Think I killed my ALH, can't turn it by hand

cjharris02892

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May 4, 2004
Location
West Kingston, RI 02892
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2000 New Beetle, 2000 Golf and 2005 Jetta MKIV w/BEW
It's been raining a lot up here in the Northeast and the only way to my house was through some deep (12") of water.

I have a New Beetle with 260,000 w/manual trans. All maintenance done on time; oil, timing belt, intake cleaning, etc...

After driving through the water, which the car did with no problems, it died about 20 feet out and wouldn't turn over at all. Got it towed home and tried turning the engine over manually and she is frozen. Can this be caused by something other than a cracked block?

Yes, it is in neutral and i can here the starter engaging.

Any advice?
 

Savageman69

Top Post Dawg
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Aug 3, 2007
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ontario
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2012 Highline Touareg TDI
Umm you hydro locked it...You need to get the water out of your cylinders man.
 

cjharris02892

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May 4, 2004
Location
West Kingston, RI 02892
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2000 New Beetle, 2000 Golf and 2005 Jetta MKIV w/BEW
how much water would that take? would it cause me not to be able to turn it over at all? tell me there is a way to get the water out without removing the head.
 

cruisinflatout

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Regina, SK, Canada
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2010 Golf. 1996 Golf.
This is what I would initially consider - BUT DON'T DO IT UNLESS SOMEONE MUCH WISER THAN I IN REGARDS TO TDI'S CONFIRMS IT WOULD WORK - is remove the glow plugs so the water has a way to escape - and try turning it over by hand first - then with the starter if you can turn it over by hand one full rotation - as far as how to completely remove all water beyond that - I dunno.

Again - that's just an initial thought - there may be consequences that I haven't considered :)
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
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Campbell, CA
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1998 & 2000 New Beetle; 2000 Jetta
wait

pull the glow plugs and injectors before turning it over .... u more than likely sucked water in thu the intake... do u have an aftermarket air cleaner? ram air intake? very common on those set ups.... if u pull the injectors and glow plugs and see water shooting out u know what happened.....
 

Deezleer

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2001 Jetta GLS, Green sold it in 2018 with 260,000 miles on it!
cjharris02892 said:
how much water would that take? would it cause me not to be able to turn it over at all? tell me there is a way to get the water out without removing the head.

Remove all 4 glow plugs!


Then slowly turn the engine over with a wrench. If it's a manual trans, you can probably put it in 4th or 5th gear and move it slowly.

Have someone look under the hood and see if water comes out of the glow plug holes.

If you had a sudden stoppage at high RPM you may have bent a rod though.....
 

Ski in NC

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Wilmington, NC USA
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2001 Jetta ALH 5sp stock
Disconnect hose on bottom of intercooler in front of passenger tire to dump water. Pull out glow plugs. Push car in 5th gear to get out most water. Then crank with starter to blow out the rest. Put gps back in and see how it does. Might have bent rods, that will show up as rough or smoky idle.
 

BDison

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In a 2000 Jetta GLS TDI
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2000 Jetta GLS TDI
I think he meant to say put car in 5th gear, jack up the right front, and rotate the right front wheel clockwise in order to turn the motor over. I stress turn the wheel clockwise because doing it the other way might mess up the timing belt tensioner.
 
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Franko6

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Sw Missouri
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Jetta, 99, Silver`
there is a good chance you bent a rod or two.

After the water is removed, compression test the engine.

BTW: There have been people hurt by the water ejecting from the glow plug hole. Do not operate the starter if some one is stand in front of the engine with g.p.'s removed and possible water in cylinders. It comes out like a shotgun blast.
 

flatlanded

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Saskatchewan
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2002 Jetta
Nevermind. Good advice ^. If it tests well, change the oil and airfilter and you should be good to go. If not, some new rods may be in your future.
 
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cjharris02892

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May 4, 2004
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West Kingston, RI 02892
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2000 New Beetle, 2000 Golf and 2005 Jetta MKIV w/BEW
Still no luck...

...guess it really is dead. I pulled the glow plugs as instructed and still can't turn the engine by hand. won't budge a bit. guess that was en expensive lesson.:(

Any one want to buy a used 2001 New Beetle for parts? :eek:
 

tdi_mt

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montana
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2004 passat wagon
cjharris02892 said:
...guess it really is dead. I pulled the glow plugs as instructed and still can't turn the engine by hand. won't budge a bit. guess that was en expensive lesson.:(

Any one want to buy a used 2001 New Beetle for parts? :eek:
Take it to a shop first... ???
 

cjharris02892

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May 4, 2004
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West Kingston, RI 02892
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2000 New Beetle, 2000 Golf and 2005 Jetta MKIV w/BEW
Thanks, but I trust the guys on this site. The dealership will probably cost me 1/4 to 1/3 of a used replacement engine just to look at it and I'd rather put the money into the engine than their pocket. They've talked me thru issues before and the knowledge on this site is vast and accurate.
 

jasonTDI

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Before you decide to toss the engine it COULD be clutch related as well. That is a LOT of water and it could have caused all kinds of goodness.

Did you disconnect the serp belt? The alternator could be kaput and holding the system up as well.

There are a TON of other things to look at before you toss the baby out with the bath water.
 

Antsrcool

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MA Springfield
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2010 Cup Edition
yep its true yank the belt and see whats up. Also if you can take teh TB off and see if the bottom end moves freely (small amounts as you dont want piston to valve contact) that way you can isolate if its in the cam side or the lower end
 

dalchri

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Jun 3, 2007
Location
Muncy, PA
TDI
99 Beetle
To confirm...
  • Car is out of gear
  • You are using a wrench on the crank shaft bolt to rotate clockwise
  • All 4 glow plugs are out
  • Serpentine belt is off
  • You opened the intercooler hose near to the crank shaft bolt you are wrenching and confirmed lots of water came out
One additional thing I would check is to make certain that the starter is disengaged from the flywheel. Perhaps the water caused the starter to lock in place.

I just want to emphasize that you have committed yourself to a timing belt job once you loosen it. You probably already know this.

BTW, have you confirmed that your timing belt is still intact? Perhaps you have a valve blocking a piston. I think that the teeth normally shred at the crank shaft sprocket when the bottom end and top end stop turning in unison.
 
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cjharris02892

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May 4, 2004
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West Kingston, RI 02892
TDI
2000 New Beetle, 2000 Golf and 2005 Jetta MKIV w/BEW
Answers for dalchri

out of gear
serpentine loose
glow plugs removed
water in tube and oil pan
still won't turn

TB is fine and I was due in 18,000 anyway which would have been in May for me. I already have the kit sitting and waiting. They go fast, this will be the 3rd TB on this 1 and i've done 2 on the 2.0 gasser and 1 on my wifes tdi.
 

Ski in NC

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Wilmington, NC USA
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2001 Jetta ALH 5sp stock
Second that about insurance covering it, provided you have that type of policy.

When rods bend, piston can get cocked in bore, jamming engine. Rod can also wedge against bottom of cylinder bore. It's possible that once head is off and rod caps loosened, you will be able to get them out. Block, crank and head may be still ok. A set of rods, maybe pistons, gaskets and a bunch of labor may get you going again.

If you've got pan off, look up at rods. Look for bends.
 

McBrew

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Annapolis, MD
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2003 Golf GLS TDI, 5 speed, Silver/Grey
Sorry to hear this... but it only takes a tiny amount of water to hydrolock these engines -- about 2 ounces or so. The way the intake manifold is designed, the water will generally end up in #2 and #3 cylinders, so you don't even need enough to fill all of the cylinders.

My brother's 2003 Golf TDI was hydrolocked after it spent some time at a body shop with a cracked intercooler. Rain water entered the intercooler, then after all the body work was done, they turned the key... and that's all she wrote. The body shop did end up replacing the engine... but certain things were never right after that.
 

jjblbi

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lbi, nj
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2014 Passat SEL TDI
Clean the area around the glow plugs and remove them. With the glow plugs out blow compressed air into the hole. Does any water come out? Drop the lower intercooler hose and see if any water comes out. Good luck, John
 

AARodriguez Corp.

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2009 JSW and Golf 2004 TDI
I did the same thing, my insurance company covered the cost of engine and install along with a few other things, including a month of car rental.

This is how I handled it:

-Tried to fix on my own, threw a rod through the block
-Called insurance, they asked where I wanted it to get fixed at
-Took it to my local VW DEALER
-I made DAMN sure that I got back my used engine and all old parts, this required constant harrassment of the dealer, they said there was a $1k core charge on motor, I asked where it was being bought from. I called the supplier and they said there was a $0.00 core charge, after that I raised holy hell.
-You must call and check on the status of the car every few days, I left them alone for a week and found out that they had ordered the wrong engine, and progress stopped there and would not have continued without my persistance.
 
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ta79pr

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Sep 18, 2005
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Lexington, SC
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02 TTQ (BEW)
i didnt think that was that much water for a moment. does it get splashed up through the snowbox?
 

diy_fool

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Aug 1, 2005
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Huntington, NY
TDI
'00 NB
The snorkle on the NB hangs quite low in the front wheel fender. I love plowing through puddles when I know they are only 6" deep. If I don't know the depth or see it's deeper I turn back and find another route.

BTW, I just happened to drive through(around) Providence today and that's the first time I've seen a submerged city up close. What a mess!
 

jasonTDI

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20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
REALLY HARD RAIN driving down the Interstate can and will wet the filters too in a lot of cars.

2-3 inches is enough for splash up to get in there too.
 
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