Hydrolock

Kindly share your experience with hydrolocking a B5 motor. What parts were trashed/replaced? Is it worth replacing or rebuilding the engine? Mine took water in and died. Thank you.

were you driving it when it hydro locked?

I was not driving it, someone else was, but yes. Flooded street. Airfilter is soaked, water in the intake.

rebuilding would depend on how bent things are. A bent rod could be so bad that it actually ruins the engine block. Not likely any damage to the cyl head. It really needs to be torn down to inspect how bad things got bent.

If your vehicle were able to get that amount of water up into the airbox and hydrolock your engine; my next concern would be the rest of the electrical components and wiring in the car.

I have had some experience with cars that have been driven into water and the engine is usually only 1 part of the equation.

In the future you may likely have some reoccurring issues with electrical related connectors and components in the car.

I.e- Electrical gremlins may become an issue once all those connectors begin rusting and corroding.

Its just not as simple as just putting in a new engine. It all depends on how much water got into the car and engine.

Brian's96TDIPASSAT said:

rebuilding would depend on how bent things are. A bent rod could be so bad that it actually ruins the engine block. Not likely any damage to the cyl head. It really needs to be torn down to inspect how bad things got bent.

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What he said. Impossible to tell without taking things apart.

Start with this: remove the glow plugs, lower charge air cooler plumbing (both ends of the crossover tube), and crank the engine to expel any water left in there. Obviously clean out, dry out, the air cleaner assembly. Change the engine oil (at least drain and refill it, probably do not need to worry about the oil filter right now).

Then spritz a little WD40 into each cylinder's glow plug hole, crank the engine some more. If you can, go ahead and check the compression on each cylinder now (if you have the tool). If not, just put the plugs back in, and see if it starts. If it starts up, and sounds/runs normally (it may hiccup a few times), let it idle for a few minutes, still with the charge air plumbing off. Then shut it off, put the charge air stuff back in place, then restart and slowly raise the RPM (neutral, no load) to about 2000 RPMs and run it like that for 30 seconds or so. If it still sounds OK, then let it come back to idle, then put it in gear and brake torque it a bit. Just a little, you just want to do it enough to command a bit of boost... maybe 10 seconds is enough. If it does OK, then take it out for a spirited test drive. If it is all OK, then it has survived and will live another day.

I've encountered LOTS of hydrolock situations over the years... gas, diesel, all kinds of stuff, for all kinds of reasons. Some break, some don't. It is usually a pretty black or white deal, especially with a diesel.

I would not worry about any electrical problems unless it was sitting in a couple feet of standing water. If it just got driven through a deep puddle, then you needn't worry... nothing is likely to have gotten any more wet than if it were being driven in a downpour rain shower. If it did sit in any amount of water, the lowest connections to be concerned with are the two on the bottom of the transmission... the round connector that actually goes into the case to the shift solenoids/etc. inside the trans, and the small rectangle connector near it that goes to the gear position sensor. Just remove them, clean them, blow them out, and reinstall them. No big deal. Remember, WD40 does an excellent job of pushing water away.

oilhammer said:

I've encountered LOTS of hydrolock situations over the years... gas, diesel, all kinds of stuff, for all kinds of reasons

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Kinda par for the course when you live near the Missouri and Mississippi rivers

And then I was introduced to Boraparts.........

What is the update ?

Here is how I do it, I drill a small hole in the low spot of the muffler and cat, pull plugs or glo-plugs, pull air box. I find my local lawn guy and get him to blow air in thru the intake with his leaf blower. I use a small wet-dri, duck tape a tube the size of the opening to the cylinder and suck out the water. Squirt small amount of denatured alcohol into each cylinder. Wait a couple of hours. Couple squirts of tranny fluid into each cylinder, wrench on crank bolt turn CW, turn engine over a couple of times, if the engine binds your rods are bent if not put plugs-glo-plugs back in and drive away. If your driver was idling thru the water this should work. If the water was fresh your electrical should be ok, WD-40, (water displacement on the 40th try) the starter connections

Engine turned many times after the glow plugs were removed. 3 & 4 shot out about 1/2 gallon of water. Turned a few more times to shoot more water out but I was just getting vapor.
It didn't stop turning. Maybe it's a good sign.

I'm waiting on the final word on who can take the job of finding any damage.

on a side note, WD-40 stands for water displacement and the 40 goes for as legend says the 40th formula. True story

On what oilhammer said, a compression check would be the next step, if you bent a rod the piston would not travel to TDC and compression would be low in that cyl. I've seen engines run for several thousand miles or more with light to moderate bends in the rods but will eventually score up the cyl or futz up you rod bearing. If it turns over it's definately a good sign. I"m wondering if your could come up with a piston stop and use it through the glow plug hole. Follow me along, when you build a race engine you use a piston stop, it's basically and adjustable tool, threads in through the plug, when adjusted perfectly, when cranking by hand, the piston will come into contact and stop the engine from rotating, if you turn it the other way and watch the balencer it will come almost back to where you started. You should be able to youtube it and get a better visual. It will basically tell you if there's even a slight bend in the rod without pulling the head. When building a high performance engine it's called finding your true TDC and marking your balencer accordingly.

Brian's96TDIPASSAT said:

On what oilhammer said, a compression check would be the next step, if you bent a rod the piston would not travel to TDC and compression would be low in that cyl. I've seen engines run for several thousand miles or more with light to moderate bends in the rods but will eventually score up the cyl or futz up you rod bearing. If it turns over it's definately a good sign. I"m wondering if your could come up with a piston stop and use it through the glow plug hole. Follow me along, when you build a race engine you use a piston stop, it's basically and adjustable tool, threads in through the plug, when adjusted perfectly, when cranking by hand, the piston will come into contact and stop the engine from rotating, if you turn it the other way and watch the balencer it will come almost back to where you started. You should be able to youtube it and get a better visual. It will basically tell you if there's even a slight bend in the rod without pulling the head. When building a high performance engine it's called finding your true TDC and marking your balencer accordingly.

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I use a long screw driver

afarfalla said:

I use a long screw driver

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that will give you an idea but you could have a bend that would just keep the piston from going about 1/4 inch from true tdc and you'll have long term problems

I picked up 5 late model flooded Kia's, 2 needed detailing only, 1 was driven too fast thru the water, broke one rod and bent another like a pretzel had to install the spare motor I had, car had 800 miles on it. Another, after a few tries I managed to get all the water out of the cylinders, intake and exhaust, put the plugs back in and drove it away, it was ready for detail. The last one required the screw driver challenge, got all the water out put the plugs back in and she ran fine but I could hear a very faint tick in the engine, sounded like it was coming from #3 cylinder. Brought each cylinder to TDC and sure enough #3 ate a little more of the screwdriver. The engine broke down into 4 pieces, #3 rod had a very very slight bend in it causing TDC to be off less than an 1/8th of an inch

Gas engines are much different than a diesel. A diesel rod can be "bent" so little you could not tell with the naked eye even with the rod out of the engine in your hand, and a known straight rod in the other hand. Yet that bend can be enough to cause low power, smoking, even a misfire.

Heck, I even drove an ALH engine in the shop with all four rods bent. It ran... barely... Wasn't until I had the engine torn apart and had a micrometer out that I could tell anything.

So I really don't think the screwdriver in a glow plug hole is going to tell you much.

I agree with OH. Need that compression to fire.

Does the amount of water shot out in some way give an indication of how "tight" or "sealed" the combustion chamber is? Is it any indication of the status of the rings? Poor man's leakdown test?

poor mans leakdown, screwdriver. Like I said and oilhammer did as well. With the head off and a dial indicator, or the method I described earlier is the only way to tell.

Maybe you should buy one of those affordable KIA's ?

deming said:

Maybe you should buy one of those affordable KIA's ?

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sold them all, picked up a 15 Passat TDI SE, it was cheap and a flooded 15 Encore just needed detailing and the audio amp. Can you please explain the difference between a gas rod and a diesel rod, if either car is doing 30 mph thru a flooded street and manage to gulp some water will they bend differently? I can't see more than 2 rods bending in the process. If you idle thru the water you may have a chance. If the car sits in water, you go to start it and it drinks the water out of the intake, the starter isn't strong enough to bend a rod, the engine will stop turning over, I found that out to be true with an 05 Passat 1.8T and my 13 sportwagen TDI, water in the intercooler, and of course if you need a micrometer to measure an error my screwdriver most certainly will not work, but I was able to measure less then 1/8th of an inch with my screwdriver, it was a Snapon maybe that's why?

whizznbyu said:

Does the amount of water shot out in some way give an indication of how "tight" or "sealed" the combustion chamber is? Is it any indication of the status of the rings? Poor man's leakdown test?

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If the water shot out 1 foot the rings are good, if the water shot out more than a foot the rings are really good!

afarfalla said:

If the water shot out 1 foot the rings are good, if the water shot out more than a foot the rings are really good!

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Good. Because the water shot out, hit the hood really hard, bounced off, got the mechanic soaked and the asphalt wet, wet spot was about 15 feet in diameter.

You did notice the sarcasm in post #24, right?

These refurbished cars you sell, are they branded?

imo000 said:

You did notice the sarcasm in post #24, right?

These refurbished cars you sell, are they branded?

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#25 was much better, funnier too...in Texas the dealer or buyer must rebuild the car to Texas guidelines and document origin of parts and labor involved, then you can apply for a TX Blue Title, it will come with a notation on the right as to being previous salvage. Never been an issue especially if you are up front with the buyer.

whizznbyu said:

Good. Because the water shot out, hit the hood really hard, bounced off, got the mechanic soaked and the asphalt wet, wet spot was about 15 feet in diameter.

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Rings are good! Put the glo plugs back in your good to go

Wow, somebody needs to lock this post

UPDATE, and CLOSURE:
At the time of my last post I was at a point of throwing in the towel, or throwing more good money after bad.
I threw money in. I expected the worst of my water logged engine, which was at my son's dorm in Atlanta. I was in Charlotte. Because of logistical issues I could not tow the car, the mechanics in Atlanta couldn't take on my problem because they had too many projects in their front yard, etc.
In a panic, figuring out my motor might be toast, I bought Chrismak's NY car. It has 28X,XXX miles in it, a manual swap, and some aftermarket cam, BSM, and a tune.
One thing led to another, I had my wagon and Chrismak's car towed to VWZTIPS's place. Jeff turned my car's motor and initially got no compression. He changed out the oil which was milky. Turned it again, and got it started. Rough, but the engine ran. At this point it was a choice of taking my motor apart and rebuilding it, or swapping out Chrismak's drivetrain and cut my losses (Chrismak's car was $2500).
Long story short, I decided on the swap. AFTER the swap, the water boarded motor got put into Chrismak's body, and the oil was changed out a few more times. After a few pulleys replaced and the A/C compressor changed, N75 replaced, my water boarded motor is running like NOTHING happened to it.
What is the lesson learned? Don't panic. But don't wait too long to bite on a GREAT deal such as Chrismak's offer. Now I have a GREAT running wagon TDI with a 5 speed that gets 44.5 MPG at 70, 45.5 MPG at 55, and can still catch up with an M5, and a very well running sedan with a 5 speed auto.
My brother in law is buying the auto. So it is going to a good home.
Paraphrasing oilhammer's comment: if it runs, then it has dodged another bullet and will live another day. Or something like that.
In all, I am supremely pleased with VWZTIPS's expertise, thoughtfulness, timeliness, and reasonable rates. I am very fortunate to have met Jeff. He needs to be put on the map of "Trusted Mechanics by State".
Happy motoring. Oh, NO one used that screwdriver test.