Well first of all i'm from pittsburgh and right now hurrican frances is giving us about 4-5 inches of rain. Well last night my girlfriend and i were out and every freaking road was closed because of flooding. i finally found a long way home and went through a freaking lake that covered the whole road, like atleast 8 inches deep! now i wasn't going fast, maybe 30-35mph. by the time i saw the puddle, i was 10 feet from it. so i did all i could do and slammed in the clutch and took my foot of the gas immediatly. the car shut down right away. after i rolled through the puddle, i tried starting it again but it didn't sound healthy. i got it towed home and right now it's airing out and has been all night. do you think i'm hydrolocked or not? thanks for any opinions!

I think your probably ok but just let it dry really good first.

Originally posted by Uberingram
I will burn you for not searching...then the stabbing.

I got the sonic if you got the boom.

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

i think your fine because if you let off the gas the throttle plate was closed therefore barely any water could get into the engine, well not enought to hydrolock anyway, the engine died because no air was getting in and didnt run right afterwards cuz ur air filter was soaked in water so u were prob pulling in more water vapor then air, i think ur fine as long as you werent on teh gas hard.

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i was not on the gas at all actually, i was 100% off the gas by the time water would have gotten to the filter. i've had a fan on it blowing down into the spark plug wells all last night and all day while at school. i would imagine that would be enough dry time. plus i left the oil drain plug out all night to so that there would be a little bit of air flow through the motor.

also, what i meant by not sounding good was when i went to try to start it again, as soon as the starter started cranking, it sounded real rough so i didn't even let it turn over. i was just being cautious.

a question i just thought of now... would the water that got into my motor be enough to hydrolock it by just trying to start it?

alright well i appreciate those of you who responded and gave me some hope, thank you. i'm gonna go grab some new oil and a filter, put the new oil in there and fire her up and see what happens.

Someone correct me if I am wrong. Would it be a good idea for him to crank it with no plugs and see if any water comes out of the spark plug holes? Before he tries to fire it up.

spray some WD40 down in the combustion chamber thru the spark plugs holes. Let that sit about 5 mins then crank it over a few times. Put the plugs back in it and fire it up... the wd40 will help get rid of the water when its soaking and you crank it. Then when you fire it up it will burn the wd40 and what waters left in there. Thats what i did when i got water in my motor and it works prefectly.

oh shit, well i tried to start it and all it did was crank. it didn't turn over. should i take the plugs back out and put some wd-40 in there? also, which one is the fuel relay on the firewall? i really need my car to run tonight or i'm in really deep shit for school. PLEASE HELP!

well i just took my plugs back out and unhooked the fuel pump relay and cranked it alot. there was still a pretty good amount of water that came out of there. so now i sprayed the wd-40 in their and now i'm just letting it sit for a while. i'm not sure how this works but i'm trusting you on this one. any more help would be very appreciated!!

the WD in WD40 stands for water displacement. So it should help get it out. Just spray a little in there and then crank it over for about 15 secs or so that way it mixes good. then put the plugs back it and crank her over. Might take a few trys to get it to start and it will prolly smoke a little from burning off the wd40 and water. Mine smoked for about 10 mins just sitting there idleing (sp). If that doesnt work theres a good chance you may have messed something up on the inside.

Do a compression test if you cant get it to run and see what the results are... When i hydrolocked my motor i did ended up with a bent rod and had a lower compression on the #4 cylinder.

Keep us posted.

ok well i've tried the wd-40 and that didn't do much. i haven't done a true compression test yet but i did take a rubber glove and put it over each spark plug well to atleast make sure i was gettin compression in each cylinder. the glove popped on each cylinder so i know i'm getting atleast enough compression to start. when i'm cranking the motor, all is silent except the starter. i can't hear any rediculous rattling or tinging or anything out of the ordinary. i can see piston 1,3,and 4 still has a bunch of water in it. i guess i'll just keep cranking and blowing it out. if there's any other suggestions then by all means please let me know. thanks!

that sux... next trick is rubbin alcohol... but youll have to let it sit overnight and wait for the alcohol to eveporate and the water should go with it.

Try to get a shop vac or something and suck up as much water as you can outta the chamber and them let em dry out a little.

A really powerful air compressor would be useful right about now }(
Good luck!

Im thinkin change out the plugs and maybe even change the oil.. cause you dont want that oil in there if water did get into the engine.. my buddy hydro locked his honda up here in Indiana Pa and it went kaboom soon as he hit the water.. so if your still crankin over thats a good thing

well, i actually did use the shop vac idea with a little hose taped onto the end. after i couldn't get it to fire up last night i figured that would give me the best chance at drying it out. i still think that it might not be dry enough yet. everytime i pulled out the plugs last night after trying to start it, they would be soaked! they should have had a strong gas smell to them but it was a very diluted gas smell because of all the water. i actually did change my oil already, there wasn't all that much water in there, maybe half a cup.

NOW THE SCARY STUFF... i did a compression test last night... they were sickening results. i'm not sure if my compression tester is working right.
here's the numbers #1 - 110 #2 - 140-150 #3 - 80-85 #4 105-110

now those numbers would denote a casastrophic engine failure. i don't think my tester was working right because #2 cylinder was bone dry from the second i got home from sucking up the water. #2 never got any water in it! i don't know, i'm panicing. i don't have cash for a new motor! HELP!

I would rent a compression tester from autozone or somewhere like that and test it again for a second opinion. Those numbers dont look too good. the #2 cylinder numbers arent too bad, but they arent that great either.

do a second check with another tester. My test results looks something like that after my water experience and i ended up having a bent rod.

well shit, this doesn't look good. i would still have thought that it would have started up. maybe ran shitty but atleast start. damn damn damn damn damn. pitchblack you're gettin some points. you've helped the most. i really appreciate it.

thanks... if you need anything other help with this problem let me know... ive been there done that so i kinda know what to expect.

When my engine got hydrolocked, the dealer hooked the battery up to an external source ( charger ) and took the plugs out. They kept cranking the engine until almost all the water was out. They then did and oil, oil filter, and spark plugs change. Car was fine for another year and a half until turbocharged, and ran another 4 years after that.

Good luck with it man!

Originally posted by ughhhead
i don't have cash for a new motor! HELP!

got insurance? Flood damage :shrug

well i just keep praying that it was still to wet in the combustion chambers last night. i was cranking the living shit out of it last night. i could see the big puffs of water coming out of the wholes. when i get home, i'm going to put my crank at tdc and measure how deep i go in each of the holes and i will compare 1 and 4 and 2 and 3. that would atleast tell me if i have a bent rod or something. i'm honestly looking for a beater now because if i have major engine problems, it's gonna be a long while till i can get my car running with the kind of cash flow i have and with school. keep the thoughts coming...

you won't believe it... by some act of god my car started up this afternoon. after blowing all that water out and sucking it out with a fan all last night it finally turned over and ran. it's running perfectly normal. and now i know for a fact that my compression tester is a flaming piece of donkey shit. it still took a good bit of cranking and pedal pushing to get it to start but after it started it idled like ass for about 2 mins the after getting on the gas a little it started to clear up. there was tons of white exhaust smoke. all i can say is THANK YOU LORD!!! (and you too pitchblack, you were very helpful :thumbsup )

I figured it would be alright. One time my dad run his truck hot enough to blow the head gasket and crack the head. Instead of listening to me telling him not to drive it, he drove it anyway and managed to hydrolock the engine with the coolant lol.

Originally posted by Uberingram
I will burn you for not searching...then the stabbing.

I got the sonic if you got the boom.

wow, lol. that wasn't smart.

i've done the exact same thing before. it was raining...i came up on a puddle that i did not know was there...let off the gas.
same thing u did.

Suggestion....change your plugs. get NEW ones ASAP.
I had to get new ones just to get my car to start...after it aired out for like 3 days. Wet plugs can foul out quickly.

but for all u guys...i took like a windex bottle, took the sprayer handle out...stuck that tube into the plug well, and started spraying all that water outta there.
there was not a whole lot of water in there...but any is too much.

and i used a hairdyer going back and forth for like an hour after doing that....with the new plugs..worked fine.

and yes...she idled like shiat and even through wter out the tailpipe till she dried up in there.

got lucky man..you got lucky. but change them plugs bro. they are cheap enough, ya know.

hey no problem on the help there... glad to hear everything ended on a good note.

damn bluefire, the windex sprayer and hairdryer are good ideas. i haven't had a free moment since last night to go get new plugs be that will surely be happening in the next day or two! well i would like to end this post by saying once more that i really really appreciate everyones help. thanks!