2.7 cuts out

I've got a '00 2.7 with 225K miles. This past spring, when the snow was melting, I had blasted through a puddle or two on gravel roads. Within a minute, the engine was losing power and it died. I popped the hood, disconnected the obvious electrical connections, blew them out and I was on my way.

Since then, the engine has continued to have problems, mostly when it is cold. The problem is that the engine will cut out (RPMs go from 2000+ to 0 and back again within a second) randomly in the first five minutes of driving. After that it doesn't happen. It's quite annoying and potentially dangerous.

I presume this is an electrical problem and I've got water somewhere interrupting the flow of electrons to the engine. I've check the obvious (AKA easy to reach) places and don't know where to go from here. Any ideas?

 

If the tachometer drops suddenly (indicates lower RPM than the engine is actually spinning), that can be caused by a bad crank position sensor, or maybe cam position sensor. Usually these get flaky at higher temperatures, but maybe in your case your connector got dirty from the water so there is a weak signal.

 

I'm pretty sure the tach drops because the engine dies then starts back up due to it being in gear and going 55 mph.

Clark

 

You may have already done this:
Pull the plug wires (from the valve cover) and see if there is any water in the 'plug wells'. If there is, remove the water BEFORE you remove the plugs.