Mufflers blew up, car starts but bogs down and dies. HELP

[romeoridgee]

Ive got a 93 z32 non turbo 2+2. A few days ago I hit a puddle about 5 inches deep, deep enough that water was splashing on both sides. I have an apexi intake and i dont have a splash shield. After i hit the puddle my car started jerking in 5th when i was accelerating. then i stop and then take off, switching to second it does the same jerking. after that i put it in 5th and ran normal.
when i got to work i shut off the engine for about an hour and tried to start it, it did and then died 5 seconds after. i tried starting it again giving it some gas and then heard a pop, i thought it was a backfire but it turned out i blew my right muffler open somehow i gave up on it for another hour. after that hour I try to start it again, and i held the ignition down to start it and then boom, a bigger cannon like sound blew my ears, and the left muffler was completely opened up.
my guess is that water got into the muffler and created that back pressure...

today is nice, not raining like a few days ago. i dried out my maf and air filter, charged the battery, and she started up on the dime, revved it and left it at idle, and then 5 seconds later she bogs slowly and dies. and now it wont start, no matter how long i keep it starting, it wont run on its own. and i dont want to keep going incase of damaging the engine.

can someone give me things to check? i plan on taking it to an auto shop cuz its right next to where it is now, but am afraid its going to be something huge to fix. there are only so many things on my mind that could be the problem, spark plugs, coil packs, ptu, clogged exhaust, clogged intake, wet sensors, shorting circuts. please some one respond and help me.

[t.mcginley.jr]

Ok before you start freaking out, check for error codes. All you need is a screwdriver, no code reader:

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/nissan ... ostic.html

Next, assuming you're somewhat mechanically inclined, remove all 6 spark plugs. With the spark plugs (and coil packs) out, crank the engine a few times. It won't start, but if anything like water/fuel is in the cylinder it will get blown out. Water isn't a compressible fluid so if it's in the cylinders it will cause all kinds of problems.

Another thing to do is clean your MAF sensor, they sell cans of MAF Cleaner at any auto parts store. If your MAF is bad/dirty, you can test it by disconnecting the plug and then starting the car. If it runs better, thats your problem. I would do this AFTER taking the spark plugs out and making sure the cylinders are dry.

I wouldn't worry too much about the exhaust. If anything, since they're already damaged, take the mufflers off til you get it running right.

[romeoridgee]

forgot about codes, said 5 and 5. did what you said with plugs and packs. same thing happened. took off maf sensor and car continued to run, 5 minutes later it goes up and down repeatedly, I was told that was normal if there was no maf. so looks like im getting another maf.
im looking at autozones mafs they got bosch, duralast, and cardone, which one should I get?

also im still wondering how my rear mufflers blew up

[ThisIsSparTTa]

OMG, please give that poor engine a break. Sound like you hydrolocked it, then forced it out somehow, resulting in your muffler event. I'd only get an OEM N62 MAF. There's plenty for sale on the various classifeds here and elsewhere. I think I paid $80-90 for mine.

[romeoridgee]

welp... looks like it just needed to dry out.. I started it today with the maf plugged in (last night i left it unhooked) and started it and expected it to dye down, but shockingly it didn't. It ran great. i took it for a ride and it had no problems, louder obvously
I went to autozone and asked why the mufflers might of blown up, the guy said the vapors from the gas did it... okay then..
I'll try to avoid puddles and keep a watch for that maf sensor.
Thanks t.mcginley.jr

[t.mcginley.jr]

Sure thing man, glad to hear you got it running again.

You should really get a splash shield in place though. Mine didn't have any of the front ones when I bought it, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on OEM ones (even used people want too much $). So I went to Home Depot, bought a 3' x 3' sheet of aluminum and made my own. I think the total price was somewhere around $20.