Hydro-Locked my Engine...

[Magitronic]

Okay .. So I was driving trew the parking lot on federal property the other morning .. It was snowing out and as I was driving accross what looked to be a cement parking lot with a light cover of snow, it turned out to be a parking lot that was actully covered with about 1cm of snow and below that about a inch of ice and below that about 2 feet of water, as I guess it was flooded out over the weekend and then started to refreeze. So anyway, of course as i`m driving across the lot my car breaks trew the ice into the water, deep enough that when I opened my car doors water just slightly started to come into the car (car is lowered with S-techs) anyway.Car died pretty much as it crashed trew the ice, I was going out 20-30km , front bumber is pretty much destroyed, the rad is kinda messed up also. I have a CAI (MS). Its pretty clear the engine sucked up alot of moisture. Once it was towed out I took it into a heated environment for the night so any water inside the engine wouldnt freeze, I then took off the CAI and brought it inside cleaned it all up etc, I went back down to the car and checked the oil just to see if water got into the engine bad enough that it mixed with the oil .. doesnt appear of to of. Playing it on the safe side I then pulled my sparkplugs and tried to crank it over to see if it will push the water out or if its completly seized. Wouldnt crank over at all. Because the plugs are so deep I couldnt really see inside to see if there is water in side. The starter appeared to be okay for the most part so I then put all the plugs back in and tried to just start it up, not having much faith as it wouldnt crank over without the plugs in, and of course it doesnt, just makes a single "click" which I assume is just the solenoid. So anyway, the only other thing I can think of trying to determine if the engine is actully completly seized would be to bring the car up to at least 30km/h and try to bump start it type deal ... dont really wanna do that though because if it doesnt work lol i`m likly to cause some damage. So I was wondering for anyother suggestions on what I should check to see how bad it is. Also the property I was on is a military base (CFB Petawawa) should they be responsible as its there property and it isnt my falut they never properly cleared the parking lot when it flooded (though after i destroyed my car they hired a civilian company within the hour which worked all day and cleared the entire lot) also if not and I go through my insurance, will they cover and if so as what, liability or comprehensive?? I`m assuming liability ... I filed a police report with the military police just after it happened. I just havent had it towed yet to a mechanic. Also I`m wondering if you think ill just get the big shaft because I have a cold air intake even though its a mazdapart.

Any thoughts and input would be alot of help!! Sorry for poor spelling and grammer. I`m in the army you cant have high expectations for that kinda stuff :P

[Olestra]

Don't mention the CAI.

You can probably go through insurance to get the car fixed if the military doesn't cover it. Before that, I would go after the military for not clearing their lot. You might be able to get your insurance to handle that for you. Even if you didn't have a CAI, you probably would have messed something up by basically dropping your car into a lake.

[Magitronic]

only trouble is its hard to take it to a shop without the CAI on because the stock assembly is a 4hour drive away back in toronto and without a car ... its a bit hard.

[Donutz]

Damn dude; I feel for you.

[Malcolm991]

I would dump the oil, pull the drain plug and see what comes out! If that looks fine then I would pull the spark plugs out again and pour a bit of oil down each hole to coat the top of the motor. Get it started and see what happens!

[Noisy Crow]

Keep in mind that the wiring is probably soaked. And since it was a parking lot, there was probably some salt mixed in with the water....

Have you tried turning the engine over by hand? Put the car in neutral, disconnect the battery, pull the plugs, and then use a breaker-bar on the nose of the crank pulley to rotate the crank. It should turn fairly easily. As stated above, you could also try squirting oil into the plug holes, but I think it would sit on top of any water.

If you can turn the engine over by hand it's probably mechanically okay.

[Malcolm991]

Keep in mind that the wiring is probably soaked. And since it was a parking lot, there was probably some salt mixed in with the water....

Have you tried turning the engine over by hand? Put the car in neutral, disconnect the battery, pull the plugs, and then use a breaker-bar on the nose of the crank pulley to rotate the crank. It should turn fairly easily. As stated above, you could also try squirting oil into the plug holes, but I think it would sit on top of any water.

If you can turn the engine over by hand it's probably mechanically okay.

The oil wont sit on the water that's in the engine if he drains the oil first.

[Magitronic]

I`m going to try the breakbar on the pulley tomarrow, ill aquire one from work ;)

[Cosmo77]

Yah,

Make sure the plugs are out and get on that front pulley. Make sure the tranny is in neutral (if its a 5spd). If the motor doesn't turn over easy, get it to a shop. Try to make sure you get at least two FULL revolutions of the crank pulley with no resistance with the plugs out before trying to start it.

[chinsterr]

I know the feeling . This is my story ....

The puddle was almost at door level and the car shut off right away. I tried to avoid it , but couldn't make a U-turn and people were honking me like crazy. Car wouldn't crank so I got it towed to my mechanics place. Once there, my guy checked the spark plugs etc. and everything seemed ok. The engine stuttered while starting and you die if you didn't hold the revs up. Car was driven around the block shortly after and everything seemed to check out. Started her up the next day and she was good as new ... thank god . The pictures were taken after the rain subsided and some of the water drained off.

http://photos-d.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2567/51/98/122602564/n122602564_37974635_8192991.jpg
http://photos-e.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2567/51/98/122602564/n122602564_37974636_3840022.jpg
http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2567/51/98/122602564/n122602564_37974637_2807975.jpg
http://photos-g.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2567/51/98/122602564/n122602564_37974638_7758188.jpg
http://photos-h.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2567/51/98/122602564/n122602564_37974639_7374568.jpg

[Thrizzl3]

that must've have been a frustrating situation...

[Dave_The_BMXER]

ppl could honk all they want no way I would drive through that!

[Magitronic]

I tried cranking it by hand, no luck, wont budge the slightest bit. This is rediculus... all because the parking lot wasnt properly cleared over the weekend before it had a chance to re freeze\.

[Whosit]

I am having a hard time believing that your engine would be seized from this. Was the car in neutral when you tried turning by hand and the plugs out? If anything I could see your starter being seized and not engaging. Try "bump" starting it with no plugs in and see if it rotates. I am thinking its more of a starter issue. Did you check your fuses?

[Cosmo77]

I would get it to a shop. If the water made it into the intake while it was still running, there is a good chance you may have bent a valve.

Cosmo

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