Under Water

[nolig2278]

Hi

Hope i can get some help
my BPT MX3 drowned in a flood while driving yesterday
went through several deep water areas and had batter light come on and then off as belt and rpm picked up

then finally died out and sat in deep water

spark plugs seem to have water and gas on them
kind of black

cranks sometimes and sometimes fires

fuel pump sounds like its trying to work but not always

cel 2 5 9 15 and 17

VAF had some water in it

could water have gotten into gas tank?
would water hurt the catalytic converter since the pipes were full of water?
i figure tow ride home spilled out water from exhaust

HELP PLEASE

[Jovian2k]

O dam I saw the video on the news about the floods down there . Sorry to hear man, hope you get it figured out... good luck.

[Redline322]

Well, first of all, the CEL codes you are getting are: 02-distributor, 05-knock sensor, 15 and 17 deal with the o2 sensor. You should take apart your intake, disconnect your fuel pump and crank the engine over for a bit to make sure all of the water is out of the cyls and exhaust. Then, you should definately do an oil change to get rid of any water in your crankcase and maybe use a hair dryer along some of your wire harness if you see any water. Hopefully your o2 sensor will come around once it all dries or you'll need a new one. All the water can really do to your exhaust is rust it out a bit, but once you can get it running again, it'll boil the water off.

[nolig2278]

definitely have water droplets on the plugs. they wipe up pretty clean so i dont think i need to replace them.

could water have gotten into the gas tank? are they any vents that would allow water to flow in?

do i need to pull off intercooler to get out any water it might have or is there something that can be done?

dipstick looks like it is just oil.

thoughts on filing an insurance claim ( i have a $50 deductible)

thanks again

[onlytrueromeo]

Um, if you drove the car into deep water and didn't shut it off, you might have killed your engine...water does not compress, so hydrolock is a very good possibility...

take all the plugs out, crank the engine over to force water through the open plug holes. Get a compression gauge and do a compression check on all the cylinders to see if its even worth fixing stuff, or if you need to source a new engine...

disty will prob be fine once it dries out - take it out and apart and let it dry inside.

How much gas did you have in the tank? if you're that worried, it'd be easier to get a thin tube and stick it down into the tank and pump everything out that you can, then get a thing or 2 of dry gas and put that down there, pump that out, put some more dry gas down and fill the tank w/ gas. Dropping the tank can be a PITA.

Change your oil before you drive anywhere. If you get the car driving, change the oil again after like 10-20 miles, although you prob won't have to change the filter.

That's what I would do at least...

[nolig2278]

if i did waterlock the engine, can it be bored out and over sized pistons installed?
would the valves and valve rings be damaged too?

might be time to order a NA BP and bolt up the turbo

would my turbo have gotten damaged by the water?

[muttpower]

I'd start disassembling motor and start drying everything out with heat gun...as for fuel system, I flush it out as someone stated above. Most of the parts will work fine after drying, but not ir they're allowed to rust.

[onlytrueromeo]

Not necessary to disassemble the motor unless he bent rods... The water will get flushed out w/ the oil and the "rust" you speak of will only be surface rust of not major impact.

Take ALL the plugs out, then do a compression test.

[nolig2278]

would water hurt the clutch cause there is really nothing stopping from from entering the clutch bell housing
its a stage 2+ clutch
i believe kevlar

[wytbishop]

Whoa whoa whoa....

You guys are totally going worst case scenario here.

Relax for a second. The only way to truly hydrolock the engine is to actually suck enough water in through the intake to fill a larger volume than the compressed volume. It's very, very unlikely that this would be the case. Put that idea away until you've done the obvious.

Redline gave you good advice. Change the oil for sure. Pull and clean the plugs. Make sure all the electrical components are dry...alternator, distributor, starter motor, grounds, battery terminals, pull the O2 sensors and clean them. Unplug the distributor and crank the engine over for a few seconds at a time, several times. If the exhaust still has any significant amount of water in it do what you need to to get it out. It can stop the exhaust from getting out and may prevent the engine from starting. Reset the ECU try to start the engine. If it doesn't start check for codes again.

Then we'll talk about catastrophe.

[Ryan]

Wanna know what WD40 stands for?

It was posted on here awhile ago. Water Displacement (40th recipe)

Shouldn't harm anything on the car, spray it everywhere mechanical. Maybe avoid things like tape though.

[nolig2278]

it cranks with plugs out
smelled some gas, which is understandable

[Chris_W_2k5]

like everyone else is saying...

• Pull plugs and crank engine to expel water.
• Change oil (including oil filter. Doing an oil flush wouldn't hurt.)
• spray WD40 to displace the water
• change air filter
• check cap/rotor
• check transmission oil
• Enjoy the free engine bay cleaning done by mother nature.

Im sure im not the only one, but i go off roading and water crossings are not uncommon..and neither is an undersized rig going below the water line. If the engine was hydro locked you'd know already, and over sized pisons wont straighten out your push rods

[nolig2278]

wd40 the cylinders
new plugs
added gas

it has very hard time starting then immediately stalls out after firing

so i need to check disty
feels like timing is out of wack

[progt91]

you probably have moisture in your dissy cap. remove it and dry it out and try it then, you should be good to go. and change your oil man.