me add. I currently have about 63K miles, at 51K miles I had my transmission go and had it replaced. When my transmission went my car also would not shift out of 1st or 2nd ( I forget)even when the rpms were up to 6K. This time the rpms would not go higher than 2.5K with my foot all the way to the floor on the gas pedal. Does this suggest that the transmission is not to blame, but rather engine power problems?
AnswerIn most cases, yes, low rpm is an indicator that it's an engine performance issue.
Keep in mind, though, if the transmission control module sees a significant fault, it will put the transmission in 3rd gear. So if you lack power from a stop and the transmission doesn't shift, but the vehicle drives pretty much normally above about 30 MPH, then the transmission could be in failsafe (3rd gear only). While in failsafe, the check engine lamp should be on.
