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Flooded engine help


Charlie_Brown
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I stupidly flooded my engine with water while wheeling (thought the puddle wasn't as deep was it was). After pulling spark plugs out and turning it over water shot out however there was still a lot left in it. Anyways know the steps I now need to do to fix this. I've never flooded a vehicle before so treading new waters. I should add I pulled my dip stick for engine oil and didn't see any water bead on that, my air filter is soaked even after cleaning as much water as I could from it

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I am going to try to tape a straw to a shop vacation tomorrow to get more water out then try turning it over once more to shoot any more water out.

 

Finally got the truck back home from a guy with a winch further up the road :D yaaayyy!

 

Hopefully I'll also have the time to drop the oil pan and drain it there.

 

If anyone has any suggestions for me that I'm unaware of with my limited knowledge let me know :)

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I've flooded cars but not trucks. Similar concepts. You got the right idea. Pull the fuel pump fuse and disconnect the power lead for the distributor. Pull spark plugs out and turn the engine over. Replace oil and filter. Check radiator to make sure headgaskets didn't blow. Make sure oil isn't milky.

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I took the hot terminal from the battery so I don't have any electrical charge through it. Didn't feel at that point that the neutral would be necessary since it is just return feed (my understanding at least)

 

I'll pull the fuses just in case however, cant be too careful after all. How would you tell if headgaskets blew from looking at (or in) radiator? I should add that as soon as I went through the "lake" it hydrolocked on the other end. Didn't sit in water just stalled and died on the other side of a 20 foot water crossing.

 

Only adding that because with that little of a distance I don't think the head gaskets could blow but I could be wrong.

 

Currently have the air filter pulled out so it can dry and the case unbuttoned. All but bank 6 spark plugs are pulled so any sort of evaporation can happen. I'll pull the last in the morning when I can see. Too hard with it being by the fire wall at night.

 

I rechecked dip stick, oil is still clean so at least it didn't get to far into the system before stalling. Since the water got in my engine through the air intake would you recommend I bleed my gas lines or would that be pointless? I'm just hoping water isn't in my pistons, I'd rather not buy a new engine yet :/

Edited by Charlie_Brown
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Sounds like you were just about out the water when it died.

 

If the fuel filler was under the water level, get ready to drain the tank.

 

It's probably too late now, but never expel water from the cylinders with the starter. Turn plugs out on a gas motor, and injectors or glo plugs on a diesel motor. Then turn by hand till no more water comes out.

 

Then go for the starter. But very short bursts.

 

Petrol engines are way more forgiving in these situations than diesels. I drowned my diesel a few years back, and was told later that I bent the connecting rods after the actual drowning by just turning the motor on the starter to evacuate the water.

 

I was up to my windows deep in the water, but my old donkey D21 Hardbody came out with zero electrical damage. Even the radio and speakers still work eight years later, just the cd player no longer ejects cds and last year I lost the electric window unit on one of the rear doors.

 

If you have extended breathers on your diffs and gearbox, you should be ok, but its worth it to jyst drain and replace those oils for good measure.

 

But with the amount of water our rigs see in these types of situations, I check and replace every few months, and also check wheel bearing and seals often, for good measure.

 

Have you considered a snorkel? I know it's not our intention to go drown our rigs, but it does instil a lot of confidence when faced with a water obstacle.

 

But, know and check your equipment. Also know that a snorkel does very little for the real show stopper when it comes to water. Electrics are your real problem.

 

But now I am going way off topic. Hope you get your rig back on the road soon.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

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Yeah I made it clear out of the water to the other side when she finally sized so the engine never actually sat in water

 

The water level war right below floor boards, is just got hosed up the engine while I was driving through it. Still not sure how it got passed the guard into the air intake but where there is a will there is a way I guess :/

 

How would I turn them by hand? By turning the timing belt?

 

Yeah I'm pretty hell bent on changing the oil so nothing else down the road happens afterwards. Funny thing is I was planning to repack bearing this coming weekend while installing new ball joints and UCAs. Haha

 

I have had my eye on a snorkel for awhile now but it never made top list since I don't generally do water crossings. You can bet she jumped to top of the list now! Though I'll probably make one like many on this forum have with silicone and PVC.

 

I'm thinking my electronics are fine, like I said water wasn't too deep like a Florida's storm haha. My distributer was still dry right after the incident and still is now. MAF will need some cleaning now though with the muddy water going through it like that but for the most part I think I'm good in that regard. Or maybe I'm just hoping I am

 

By the by I thank everyone for their replies in helping me with this :)

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On my phone I can't see what you drive, but I was also threatening for a long time to do a snorkel. More a gungho rough and ready look thing, than anything else. On the 2.7TD, or any diesel for that matter, they run sweet with the fresher/cooler air you get from a snorkel instead of the hot air under the bonnet.

 

Then I had a little missap, drive a stretch of water that many others had done while we were there the afternoon. But I decided it was slightly deep, and I would drive just a meter or two closer to the edge. Drop off was fairly steep and you end up doing this water at quiet an angle.

 

As luck would have it, there was a great big hole that I dropped my left front wheel into. Over articulated and when the right rear lost traction, the vehicle stopped pushing water and the bow wave broke back over the bonnet.

 

D21 air intake sits behind that headlight, and even before I could get to the key to switch off the engine, it was too late.

 

When evrything settled, the left side (our passanger side) had water coming in through the window. My side was barely ass deep.

 

We stood im the water for around five minutes before the suitable recovery vehicle and gear was ready to pull me out. It was with the pulling out that the water came washing forward and through the car. It was right there and then next to the dam, over the next hour, I pulled evrything apart and eventually got it running. But I could hear there was something not right.

 

Thought the white smoke was from water burning out the engine. But it did it every time we had a cold start. I eventually still drove it home 200km (120miles). Two days later the insurance wrote it off due to it being uneconomical to repair.

 

I took a cash settlement and fixed it myself for just on half what they paid out. The old motor gave me around 10-12bar compression per cylinder, where it should be 22-24bar.

 

Anyway, the snorkel was a problem from day one, as I drive a South African aftermarket copy of the D21 Pathfinder you guys got over there. There were so few of them, that nobody thought of marketing a snorkel for the vehicle. Looked at importing one from the US, but one of the forum members took a template of the Pathfinder, and I found the snorkel would not follow the fender.

 

I wanted something slick, and the pvc pipe thing did not do it for me.

 

So I built a model of expanding foam and body putty of exactly what I wanted. Then took a mold of it and cast a glass fiber snorkel.

 

I can proudly say that it has saved my me at least once. Air filters last way longer, and the old diesel runs much better with the cooler air. It also sounds good between gears when the turbo does a mini Oshkosh woosh, lol.

 

Here is what I did.

 

81de42832f58e0e5483b26d6fa323472.jpg

 

That pic just wont stand up straight.

 

3d7f09bdb55b474e994a5a8b991aa711.jpg

 

Excuse the phone pic quality, my camera has been through hell and I need to replace it.

 

Something I must stress, many of the snorkels you can buy, do net seal properly. If you can not kill the engine by blocking the snorkel head, its not much more than a decoration. I have tested, and check it periodically to make sure it is fully functional.

 

Mine was really a fun project, and it took me few months and a few versions to get it the way I wanted. It a bit big, but I wanted no obstruction in the intake size, and I did not want it obscuring my view. Hence the flat pipe design that equates to 1,7 times the volume of the standard intake pipe at its biggest.

 

BTW, I tried the pcv pipe thing, but our temperatures are too hot here, and every few days, I would have to turn the pipe 180° as it would droop and catch the body or the door when you open it.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Edited by ABCAB
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I drive a 92 pathy

 

That is rough to hear about your truck but I'm glad you got it up and running again :) also awesome job on the snorkel! Looks good, I'll have to keep your version in mine when I go to make mine.

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Pulled fuel pump fuse and disconnected distributor lead and finally got to that 6 bank spark plug and pulled her out. Cranked out the majority of the rest of the water but could still see and hear some in a few ports.

 

Got two long straws from AM PM and duct tape. Melted the two straws together, wrapped in tape and taped it to the shop vac. Was able to get the rest of the water out and blow air into all but the 5th and 6th bank since it is so damn hard to get the straw in there.

 

All ports were clear (obviously just guessing with 6) so I Cranked again to see if I could hear more sloshing. Put new spark plugs in and a new air filter. Soaked up more water in the air filer holster and cleaned the air intake as best I could and leading hose.

 

Checked engine oil dipstick for a third time, still at same level and not milky . With everything buttoned up I turned her over to burn off the rest of water that could be in. What came next was a uncle buck show of white smoke from water vapor. Reved up till the smoke dissipated and the truck started sounding back to normal.

 

I don't think all the water is burnt off quite yet however it sounds pretty good, idles, no knocks or new sounds just a little rough but nothing really noticable. This coming Saturday I'm going to have the oil changed since I ran out of time and won't be able to do it myself since I have other work to do. Oil looks good but I'm not chancing it.

 

Thank you guys for your added input. Always appreciated :D

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I'm not sure if I bent a rod but it doesn't seem like it. I had my mom take some money from me and have the fluids changed. She said ticking was improved but not gone for a.few miles then ticking came hard and she lost a lot of power. Barely made it up the hill in 2nd. Sounds like lifters collapsed.

 

On a little research here I found our lifters are hydraulic? So it's not just a readjust job sounds more like a replace job. I'll find more out this weekend

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I never stripped my engine, just replaced, but I believe I bent rods.

 

Something I was warned about, is hot engine parts that suddenly get cooled by the water ingest and forming cracks. These cracks cause problems later down the road.

 

Not sure how true that is, but does kinda make sense to me.

 

This must be like a rollercoaster ride for you. Think you ok, then not. Hope you get it sorted.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

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I never stripped my engine, just replaced, but I believe I bent rods.

 

Something I was warned about, is hot engine parts that suddenly get cooled by the water ingest and forming cracks. These cracks cause problems later down the road.

 

Not sure how true that is, but does kinda make sense to me.

 

This must be like a rollercoaster ride for you. Think you ok, then not. Hope you get it sorted.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

That does make sense like hot water old frozen glass. Metal I could imagine cracking as well considering how hot our engines are.

 

You replaced your engine?

 

An emotional and financial Rollercoaster ride for sure haha currently praying I don't need a new engine. There is no way I could do that myself so I'd be forking over a lot of cash to have it done.

 

Looks like I should start looking into vg30e crate motor prices. A guy on this forums offered one with 88k for 900$ but I've n I idea on price of crate engines or if I need one yet

 

Let's hope I dont

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I'm thinking I'm going to hook up a compression tool up to the engine before I tear anything apart to put my mind a bit at ease with the cylinders. I'm pretty sure my dad has one I could use so at least I won't be out anything just about and hours worth of work and fighting the 6th plug again

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If it lost that much power you probably wont' even need to do all the cylinders to confirm any issues.

Yeah by the third or fourth test odds are you found it. I'm hoping it's just major misfire from lifters no longer functioning >.<

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Yeah, thats what hes getting at, if the lifters failed like that, where they can't hold any significant amount of oil pressure, that engine is probably done. Any wear surfaces, like your main and rod bearings are probably wiped out too. That or you had your pickup tube full of schmoo and blocked it and starved the engine of oil.

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