My car runs good, but day went througha,puddle of water in front of my house. The car just died and didn't want to start, but the next day it started up just fine it ran good so I took out the negative of the battery and the check engine light went off. Went to work with it, got out of work started the car and it ran great it was raining than the car just died .it's a 1996 Toyota corolla it never did that before. Couldn't start

When you say "now won't start" does the starter motor spin the engine the engine just never fires, or does the starter motor not even spin the engine? Do all the electrical accessories seem to work correctly? How deep was the puddle? Did the "smoke" smell like something melting, or might it have just been steam from water on the hot exhaust?

First check the air filter to make sure you didn't suck water into the filter.

Replace the distributor cap and rotor button. And dont get a cheap cap, get a oem one or it will just happen again.

they are known for burning through the plastic. which causes it to run rough.

I had a bad ignition coil cause the same problem. Simple to replace yourself, and inexpensive. Worth a shot I think. New plug wires might be advisable.

See these items:-

The starter must have been bad due to the water.

Bad PCM or ignition coil.

Corroded battery cables.

See timing belt.

Good luck

Check the gas it could be contaminated, Not to sould like a Wise guy but are you sude it 's not deisel fuel you put in.

The crankshaft position sensor was seriously problematic in those old jeeps. It's located towards the top of the bell housing slightly to the driver's side I think.

I agree with "emissionwiz". What probably happened was you hydrostatic-ally locked your engine. What happens is when you went through that puddle water got sucked into the intake and into the engine. Water being a liquid cannot be compressed and stalled the engine and most likely bent some internal components. If you can hear the starter click but the engine won't turn over you've got a 99% chance its a ruined engine. If you don't want to believe that try turning the engine over by hand (socket on crankshaft), you should be able to turn it, if not it's done for. Good luck and sorry about the misfortune but next time go very slow through puddles.

check all the cylinders....if water made it to the air filter thee is a good chance it made it to the intake...water in even one cylinder can keep it from running....does it turn over at all???

The injector rail needs to be removed and water cleaned out have you done this? water will puddle up and cant pass thru injectors