roafamily

good evening friends,
the other day my son was coming home and due to the weather a truck "splashed" water on him. it turned his car off and he had to be towed home. well the next day i tried to fire it up and it sounds like a dead battery. so i had the battery check but it was good. to make a long story short i was able to fire it up. the car had a tap tap tap sound and throwing out white smoke. so i turned it off and checked the oil, its creamy color. some guy said it has water in engine.

any thoughts? any solutions..car ran fine prior to this.

Jennifer 2

It certainly sounds like the engine ingested enough water to hydro-lock at least one of the cylinders possibly bending the connecting rod. (Is this a Z or some other car).This could be the source of the tapping sound. The creamy color is indeed water in the oil. The good news is your comprehensive insurance will cover all the damage costs minus the deductible.

dkmura

iTrader: (64)

The sound you're hearing is most likely crank bearings under severe stress. Oil with a creamy color is almost always due to water contamination and the white smoke is the clincher. Oil with a lot of water won't protect bearings with an adequate surface film, so don't try running it any more. You didn't mention if your son's car is a 350Z or not, but I'll assume it's a VQ. Depending on condition and mileage, it could be a blown head gasket or other problem. You'll need an experienced tech to do a proper diagnostic. Please don't ask us to diagnose it from afar.

roafamily

thanks for the info and the advice. as for the car its a 350z conv. i shall take it to the dealer today and get a diag. thanks

Jennifer 2

Please let us know the outcome. As a teenager I don’t think I ever told my dad an outright lie, in fact I doubt I ever dipped below 90% truthfulness. However, with a little imagination I could do wonders with that 10% allowance. The clues, as you have reported them tend to point to water in the engine. Although with the standard filter and air box in place, it would take the front of the car being submerged to the bottom of headlights for this to happen.

A popular modification is a cold air intake; some of them locate the intake filter down low at the bottom of the car. These are not meant for roads with any standing water in puddles etc. Hopefully that is not the case here.

Spike100

As others here mention… The engine is leaking coolant into the oil. This happens with a warped head and a leaking head gasket. The white exhaust is the result of coolant leaking into the exhaust system and vaporizing. The ticking noise is caused by a burnt cams and a damaged camshaft.

The cause may not be a simple as running through a mud puddle or getting splashed on the highway. Some very spirited driving with low coolant and/or oil can cause this.

--Spike

myfirstzcar

If the water got splashed into the engine causing it to shut off I'd say it bent some rods instantly. It may have also blown a head gasket at the same time....either way, it's not good.

I assume it doesn't have the stock air box on it?

I doubt it's "burnt cams" causing your ticking sound, it's most likely a rod bearing or wrist pin in this case. If it is a top end noise then it would be a cam follower or bent valve.