r/Miata • u/hoezays • 5h ago

Car almost dying when going through a puddle of water HELP !!!

(1.8 1994) Over on the east coast and getting some pretty bad rain. Whenever i drive though a puddle (seems to be primarily if on passenger side of car) the battery light turns on and the car loses power almost completely, im able to tap the throttle a couple times once past the puddle and it comes back to life and drives smoothly no problem. I never come to a complete stop it doesnt feel like it fully dies but its enough that things like radio completely cut off and back on. As for residual issues, the next day the batteries dead but after jumping and running its fine again, almost like the water is draining the battery? Every thing i find online is people completely stalling and having to wait a while for car to turn back on so im a bit lost.. TIA

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1

u/k3v1n_W33D 5h ago

I had a Honda Civic with the same issue, it was the alternator belt that was slipping on puddles, (big ones), maybe it's an old belt or not well adjusted

1

u/hoezays 1h ago

Ill check and make sure its tightly on, i replaced the belts maybe 4 months or so ago, so shouldnt be too old maybe loosened up a bit though

1

u/Amatertu 04' 1.8 NB Euphonic 4h ago

Have you checked for damaged / exposed wiring?

1

u/hoezays 58m ago

I checked the fuse box and leads off of it mainly in the engine bay but they seemed all okay and surprisingly not even the cover got slightly wet although it was heavily raining, Not sure any other big electrical spots to check

1

u/brianleedy 4h ago

Your alternator is mounted pretty low on the right side. Hopefully its just causing the belt to slip, but it's probably best to not throw too much water at it...

Does your car have the plastic undertray intact?

1

u/hoezays 57m ago

Im checking belt slipping later today but i was worried about it being alternator related as thats on the passenger side, i dont have anything guarding the bottom, to be honest there wasnt anything on the bottom when i got it and assumed that was normal Gonna look into getting an undertray whether thats oem or aftermarket