99 ranger sputter and rev won't idle out

[madmax]

recently my truck took a swim(went into the puddle too fast and water got into the engine) i drained the water out of the intake and pulled the spark plugs and cranked it to evacuate the water in the cylinders, changed the oil(made sure the filter was empty) just in case there was water in the tank i added heet. i got a jump from my roommates car(battery was dead) and attempted to start it. it started reluctantly after a bit but went into a cycle of revving and near-stalling for a few seconds before it died(the whole time drawing juice from my roommates car) it continued for a bit longer in the same routine each time i started it. the last time i did when it died there was a loud puff sound seemingly from the driver side of the engine near the spark plugs.

on a side note, i really need to fix the flex point of the exhaust, essentially a cat-back straight pipe roaring in a residential neighborhood at 5 AM is kinda frowned upon.

 

[RonD]

I would clean the MAF sensor, water effects it in a bad way.
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/CleanMAF.html

MAF is the main sensor used to set fuel/air mix, so if it is not reading air flow and temp correctly you will get what you described.

I would check voltage on your battery, 12.6-12.8 is what you want.
If lower disconnect negative cable and recharge with another vehicle for a few minutes, disconnect jumper cables then check voltage again, hold voltage meter on battery for 30 seconds and watch the voltage, if it's dropping then you have a shorted cell in the battery.
If voltage is holding then reconnect negative cable and try to start.

If you think water got into the alternator, draining the battery, disconnect the B+ cable(large cable) on the alternator, tape it so no shorts, then try to start.

 

[madmax]

When I did the test I had the battery connected to my roommates car via jumper cables. So I'm not concerned about power yet, when I get the engine working ill look into less pressing matters. It seems to hold a charge for a while when inactive until I start cranking. When I get time ill check the MAF sensor.