Might have Hydrolocked?? HELP!!
Might have Hydrolocked?? HELP!! I was caught in the storm from hell and the streets were flooded. So to make a long story short, my car stalled. I managed to push it off the road and left it sitting for an hour. When I attempted to start the car, I hear a loud grinding noise, which sounds like its coming from the starter. I have the "free ram air" mod, so I decided to remove the lid and opened up the TB.....Water. I left the car there and have not attempted to start it since (3 days ago). Should I make the insurance claim? Will I have a problem due to the cut air box? Some advice will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Thanks!
12 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 993
Likes: 3
From: Waukesha,WI
I say same as trans am its been sitting 3 days water sould have drained mostly out. but take it home and do an oil change on it it see what comes out with the oil if you get water and oil mix let it drain maybe a little longer.
Hopefully damage is minimal. Your motor cannot compress water like it does air. The result is like a hydrolic piston.
The piston pushes against the water on the compression stroke. The water has nowhere to go. If your lucky the car will stall.
If your not, it'll bend/throw a rod, break a cap,crack the block, bend pushrods etc,etc.
The grinding may be your starter gear teeth chewed off from trying to engage the flywheel and crank the car over after being hydrolocked. Hopefully you didn't keep trying to long. Damage to the starter teeth may be minimal.
Take the car home. Put it up on ramps and drain the oil. It'll start out as water and the oil will come next since oil floats on water. Pull the oil filter as well.
Pull the filter/lid/maf/TB. Use rags/paper towels/vacuum to get any remaining water out of the intake.
Inspect the block to see if there are any visible signs of damage.
Next pull all of your spark plugs from there holes.
Dis-connect the 2 large plugs on your wiring harness that connect to the coil pack bracket harness. This is just to keep the coil packs from firing while cranking the engine over. It's probably not needed but I do it anyway.
Something else not needed but I like to do is pull the fuel pump fuse located in the underhood fuse box behind the driverside headlight.
Basically your making it so the motor has no spark or fuel going to it as you crank it over.
Now get in the car and crank it over. If the starter isn't fubared, the motor will turn over and pump the water out of the cylinders through the spark plug holes.
Re-assemble/reconnect everything. Check your spark plug gaps to make sure none were compressed when it hydrolocked. Not likely but better to check while there out and easy to get to.
Put in new oil and a new oil filter.
Fire it up and listen for anything out of the ordinary. Anything really bad and shut it down.
Hopefully she fires and all is well for you. Good luck.
The piston pushes against the water on the compression stroke. The water has nowhere to go. If your lucky the car will stall.
If your not, it'll bend/throw a rod, break a cap,crack the block, bend pushrods etc,etc.
The grinding may be your starter gear teeth chewed off from trying to engage the flywheel and crank the car over after being hydrolocked. Hopefully you didn't keep trying to long. Damage to the starter teeth may be minimal.
Take the car home. Put it up on ramps and drain the oil. It'll start out as water and the oil will come next since oil floats on water. Pull the oil filter as well.
Pull the filter/lid/maf/TB. Use rags/paper towels/vacuum to get any remaining water out of the intake.
Inspect the block to see if there are any visible signs of damage.
Next pull all of your spark plugs from there holes.
Dis-connect the 2 large plugs on your wiring harness that connect to the coil pack bracket harness. This is just to keep the coil packs from firing while cranking the engine over. It's probably not needed but I do it anyway.
Something else not needed but I like to do is pull the fuel pump fuse located in the underhood fuse box behind the driverside headlight.
Basically your making it so the motor has no spark or fuel going to it as you crank it over.
Now get in the car and crank it over. If the starter isn't fubared, the motor will turn over and pump the water out of the cylinders through the spark plug holes.
Re-assemble/reconnect everything. Check your spark plug gaps to make sure none were compressed when it hydrolocked. Not likely but better to check while there out and easy to get to.
Put in new oil and a new oil filter.
Fire it up and listen for anything out of the ordinary. Anything really bad and shut it down.
Hopefully she fires and all is well for you. Good luck.
Last edited by SSmokin 01; Sep 5, 2006 at 12:51 AM.
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Originally Posted by LS1carlos
whats that horrible grinding sound that it made when I attempted to start it?
Originally Posted by SSmokin 01
The grinding may be your starter gear teeth chewed off from trying to engage the flywheel and crank the car over after being hydrolocked. Hopefully you didn't keep trying to long. Damage to the starter teeth may be minimal.