Deep water = stall and stumble

[Gr82baGN]

Help, coming home from work today I found myself confronted with a large puddle (small river) of water. I came to a 1 or 2 mph roll and attempted to cross. Halfway through the car stalled. She restarted and I got through. She's been running a little rough but getting better. My main concern is when I floor it she stalls. Any Ideas as to what may have happend. I do have the air filter running outside the engine bay (Pete Tomka system). What is my worse case scenario?

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Hope it wasn't deep enough to submerge the filter! You might have pulled water into the motor. Think you probably should have turned around.

 

[Gr82baGN]

I think your right. If I pulled water in the motor what am I looking at? I'm getting ready to take it for a test ride right now and see if it's any better.

 

[turbo buicks]

bah. my car ran thru a deep puddle once and didnt stall but i know i got the filter in water. its right above the air dam. i think you maybe got the crank sensor wet or something and its just drying off. water in the motor wouldve hydro locked it id think. maybe if some water got in the i/c and everytime you hit boost it floods it like alky maybe thats what happened

 

[Gr82baGN]

My test drive was 95% better, she finally went into boost at 15lb's and she feels more like herself. I'm gonna let it dry overnight and see how she is tomorrow.
Thanks

 

[ulose2av6]

water

just to get off the topic a little bit. i was at a gas station today here in nyc and a taxi cab was having the motor pulled. i asked what the hell happened the guy said he sucked water through the air filter. he restarted and bam the piston went right through the side of the block i couldnt believe my eyes.jfyi

 

[V8 KILR]

an idea

I have the scoop for the air filter in the air dam. I rode through a deep puddle once and the car stalled stalled halfway through. It eventually re-started, but it ran like total garbage. Turned out to be the MAF. It got just wet enough to go haywire. I was lucky enough to find a replacement and now I don't drive through deep puddles anymore.

 

[turbojimmy]

I agree with the crank sensor theory. The same thing happened to me Saturday in Fairfield, NJ. When I left my house in Roxbury things were looking sort of okay - could even see some blue sky.

Holy moly was I wrong. I've never driven through a downpour like that - and I was in the GN. I should've just taken the T-tops out 'cause I might have stayed drier. The f'n thing leaks EVERYWHERE (I've only driven it in the rain a couple of times by accident since I've owned it). The bald DRs were no fun either - it was like being on a sheet of ice.

Anyhow, yes deep puddles. A couple of times the VOLTS light went on, which I think mean the front of the engine got wet enough for the belt to slip. It was running rough for a bit, but as I got closer to home it cleared up. There was no way I was going to stop (lots of folks pulled over to wait it out) because of all the water coming in.

I have "hydrolocked" an engine before. It was a T-bird and I had *just* left my house. Went through a deep puddle and it seized the engine. Funny thing was that I was close enough to my house I just pushed it back up my driveway. Pulled the plugs, cranked it over, put 'em back in and it was fine. Had the engine been hot it would've been another story: cold water & hot internals makes for cracking of things.

If you actually sucked enough water into the engine to matter you'd know it. My air filter is behind my LH parking light and I made out okay through Saturday's mess.

Jim

 

[Gr82baGN]

The car is running great now that it's dry. Rough idle and stall are gone. I can even achieve max boost @ 22lb's (alky). Thanks for the advise. For future refrence how do you know when you hydrolock an engine?

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by Gr82baGN
The car is running great now that it's dry. Rough idle and stall are gone. I can even achieve max boost @ 22lb's (alky). Thanks for the advise. For future refrence how do you know when you hydrolock an engine?

It stops immediately and depending on your RPM and temperature it will break things. The water cannot be compressed like fuel vapor so when water gets in the cylinders it's like putting a hunk of metal between the piston and head. It doesn't take much water if you think about it. I was amazed that it happened to my T-bird. It was a throttle-body injected 3.8 with an air cleaner atop the engine and an intake up high in the fender well. Still sucked in enough water to stop it immediately.

Jim