Special Characters Being Scrambled

[dushan26]

If I insert special characters directly into the database using query_write it gets scrambled. For example

Caf? -> café

If I include special characters in a post it inserts just fine.

Is vBulletin doing something to encode special characters? What can I do to directly insert special characters into the database?

Thanks in advance.

--------------- Added [DATE]1373510135[/DATE] at [TIME]1373510135[/TIME] ---------------

if anyone else has this problem I solved it using this tutorial:
http://xaviesteve.com/1223/issues-wi...-mysql-solved/

Basically add $this->db->query_write("SET NAMES 'utf8'") before your query and make sure your fields are utf8_spanish