I drive a 1999 Protege with a 1.6 L engine, and I recently drove through a puddle that was much bigger than it seemed. When I start the car now, the idle is rather high, but goes down to normal after a few minutes. It's still somewhat irregular, occasionally jumping up or down a bit.

I'm no expert with engines, but I've helped my dad and grandfather a bit, so I know some things. I checked the air filter, and it's bone dry. The oil is dark brown. It was changed about a month and a half ago, so I think that's okay, no water in there. Based on what I've read, I'm guessing it's misfiring and there's moisture somewhere there shouldn't be? Somebody on a different forum suggested to dry out/change the distributor cap and/or spark plugs and wires, but I can't find the cap for the life of me. I've replaced one in a Grand Caravan before, so I know what it should look like, but I'm left scratching my head here.

Am I taking the right approach? What should I check first?

 

Hey there! I can help with this one.

My 1.6l 99 Protege has no cap or rotors, simply ignition coils sitting on top of spark plugs 2 and 4. There's great images online that show the spark plug wires from the coils on 2 and 4 running to plugs 1 and 3.

Check/replace those and the wires if you're suspicious of moisture. Might be the problem.

Have a code reader? Can you confirm a misfire? Any other info to give? This might be a handful of things.