massive rainpour in so. cali. As I was about to change lanes to get into the right lane, I noticed a big puddle in front of me. I slowly proceeded through the puddle, making sure not to hit the gas but then I heard two or three muffled pop pop noises then the car stalled. I'm assuming the noises was my exhaust trying to breathe but being choked by the 1-1.5 ft. of rainwater. having read about hydrolock in the past, I didn't attempt to start the car after it stalled. But that didn't stop the tow truck driver or cop from cranking it a good few times. Oh well. Does anyone know how bad the condition of my engine could possibly be in right now?

 

ummm why in the hell would you drive through 1.5feet of water with a CAI?

start pricing out rods and valves, cause your gonna need some new ones. you just used all the force from you car to try and make the engine compress water to 1/10th its natural volume. needless to say the engine components cannot handle that.

oh and for future knowledge, idle or not the only way you can get through a puddle like that is to push it, and or go around it, as long as the engines running its gotta suck in something.

this is why we say hydrolock is avoidable with common sense...

 

Sorry to hear that man- but I have to ask the same question as ares- why did you drive through a 1'+ of water?
Here is a link to a pic and info on hydrolock:
http://www.prepsparkplugs.com/hydrofact.htm
Again sorry man- that sucks

 

worse case senario is that you bent a connecting rod (or more than one depending on the amount of water that was involved and your rpms at the time), and it will have to be replaced. essentially, when the water is inhaled by the engine, it attempts to compress the water in the cylinder(s) and instead of compressing like oxygen would it doesnt and consequently the force of the reciprocating pistons has no place to go so it bends or breaks the weakest link (in this case the connecting rods). it should be covered under warranty, so your dealer can take care of that. the reason you shouldnt try to start the engine is you dont know exactly how much water got inside the engine, so you dont know if its still in the cylinders (which would cause further damage when trying to start it). only your dealer can correctly diagnose and fix this problem, or a reputable shop if your warranty is expired and you dont have an extended warranty.

 

hate to tell you but you voided the warranty when you put the CAI on so the dealer isnt gonna do jack but sit there and laugh at you sorry man...

-non

 

Where is the car right now? B4 anyone looks at it take the CAI off!!!!! Pay another tow truck to tow it to your house!!!!! Or your gonna be paying the repair bill.

When they cranked it did the car start, if so you might be okay!

 

Why is everyone nailing this guy? We've all done stupid stuff, and the last thing we want to hear is someone opening their big mouth and saying how it could be avoided. With that said, I agree with FairladyZ, take the CAI off and try to get it fixed under warranty, although it may be difficult to convince your dealer it was completely stock when this happened. And also are you sure water go into the engine? Was there water in the tubing? Good luck

 

I disagree that the warranty will (or should) cover this.

Driving in to deep water is an accident, just like driving in to a tree.

A warranty covers defects in material and/or workmanship. An engine full of water is neither of those things.

I am not flaming the poor guy. I feel for him. But I seriously doubt this is covered by the warranty.

 

Its not, this happened to my buddy. He had a CAI on his LT1, he took the intake off, put it back to stock, towed it to dealer. And his insurance covered the new motor, no ???'s asked.

 

Insurance will cover it. They might not be too crazy about the CAI.

Pull the plugs turn the engine over and see how much water comes out. Then put the plugs back in it and start it. IF there is a problem, then have it hauled off to the dealership. You might want to contact your insurance company and let them know it happen but you will let them know if you are going to file a claim.

 

Hey I had this happen to me. And yeah sometimes things happen that you can't control. I took the car home and a mechanic buddy of mine helped me.
First remove all of the plugs
Second try to trun the motor manually with a ratchet on the crank.
if you can, that is a good sign, if you can't time to call the insurance.
Lastly, with the plugs still out, try to start the engine, the water will shoot strait out of the spark plug holes. Do this until the water coming out is just a light mist.
All the while have someone monitor the engine to see if it is bucking or operating smoothly while your getting the water out.

this is what I did with mine, I put the stock intake back in and drove it around for a week, and I ordered the bypass filter. Put my CAI back in, and everything is fine.

FYI your car will put out alot of steam and will hesitate for a few minutes because of the residual water in the intake manifold.

hope this helps, sorry so long

Good Luck

 

No, the worse case scenario is if the connecting rod snapped and put a hole through the block. I'll try and dig up the photos from when my friend hydrolocked his car over the summer, and then you can see the carnage hydrolocking can unleash on a motor. (It wasn't a pretty site)

 

Judging by his description, I don't think he put a hole in the block. But his motor is likely ruined. Insurance should cover it, i think.

 

Thanks guys for all the input. As for driving through that deep of a puddle, I honestly had no time to react, I changed lanes from the second rightmost lane to the righmost lane, totally forgetting water gathers crazily near curbs and I never did get to make my right turn. As for the cai, yeah I'll uninstall that before anyone looks at it, that's the first thing that popped into my head. Anyone know how much a new engine costs?

 

New engine is about $5.5K or so... as indicated by MaxHax.

I had the hydrolock problem before too on my old Civ... got the car started after ingesting a lot of water (had it started the next day with jumper cables and lots of persistence, big mistake...). Well when if finally turned over, it made the most horrendous rattling sound from the engine. Like a machine gun. Bent rod, damaged cylinder and list went on... man, that was a nightmare and it will never happen again. No more CAI for me.

 

OHH I forgot to add that I changed the oil and the plugs the next day, just for good measure.

 

You'r insurance should cover the engine. It is an accident.

 

Does typical auto insurance really cover engine damage? I always was under the impression that you would require some sort of mechanical breakdown insurance, like the one that AAA sells. I know that AAA didn't cover my engine damage with regular auto insurance.

 

warranty will not cover this, it falls under the category OWNER ABUSE, just the same as iff you fried your clutch in a matter of months they will not cover it under warranty, but yes your comprehensive insurance should cover this and have it taken care of for you, maybe its time to be buuilt for forced induction

 

Get an RB26DETT put in. Seriously.