engine blown?

[punkbek3886]

well i went camping this weekend and the engine inhaled some water. after it stalled i tried to restart it and it turned over for a second and then stopped. i took the spark plugs out and tried to turn it over and it wouldnt go so then i tried to pull it with another car and drop the clutch in 5th and it still wouldnt turn. what should i do?

 

[james t]

your engine is hydrolocked. nothing you can do other than pull it out and set another one in its place. FYI for future reference...

if your rig inhales some water and dies, DO NOT try to re-start it. pull all of the spark plugs out and turn the motor over. this will usually blow out the majority of the water. water doesnt compress, so when you turned the engine over after it sucked in water it tried to compress it. water wont give, but a rod will.

 

[Alec]

search for hydrolock:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...d=639522&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

The truck won't start without plugs. You're supposed to remove all the plugs and crank the motor to push water out of the cylinders. If you try too much to start the motor with sealed cylinders you can permanently damage it.

The routine thing to do is drain the cylinders, change all your fluids, inspect the electrical system, and go from there.

 

[Alec]

And yes, if the truck has electrical power and the starter system is fine (the starter can also drown) but the motor will not rotate, it's toast.

You can also try turning the motor by hand from the crank pulley with the tranny in neutral.

 

[Doug904]

Sounds like he went from Hydro-loc to spun rod or main bearings. He took the plugs out and it still wouldn't turn. Either way it spells new engine, sorry to hear it.


Later Doug904.

 

[Nate1]

Five words: It sucks to be you.
Next time you know: pull the plugs first and puke up all the water.

For the record, if you were that deep, you probably need to replace all your fluids. Axles, tanny, t-case, etc...

 

[punkbek3886]

could i just replace the part that is messed up and get around replacing the whole block and innards? btw I extended all my breather lines so i wont need to do that

 

[james t]

replacing the "part" will basically be replacing one or more connecting rods, along with new bearings and probably new valves and pushrods. if it didnt ruin the crank you could rebuild the entire engine at best.

 

[Alec]

possibly. however, if that's the case you need to tear down the motor asap before rust and siezure take hold.

 

[punkbek3886]

well i replaced the oil already so maybe that will slow down the rust. how much is rebuilding it going to cost approximately?

 

[Alec]

a lot.

it all depends on who's doing the work, how many parts are needed, and how bad the motor is. It's hard to ballpark a motor rebuild, but if you're taking it to a shop probably at least a grand.

 

[punkbek3886]

well ive kind of explored my options and what ive come up with is either i could get a shortblock from napa or one of those stores, or i could get a used engine. the shortblock option would cost around 1500 but my neighbor has a cousin who works at a car shop and can get my an engine with about 60,000 miles on it for $750. I could just get the new engine and take my time rebuilding the old one.

 

[jimbo74]

Originally posted by james t
your engine is hydrolocked. nothing you can do other than pull it out and set another one in its place. FYI for future reference...

if your rig inhales some water and dies, DO NOT try to re-start it. pull all of the spark plugs out and turn the motor over. this will usually blow out the majority of the water. water doesnt compress, so when you turned the engine over after it sucked in water it tried to compress it. water wont give, but a rod will.

yup happened to me... the engine lasted a month after i hydrolocked it and got it running again.... blew out on the freeway.......

 

[Alec]

So are you sure it's siezed?

 

[jimbo74]

get a snorkel, they look kinda dory, but dorky save the cost of an engine.....

 

[james t]

Originally posted by Alec
So are you sure it's siezed?

if he pulled it behind another car and dumped the clutch in 5th and the rear wouldnt break loose then yes, id say he's sure.

hard for the rotating assembly to turn when one of the connecting rods is U-shaped.

 

[97LTD]

Originally posted by Alec
So are you sure it's siezed?

Yup sounds like his engine is HISTORY!

Should have remove spark plugs from each cylinder and crank several times to get the water out.

Once I used a jetski and I rolled over upside down and flooded the engine with water so I had to pull to shore and remove spark plugs and crank to get water all out and dry. Now the engine is fine since no problem.

I could tell thats a hard lesson to be learned when the engine is hydrolocked

 

[punkbek3886]

yeah i plan on moving the intake to inside the passenger side fender. i found an engine on ebay and i was wondering, its out of a 97, but it looks the same. will the engine work in mine or do the computers not match up? i looked up the stats on the 97 and it has 5 more hp and 5 more torque at different rpm's. other than that the only difference i can see is the intake manifolds are different. id just like to know if a newer engine would work in mine. thanks for all the help.

 

[Alec]

A few folks have done a later OHV to first gen swap. The electronics are fairly different, but I think you basically reuse some of the sensors from your 91 and leave various others unplugged. You may need a custom chip though to deal with the different cylinder heads and pistons.

 

[punkbek3886]

alright thats what i wanted to know. i dont think im going to go that route, then. i just want to get back on the road. ill let you guys know how its going.