'04 Hemi running poorly when it rains - At risk of hydro lock?

[Crazy Fingers]

I have an 04 Hemi 1500 with 155k. I've had the truck for about a year and have driven it maybe 75 times. It runs great.... Except for twice. Both times when it was raining and humid for awhile beforehand. It starts up and seems to run fine, except once I get to about 1800 RPM. Then it has no power and stutters. If I floor it, the tranny will downshift and it will seem to be OK. Then when it up shifts the issue comes back. It wants to stall at a traffic light but doesn't actually stall. After a few minutes, the problems go away entirely and do not seem to return that day. No codes have ever been thrown for this.

The first time it happened, a couple months ago, it sounded REALLY bad, like metal was banging. But right after that it ran fine and I have put several hundred miles on it towing my boat since then and have had no issues... until the stuttering happened again tonight.

I know for Durangos the windshield cowl directs water on the engine. Bad intake seals can suck in water that's lying on the engine and cause hydro lock! Scared to death that's what's happening to my engine. Is this failure mechanism common for the Rams like it is on the Durangos?

 

[hemihustlin]

Check your coil packs, plug wires and plugs for cracks or other damage. Probably have a cracked wire that the spark jumps when its humid out.

 

[Bullitt5339]

I would definitely lean towards something electrical as well. I ran into a similar problem with a Mustang that I used to own, it would run awesome, but every time I washed it, it would stumble and stutter for a long time afterwards. After a lot of troubleshooting, we found that a single wire connector that would allow water in and would not run right until it dried out.

I feel for you if that's the case. Electrical gremlins are extremely hard to pinpoint and can be completely frustrating. I lemon law'd my wife's last car because the dealership could not figure out an intermittent door lock problem after months of trying.

 

[05daytona]

Hydro lock is when water gets into the intake while the engine is running. Water doesn't compress, so there's massive carnage when this happens. What you have is a moisture problem related to an electrical component. Two different things, so you're safe.