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MAJOR problem, water sucked into engine by air intake

9K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  CoastGuardJim 
#1 ·
i was off roading with some buddies and went through a mud hole too fast. when i hit it sprayed water all over the front and got sucked into my air intake and stalled out. we winched it out and drained the oil out of the engine which you could tell had a creamy mix to it with the water and replaced the oil right there on the trail. after i replaced it and tried to start it up there is a bad knocking in the engine because of the water in the engine. ive drained the oil out again and i was looking for adive to get the water out. the vehicle has not been driven so the engine should be fine once the water is out. any help would be great thanks. it's a 97' zj 5.2 stock.
 
#3 ·
You would have been better off pulling the plugs turning the engine over for 2-3 ten second bursts.

Then change the oil if it was milky. If you didn't do that....I would be really skeptical and scared for the life of the engine.
 
#6 ·
MaineZJ said:
Um, when you pull the spark plugs, no oil should come out.
I myself like to have oil in my engine when I crank it.
LOL, I'm with you on that one.

Just for future reference, if it ever happens again: don't try to crank it over, put it in neutral and get to higher ground. pull all the plugs, crank it over for 10 seconds or so as Alaska ZJ mentioned. No, the engine will not shoot oil. The piston rings don't allow much oil past them, at least they're not supposed to. Change the oil when you get home.

by the sounds of it, you stalled it out, then drained the oil, then cranked it over a couple of times with the plugs out, then refilled the oil pan. Is this right? if so, the oil held on by everything should be fine for the 20 seconds or whatever it was cranked. If it were a new engine (never been oiled) you would have trashed it, but as is you should be fine.

You may have bent a valve or broke a rod when you flooded it in the first place, that would be my worry. Probably a valve if it's knocking but running since the valve may not be closing completely and it's getting hit by the piston....

Unfortunately, you'll at need to replace the valves at the least. That's pretty much a $700 job around here. :cry:

If it makes you feel any better I hydrolocked my CJ and bent valves on each damn cylinder. Had between 45 and 70 psi per cylinder after that....had to replace the entire engine..... :crazy
 
#7 ·
i feel compelled to mention one more thing.....

I was playing in the mud last week and had quite a good time....




...I definitely had my fun and was playing in some pretty deep stuff at one point. My air filter was a little wet and dirty afterwords, but nothing went any further than that.
it's really not easy to hydrolock an engine in a rig like this. the air intake is routed rather smartly overall unlike some of the older carburetted jeeps. if you managed to get it to flood you really were hitting that water WAY to fast and you're likely to damage other stuff beating on your rig that way. you really might want to consider just taking it a little more easy down the line if you want your jeep to last.
 
#9 ·
i'v hydro locke three times, with the same engin. pull the plugs turn over,(mine had 3' rooster tails comming out of three cylinders) then replace the oil. you should be fine as long as you didn't try to start it befor you pull the plugs.
 
#10 ·
nate379 said:
The intake is right by the driver's headlight. If water is up to the headlights, your asking for it.

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Nate's right, and the WJs are the same also. The intake points staight at the grille, so there's nothing to stop the water once it gets to that level. And it happens instantly. After trashing an engine, I'm very scared of deep water now. Hope you didn't do too much damage.
 
#11 ·
Metalman said:
nate379 said:
The intake is right by the driver's headlight. If water is up to the headlights, your asking for it.

[/img]
Nate's right, and the WJs are the same also. The intake points staight at the grille, so there's nothing to stop the water once it gets to that level. And it happens instantly. After trashing an engine, I'm very scared of deep water now. Hope you didn't do too much damage.
At least there is the air box and then filter with intake above that though. On my old CJ, the intake was next to the headlight and it was a straight shot to the filter above the carb so you could literally get high water pressure dirrectly on the filter and force it down the carb :spank: At least on the ZJs the routing isn't completely dirrect. It's pretty easy to get a wet filter, but to actually force water up the intake and into the throttle body is a little harder IMHO.

P.S. re-read my previous post and I sound like a grumpy old man ;) not trying to lecture anybody, just some friendly advice :cool:
 
#12 ·
So how bad is it if I tried to stay before I pulled plugs? Air filter was soaked a
A few drops came out of in take hose when I removed it all. It turned over sounding like it wanted to start but never did. I stopped then. It have been back since it’s over at beach. I plane to go over this weekend and drain oil replace plugs. Anything else?
 
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