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Hydrolocked '94 - What's broke?

Squishymonster2

New Member
Joined
April 10, 2004
Messages
9
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City, State
Waupaca, WI
Year, Model & Trim Level
'94 Sport
*** SHORT VERSION ***

Here's the short version of the story just in case someone doesn't have time to read the long one :p

I drove my '94 Sport, 4x4, 4.0L, 5 speed with 118k miles & KKM intake through a ditch that was about 1.5 - 2 feet deep. I stalled the engine on the way out and cranked the engine off and on for about 5 minutes before it started again. After starting, there was a loud knocking sound in the engine. The speed of the sound increases with engine revolutions. It sounds like it's coming from the back of the engine but I can't tell if it's on the top or the bottom.

I've decided to open the engine and try to replace the parts myself. I am looking for opinions on what might be broken - if the damage is on the bottom end and I have to remove the engine, or if it's on the top and I can leave the engine in.



*** LONG VERSION ***

I have a '94 Sport, 4x4, 4.0L, 5 speed with 118k miles & KKM intake. It ran strong and sounded solid until my little adventure.

I drove through a ditch about 1.5 - 2 foot deep, and I took a line that was about 6 feet long (driving across at about a 45 degree angle so I wouldn't nose-in hard). I was in 1st gear, probably near the top of the normal shift range so I could try to coast through rather than power through. I did keep power on while going through the water, just not heavy.

As I was exiting the ditch, with the front end out of the water, and still some water below my driver door, I stalled. It was a slow stall - engine bogging down before it died. No pops or weird mechanical sounds. I attributed it to letting up on the throttle in order to not dig my rear wheels into the mud.

I made the mistake of cranking the engine, not realizing that the engine may have taken in water. White smoke was coming out of the exhaust as I tried to start (maybe water backflowed into exhaust pipe?)

No strange mechanical sounds while cranking the engine, but there was definitely a major hesitation to start. It took maybe a full minute of off and on cranking before it actually started up again - with some long delays between tries.

After starting, the engine ran rough for a while, and eventually evened out, and sounded normal/strong, except for a loud mechanical tapping sound - very noticeable. The tapping is far louder than normal valve clatter that I've experienced in this truck from time to time going up hills, etc.

Drove to a garage across the block, opened it up. Hoped it was wet electrical components. The engine either got deeper than I realized, or a major splash of water came into the compartment. The noise barrier on bottom side of hood was soaked.

Removed/dried the coil pack, pulled the plug wires one at a time to see if the sound would stop, it didn't. I dumped some drops of water out of the intake tube. Checked the oil on the dip stick and couldn't see water there. Closed the hood and ran a torpedo heater under the engine for a couple of hours. It didn't change anything.

Drove the truck for about 2 miles to get somewhere I could store it. Ran the revs up, tested it's power, etc. Everything seems to sound and run like it did, except for the tapping. At high revs, I noticed that the tapping seemed ~very~ slightly "disconnected" from the sound of the engine and revs - like it slightly lagged behind or ahead of the sound of the engine. A mechanic in the car confirmed this but is was extremely slight.

Tapping sounds like it's comming from the back of the engine, but it's hard to tell if it's the top or bottom end. The speed of the sound increases with revs. While cranking the engine, I can't hear it, and when RPM is very low - below idle it seems to go away as well.

I had a mechanic listen to it and his opinion is that it sounds like a bent wrist pin. I also towed the X to another mechanic. He took off the main belt to make sure it wasn't coming form the alternator, water pump, etc. That mechanic's opinion is that a crank shaft bearing went out. However, just as a note, I can't hear any kind of grinding, etc like I've experienced with shelled out wheel bearings, etc.

I'd like to get as many opinions as possible about what could be making the sound. If it is on the top end of the engine, I can pull the covers/heads, etc and replace the parts. If it's on the bottom, I can pull the engine and replace bearings, etc. However, if it's most likely that the problem is on the bottom, I'd rather pull the engine and not waste the time tearing down the top.

The mechanic told me he could get a used engine with no history for $500 (mileage not guaranteed, but some kind of warranty) and installation for $500. Money-wise, if I can take the engine out myself, and replace some parts on the bottom end and get another year out of it, I'd rather do that - even if it doesnt' run quite as well as it did before)

The X has 118k miles on it. The standard problem of the transmission locking me out of 1st/2nd gear started at 90k miles and I've just learned to shift with it. I have planned for a couple years to replace the X, or drive it until it died - now the transmission and engine are both screwed, but it's a bad time for me to get a new car.

I'm still very surprised that the engine may have drawn in enough water to cause this, but maybe I'm in denial. I wonder if it's possible that when I stalled (from low throttle) the engine kicked back and bent something that way? Or maybe something happened to the already broken transmission?

I put a mechanics stethascope (whatever it's called) on various places of the valve covers, oil pan, and transmission. The sound was definitely loudest on the oil pan. I couldn't tell a difference in sound level anywhere on the valve covers.

Thanks for reading. Any opinions/info is greatly appreciated.
 






It is kinda hard to diag something like this with out actuall seeing it. What I suggest it (being a mechanic myself)... drain the oil really well, chenge the filter, put in 4 qts of oil and 1 qt of lucas. See what it does. Lucas is know to do some amazing things, and honeslty it's worth spending the 20 bucks to do this and have a chance of saving something. If it doesn't help it out, then it is only 20 bucks, ya know what I mean? Let me know how it turns out.

Chris
 






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