Well there was a big storm here and i drove through a puddle which looked harmless but turned out to be like 8 inches deep. Before i could do anything the car just sputters and shuts down coming to a jerky stop. Now the electrical stuff all still worked, but the engine wont even turn over. The tow guy hooked up the car and lifted it and we noticed oil coming out pretty fast, i know i didnt hit anything. I couldnt really look at where it was coming from because it was pooring. Wanted to know what you guys think might have happened. Did my engine hydrolock? THanks

if you have a cold air intake and you say the engine wont even turn over as in you turn thre key and nothing happens than id have to say your screwed, time for a new bottom end, however if your motor turns but wont start than your not hydrolocked. oil pouring out of your engine is never a good thing, you odviously broke something and im willing to bet its your block. probable broke your conecting rods too, all for that extra 3 hp you get from a cold air intake, not worth it imo, but hey im gonna hope for your sake im wrong about all this, keep us posted and do a search on hydrolocking, its been talked about alot lately, i know cause i almost did it a few months ago

I was afraid that was what happened. And yes i do have a cold air intake. NOOO! My plans for a turbo are slipping away. I guess ill have to wait and see what the machanic says.

Most likly its hydro locked. Take off you hood, take out your spark plugs get a air compressor and go to town. after blowing in the cylanders for a bit let it sit open like that for a few hours. Clean your plugs with a wire brush. Get electrical cleaner and clean out your plug wires or anyother connections that may how gotten wet. Reset the ecu. change your oil 3 times or so to flush out any water that may have been blown back past the rings or up into the head. After all of that run some sea foam or carb cleaner through the motor.... that is if it will run which it should if it hydro locked. Good luck.

I feel your pain man. That exact thing happened to me, and it cost me half of my turbo money to get a pos junkyard dog. I hope for the best for you. It still pains me deep in my heart to think of that day.

EDIT: And the other half of my money is in fixing the damage caused by an uninsured driver.

to get the water in the cylinders out you can also: take all spark plugs out and crank it over a few times, leave it sit with the oil drain plug out and spark plugs out.

Originally posted by rowlex
to get the water in the cylinders out you can also: take all spark plugs out and crank it over a few times, leave it sit with the oil drain plug out and spark plugs out.

not much you can do blowing air into the cylinders weith an aircompressor, useless.


Look for the oil leak/hole first before you even waste your time. Insurance might cover the damage depending on your policy.

Terry

Yeah lets remember guys all of this advice only works if you didnt truly hydrolock your car, blowing compressed air, shop vac, letting air out, changing oil, changing plugs, all that stuff is great if your engine didnt hydrolock only if it sucked up a little water, however in this case he said his engine locked up, (seized up) as in it doesnt turn over at all, as in the pistons are part of the block now, and the rods are probably part of the engine compartment, this being the case the only thing he can do is get a new bottom end, and in most cases its cheeper to find a whole new used engine. it sucks cause i know what you are going through only i was lucky cause mine didnt lock i was able to dry her out and i was good to go. but since i have sold my aem cai and moved to a short ram. the hp difference didnt matter to me id rather keep my engine ive come to far to loose it all now

Get a breaker bar and try to turn the crank. If it doesn't turn, get a new block. I did the same thing and it blew a hole about the size of a half dollar in my block.

Originally posted by WIDECLIPSE
Get a breaker bar and try to turn the crank. If it doesn't turn, get a new block. I did the same thing and it blew a hole about the size of a half dollar in my block.

Damn guys that sucks. I've had that happen to me twice before I knew what was up. (Of course once I realized what it was I kicked Myself) Everytime my AEM has sucked up water all I've had to do is replace the head gasket (and check the head for cracks and warp). Did I get lucky? From what I'm reading, yeah. But the last time it happened it was pretty harsh. Didnt seize up just sputtered to a stop very quickly. (the noise of the rain made it dificult to even notice until I tried to go again.) I didnt notice the oil pooring out on the side of the road, but as I tore it apart I noticed the back side of the block and all the timing components drinched with oil not to mention a good amount down the front side of the block as well.

Might be a long shot but def check your internals before you write it off. And if your busted, use this opp to build that bitch. Hope I helped.


I figure since I cant stop fixing the damn thing, I'll just create more problems to work on. :) The stock pile has begun. Parts PArts PARts PARTs PARTS!!!
I'm a novice listen to what I say and make your own conclusion. If I'm wrong tell me and I will learn. Thanks be to the 2gnt Gods may they grant me turbo and fruits of the Earth. Amen.

Sigh, this isnt looking good. Ill talk to the mechanic later today and find out what he says. I did want to rebiuld the bottom end anyway just not now. Maybe this can turn for the best for me, yet i need my car to drive since its my daily driver.

yeah it sucks i feel for you man, i hope things work out for you, at worse youll need a whole new bottom end, might as well go with another motor swap you can find one cheep on ebay of this site. if this lesson hasent taught you anything at all i hope you learned to get rid of the cai, yeah it sounds cool and gives a little bit of a boost but come on the short ram sounds just as good and theres no worry of this happening, besides without a turbo it doesnt matter how many mods you strap on you will still be slow, not worth it to me, i learned my lesson and it wasent that hard on me, hope for the best, keep your head up , and it might not be a bad time to start learning our cars, so you can do things yourself, and save alot more money
goodluck

Your insurance will cover it under your comprehensive coverage, If you have it, Which everyone on here should because its cheap and you dont need to purchase Collision with it. Did you take off your plugs and try hand cranking it yet?

They may not cover it if it has an aftermarket intake. My insurance company wouldnt cover mine when I hydrolocked it because of the intake.

Originally posted by Pitchblack98
They may not cover it if it has an aftermarket intake. My insurance company wouldnt cover mine when I hydrolocked it because of the intake.

True, I'm just so used to dealing with and working for State Farm, that i forgot other companies may pull that shit. Then again, I'm licensed in PA and the insurance laws are different in every state.

Alright, so we think the engine has seized up, my friends mechanic looked at it, he didnt take anything apart but he thinks a rod spun maybe because a bolt was shot out and through the oil pan. He thinks i will need a new short block. Also we called insurance so they should cover it. But I want the howell bottom end rebuild kit, might as well have that done since i still want to go turbo, is there a way that i can pay the difference to get that?

One more thing, is there anyway that insurance wont cover this because of the cold air intake on it? If so, should i just remove that before i take it to them?

Yes, Just have them cut YOU a check, dont take it to any of their authorized Shops. Use the check towards your howell kit and having the work done.

and yes, it is possible that they reject your claim due to the intake, but probably not. Its not the same as a warranty. What company do you have?

Put the stock intake on there NOW.

Hmm you think they would turn me away with that. RIght now the car is at a friends work but my brother owns an eclipse so maybe i could just switch them. Anyway i could get introuble for this though. They might think its wierd how water got so high to the stock air intake. Can my insurance deny me coverage?

Bump. Help me out here guys, i think i should just leave it, the guy before me put it on, not me. It gets checked out tomorrow morning!

chances are if they determine that that was the cause most likely they wont cover it however if they inspected your car when you got full coverage and didnt complain about it than you should be good, just play dumb like you mean to tell me that dont go there?? well what the heck does?? look i just drive the thing i dont know anything about what that is?? all depends on the insurance company, warning though gieco had a write up not long ago on how they are gonna stop insuring modified cars, i have gieco but as long as i pay my insurance they are gonna cover me! i guess you just gotta do what ever you think is best. look at it from there prospective, what would you do if you were them? would you cover it? this is not a question anyone on here can truthfully answer for you but if it were me i would change it out with the stocker and play dumb, thats my opinion

i'm guessing you weren't running a bypass valve with your CAI. If you're going to mess with a CAI, always use a bypass valve!!! When I had my CAI, my filter would be drained in water when it rained, but i didn't have to worry since my bypass valve prevented the negative end of rain and a CAI. Anywho, goodluck and hope everything turns out ok.

Originally posted by CustomGS and yes, it is possible that they reject your claim due to the intake, but probably not. Its not the same as a warranty. What company do you have?

I have Encompass insurance, and im in PA also.

Originally posted by joeck76
Yeah lets remember guys all of this advice only works if you didnt truly hydrolock your car, blowing compressed air, shop vac, letting air out, changing oil, changing plugs, all that stuff is great if your engine didnt hydrolock only if it sucked up a little water, however in this case he said his engine locked up, (seized up) as in it doesnt turn over at all, as in the pistons are part of the block now, and the rods are probably part of the engine compartment, this being the case the only thing he can do is get a new bottom end, and in most cases its cheeper to find a whole new used engine. it sucks cause i know what you are going through only i was lucky cause mine didnt lock i was able to dry her out and i was good to go. but since i have sold my aem cai and moved to a short ram. the hp difference didnt matter to me id rather keep my engine ive come to far to loose it all now

UM......no. I dont think you truely understand hydrolock. Hydro lock occures when water replaces the air in the cylinder. Air compresses water will not. At any given rpm a sudden stop in the piston will damage many components. however if the rod did not break you can pull the spark plugs out and crank the motor. the motor will be able to turn because the water can exit through the spark plug holes.

In a hydrolock situation the rings do not seize to the cylinder walls.

really thants news to me, i was always taught that a hydrolock is exactly that, if the engine doesnt lock than you didnt hydrolock?? to be honest with you i know only what i was taught, but if you are correct than i guess i learned something today which is why this site is so great. all i know is no matter what the situation is getting water into your piston wells is not a good thing.In most cases you loose your bottom end. But i was told if my engine didnt lock up / seize up/ than i was lucky cause i didnt hydrolock, i just got some water in the wells that needs to be dryed out, and i got it out the way you described. but thanx for the correction, always nice to learn when your making mistakes:thumbsup

Yea so they told me the whole engine was done, didnt tell me what, just it was finished and I need a new one. So they went ahead and ordered a new one without asking me. Its a 97 engine with 63,000 miles on it. I guess I cant complain since my engine had 84,000 and this is all costing me 100 bucks without affecting my premium. Also they are supplying a rental car in the mean time. Oh yea, I did leave the CAI on there and they didnt even mention it, just told me they are covering it. Is there any chance I can keep my old motor and maybe work on it and try to learn our motors. I guess I wont be building my bottom end now until after turbo. Do you guys think the whole engine is messed up from the water? :(

Also the engine gets here thursday, is there anything else I should get done while engine is out, i mean little things tho, not a rebuild or anything like that, but maybe better motor mounts?

Originally posted by DarkEclips96
Yea so they told me the whole engine was done, didnt tell me what, just it was finished and I need a new one. So they went ahead and ordered a new one without asking me. Its a 97 engine with 63,000 miles on it. I guess I cant complain since my engine had 84,000 and this is all costing me 100 bucks without affecting my premium. Also they are supplying a rental car in the mean time. Oh yea, I did leave the CAI on there and they didnt even mention it, just told me they are covering it. Is there any chance I can keep my old motor and maybe work on it and try to learn our motors. I guess I wont be building my bottom end now until after turbo. Do you guys think the whole engine is messed up from the water? :(

I knew they would cover it, The Principle of Indemnity basically forces them to. And no, comprehensive claims can NEVER surcharge your policy. Happy days for you!! I'm a little surprised that Encompass( F.K.A. GE )didnt try to pull some shit on you. And you probably pay under 200 a year for that Comp. coverage. Well worth it.

And YES you can keep your old engine, it is still yours!! The only time when your property becomes theres is when it is a total loss.

Where are your guys intakes sitting that I see so many people here sucking up water? I had an cai on my 2k neon which sat prolly 3" off the ground for 3 years without running into these problems. Havent seen an eclipse CAI but I will have one in a couple weeks im sure. Does it sit that low to the ground?

Same place. I learned my lesson a year ago and hacked off half of my cold air and made it a warmish air intake. :9