97 b4 went through puddle all of a sudden rough running and white paste in oil (PICS)

the subject pretty much explains it all. During a flood today I was forced to proceed through about 1.5' deep water at some point. Worrying about being stuck at the deepest point i wound up 1st gear to get as much momentum as possible. I accidentally over-revved a bit but made it through. Immediately afterward I noticed the shield under the fuel tank was dragging against the ground. (the frictional force of the water must have torn it off!) but worse than that the engine was definitely bogging. After a few miles it smoothed over a bit and now builds power again but definitely isn't the same. The oil on the dipstick looks and smells normal (changed 400 miles ago) though when I looked in the valve cover this is what I found. Should I expect the worst? The car is still driving pretty well though now it has a very rough idle when cold. 268k miles 1Z

I could only make a few guesses and they would need to be checked out so I will not address what to do now and leave that for someone with more knowledge than I. I do wish you good luck however.

However I will strongly recommend that in the future, if you don't know how deep it is, don't enter the water. Even six inches can cause damage, but even more important, it does not take much more to become dangerous.

Getting home is not that important, don't risk your life. It may look OK but too often it is not.

I should add that I lost a good friend in a situation something like that.

This is the second thread I have read this morning in the last 5 mintues of TDI's driven through deep water - would image there are a lot more than posted here.

Why do people do it?

I have a flood are 2 miles from my house - usually at least twice a year - have to back track and detour 30 miles over dirt roads to get home, but I get home with a fully functioning vehicle.

To Joe's point, AZ has a 'stupid motorist law'. We have a lot of washes (dry river beds) that can flow a LARGE amount of water in a relativly short period during a rain storm. The problem is that even 1-2" of water can wash a car away. Too many AZ transplants are used to driving around posted barricades through water in other areas of the country and wind up requiring an expensive rescue, endagering the rescuer's life as well. The law basically states that in this situation, the motorist would bear the cost of the rescue service.

Back on topic...I would check the air filter to see if it was soaked. If so, replace it.

I would also bet that some water was injected into the engine through the dipstick tube.

I would also change oil immediately!

Tony

I guess I shouldn't be so hard on bigblue - stuff happens -

I agree with TonyJetta - also if you get it running right, take a look at your power steering fluid also to be sure it is not contaminated with water.

For all I know the water could not have been too high and what has caused any issue so much as over-revving a tired engine. I just noticed it's not running on all 4 all the time now and saw this white film on inside. Dipstick looks good. I will check air filter and change oil. I'm not sure condition of turbocharger but it still builds boost.

Is there a good way to temporarily vent the PCV system to outside in hopes of evaporating off a small amount of vapor in the oil? Or is that already done normally? Or is this more likely an issue with my high-mile IP?

When I posted a technical issue I really didn't expect to get such an overwhelming opinionated response. I'm not proud of having driven through water deeper than I had anticipated but if you read my original unrevised post you can see that I mentioned that I was forced by traffic to proceed through the water. Where I live flash floods of this nature are not as commonplace and we don't have stupid motorist laws of the sort mentioned. If anybody knows me here my posts are kept strictly technical and nonjudgmental be it either I am posting an issue or a potential solution.

The old original Beetle was fun on these events. I had to drive my father cross town on occasion and had a pass to get by the road blocks due to emergency situations. His Corvair did great. The front end started to float and I had to steer with the wheels as rudders. Never flooded out. I went through some deep stuff at an underpass once. The police let one car though at a time and the fire truck pulled out those who did not make it, which was most. I went in at speed (1st gear, high RPM) and the front scooped up the water and it was like a submarine with solid water coming over the windscreen. When I drove out the other side every one of them was laughing their head off as I drove on.

I think the white stuff is sludge, changing your oil will help but it wont completely take care of it, check the air filter and then see if you have any hoses that r bad. I would put a additive in oil that is for sludge, if they make one for diesels.

If you dont take care of it soon you will have the engine apart and clean it

Bigblue, did you have a lot of short trips this past winter?

As above, check to see if your air filter is wet. If so, your engine could have ingested a fair quantity of H2O, and may have damaged a cylinder or two.

The only way to tell for sure (if the air filter is wet) is to do a compression test.

The white paste is water in your oil. Definately do a compression check. If its low its possible you bent your connecting rods on 1 or more cylinders.

Over the course of the winter the car has seen an equal amount of short trips and long trips. It has gone on several 250+ mile trips during that time as well. The oil was changed 400 miles before this incident.

I checked the air filter and it is dry (though I'm sure it initially was wet-it is in a constant flow of a high volume of air that it should have dried on its own quickly). I will replace it for good measure. All of the vacuum hoses are original and pretty dried out. They have needed replacement for quite some time and probably will get that now.

I added some "diesel 911" product mixed in with a full tank of fuel and a one of those high mileage diesel oil additive (consistency of honey)

How does one do a compression test on a 1Z? -Through the glow plug holes?

Since that flood incident I have put 500 miles (mostly highway) on the car. I still haven't changed the oil. I have been carefully monitoring everything and it still has a rough cold idle but otherwise is back to the way it had been before. The white paste is also significantly less than it had been when I checked and photographed it so I am hoping that it had been able to blow out or burn off most or all of that water. It seems to run a little better every day. Would a slightly bent connecting rod significantly effect the car's idle or make an obvious vibration? Thoughts of a potentially blown head gasket are also going through my mind as well. "Do I remember seeing coolant temp reach 190F before I over-revved it?"

bigblue said:

How does one do a compression test on a 1Z? -Through the glow plug holes?

Click to expand...

Yup! These is a decent kit at Harbor Feight. I don't know the PN offhand.

Tony

well i finally changed my oil, 11,000 miles later. I didn't kill myself or blow up my engine.

How is it running now? Did you ever get that compression test done?

I never did the compression test. It actually isn't running great when cold but nothing new. It has a very rough idle until it has been running about 45 seconds, then it's fine. It sounds even worse since the flex pipe is nearly completely severed. I did buy a new set of glow plugs and a harness, so perhaps I'll do the test when i give it some attention come spring when it will be due for a timing belt and clean the intake.

1997 b4 1z (Canadian) 279k miles