Hydrolock Aftermath Help

So i just saved my 2002 from hydrolock (atleast I think I did). As soon as it happened after driving through a deep puddle I let it sit, then pulled the glow plugs and cycled the motor through a mix of pushing in gear and running the starter motor. I got it driving and made it home. But! the whole way it coughed and produced a large amount of white smoke. I could run through all the gears and was even getting solid power. Now I just have a rough idle and a decent amount of white smoke with no idea whats causing it. Any ideas? Injectors maybe or turbo? I'm fairly certain my rods are fine as well as I know the sound of my engine fairly well and there are no out of place knocks besides the rough idle.

Did the engine die as a result of ingesting that water? If so, then it's a good bet that you DID hydrolock. You cannot "catch" things before it happens. It'll happen in a fraction of a second.

A compression test will end guessing.

Most likely the rods are bent.

If not steam, I am not sure about the white smoke. I would like to point out the obvious. Your entire intake is full of water, turbo, intercooler, piping etc. Not sure how much your MAF sensor likes getting dunked in water while hot. Related? Not sure. Your intake valves have also been exposed to water. You had water sitting in your cylinders and possibly on your valves during the time that it took between hydrolock and when you got it running again. I would think that some water got past your rings and into the oil.

First things first, get the water out of there! Check your oil for any cloudiness or milkiness. Drain the intercooler. If the motor sounds right and doesn't seem to have any mechanical issues, go run it for a good while and get everything good and hot to evaporate off any water in your systems.

After you are sure the engine and systems are water free, then start troubleshooting. The longer any water is in your engine, the more damage it does. If you get it out quick, you can dodge a bullet. If it sits and corrosion builds up on critical surfaces, thats not good. I have personally brought marine engines back to life after being fully submerged (sunken boats). The key to long term success is you have to act fast.

On a side note, a good friend of mine had an cold air intake on his ALH and ran through a deep puddle. Hydrolocked it. We pulled glow plugs, wouldn't crank. When looking down the GP hole, I think I saw a fish swimming in one of the cylinders. Having nothing to lose, we pushed it down a hill and popped the clutch in 2nd. It just locked up the wheels and screeched to a stop. Rods were bent so bad, or broken, that the engine was seized.

When you pulled the glowplugs and spun the engine was any water ejected?

2-3 tablespoons of liquid ingested into any cylinder is enough to bend a rod. That's the "lock" in "hydrolock".






The engine may sound fine with one or more bent rods (until they break and come flying thru the block ) and may even produce seemingly normal power, but the idle will be unbalanced, starting will be harder in the cold, and the engine can produce white smoke due to incompletely burned fuel.

As mentioned, a compression test would be a great next step and would greatly reduce further guessing.

Man am I glad I found this website! All your guys help is the best! I will for sure drain oil and intercooler and start there. Cheap solutions first when your on a budget right? And im praying its not a rod as I bought a plane ticket to Anchorage and a month long trek across Canada same day it happened. I'll update once I drain everything...on the other hand... any idea where to find cheap rods?

I'd go straight in and check the rods. The oil pan is so exposed and easy to get to, 1/4" ratchet, 10mm socket, 6" extension for the ones at the back. Deep well and ball point hex tool can also be helpful. Install is just clean-up and a 2mm bead of your favorite goo on each surface. Rod inspection- Maybe one of you mechanics can chime in.

The rods are bent, only they'll be so slightly bent that the only way you'll really be able to tell (since the engine is still running) is by having them out, removed from the car, and able to compare. Even then, it can be tough to see.

Thing is, if you continue to run the engine with bent rods, you can trash the crankshaft and cylinder walls, because the rod journals may no longer be square to their respective load surfaces (rod journal on crank, and wrist pin in piston).

You may be able to fix the engine now without even needing to remove it.

Get the head off, measure each pistons's potrusion from the block as a starting point, then get the oil pan off and knock the pistons/rods out and check them. They rarely ALL four bend the exact same in a situation like this, so you can compare them together and see.

You can certainly do a compression test, I'd probably not waste the time though.

Chances are pretty good that 2 and 3 are bent, just for S&G's I'd still do a compression test to see what you have.
If you do please post the numbers here and people will tell you what you have.
As OH suggested it's not had to do now, you can contact Franko6 if you need pistons.
I have a bastard bug I thought would be an easy fix, found out that at some point in the past the PRevious owners mechanic botched the TB job, snapped a valve and took out the head, replaced the head and left the pistons all dinged up and bent.

I found this out doing a TB job and decided to pull the head on a whim, glad I did.
I called frank and he'd suggested I send all 4 pistons and connecting rods to him and he will match the lengths, and match the weights.
One bent rod and one damaged piston later......
Put all new main crank bearings, and new piston rings in for a very reasonable price.

Gerber177 said:

Man am I glad I found this website! All your guys help is the best! I will for sure drain oil and intercooler and start there. Cheap solutions first when your on a budget right? And im praying its not a rod as I bought a plane ticket to Anchorage and a month long trek across Canada same day it happened. I'll update once I drain everything...on the other hand... any idea where to find cheap rods?

Click to expand...

Don't look to replace parts until you need parts need to be replaced!

Do a compression test FIRST! (I doubt you have VCDS, but it 's a good chance that Group 013 might show some insight into a problem of bent rods- injector deviation would show up with heavier fueling in #2 #3 cylinders to compensate for lowered compression due to bent rods.) Compression test is the best telltale.

That was have been a really deep puddle. The air intake is like 1.5-2 ft. above the ground.

mrfiat said:

That was have been a really deep puddle. The air intake is like 1.5-2 ft. above the ground.

Click to expand...

Think splashing.

But, might be interesting to hear if there IS any water inside the air filter housing (or if the filter has been compromised).

Gerber177 said:

any idea where to find cheap rods?

Click to expand...

Before you think cheap (which I tend to be) you have to realize the engine works on compression to fire the fuel.

If the compression is not close to being even you may have a rough running motor which the ECU will try to compensate for.

If the pistons do not project out of the cylinders equally you could have this.
The length of the rods are matched at the factory.
Also as mentioned if the rod bends and the piston is scoring the sides of the block the cylinder will wear rapidly causing more blow by, lower compression, burning oil and such.

Lets not forget the additional parts, gaskets, seals, maybe pistons (also matched) rings and such.
Rod bearings without mains?

When you take the valve cover off look for spider web cracking on top of the lifters where the cam lobes push. If there not a good sign for the valves.

I'm sure others will comment on things I missed.
Trying to save you money for the long run.

So i've changed oil and it still runs funny and smokes like a chimney, although there wasn't any strange look to the oil. However the intercooler was quite full of sludge so that got a good cleaning. Looks like I'm going all in on the rebuild. Does anyone know where there is a good write up or maybe some videos on how to pull rods and pistons? i've never done something quite this extensive before but I always like a challenge and am fairly confident in my ability to not muck it up too bad. In the meantime I guess i'll just have to drive my other indestructible diesel, the trusty 12 valve cummins!

UhOh said:

Think splashing.

But, might be interesting to hear if there IS any water inside the air filter housing (or if the filter has been compromised).

Click to expand...

The puddle was deeper than i'd like to admit, and yes the air filter was soaked and there was standing water in the intake pipe. I may have not mentioned as I'm always trying to be optimistic about the problem, also maybe a bit embarrassed at my mistake

Pulling pistons isn't very difficult; remove the head and oil pan, unbolt the big end of the rod (MARK THE CAPS AND RODS as they ARE a matched set and should go back EXACTLY as they came off!) and push the piston out the top.

Reinstallation requires a ring compressor (basically a sleeve that fits at the bore and protects the edge of the rings as they go into the top of the cylinder), new bearing shells for the big end of the rods, new rod bolts (NEVER, EVER re-use those!) and proper torque of course. You must hone the cylinders to break the glaze so the rings will properly seat after replacement and make sure the bores are CLEAN after doing so.

It's not a very difficult job, just time-consuming (and a bunch of one-time use bolts plus, of course, a new head gasket.) You CANNOT order the head gasket, by the way, until you have measured the piston protrusion AFTER you send the piston/rod sets out and get the matched ones back since choosing the proper gasket requires knowing the piston protrusion!