Ok so i didnt want to post this but i need some opinions here ....check it out the other day i left my car outside it rained like a son of a bitch ...i got in t the next day to pull her in the garage and it started it for about 5 seconds than what sounded like to me stalled out ... i popped the hood my carb had water in it im like fuck ....now it wouldnt start ...so i pulled the starter it was good so i checked my grounds all good now today i pulled the belt off and plugs out i had water in 2 of my cylnders and could not spin the pulley with a breaker bar for shit ...so i sucked the water out of my cylinders with a gas syphen and filled them with pb blaster ...put the plugs in and im letting it soak for a while ....now here my question ...when i ran the car for all of 5 seconds ...at a idle is it possible that i bent a rod?? i mean i know it would be possible if i was on the gas and smashed through a giant puddle and kept punchin it out but the car literally ran for 5 seconds and shut off ....it didnt turn again ...any advice ? is there a chance the pb blaster will prevail and brake my pistons free?? btw i did search the threads for other people un lockin motors but all i found was old rusted shit that was freed up over a long period of time .
if the plugs are out and you can't turn the crank, something is broken. Pistons won't rust solid in a couple days. What kind of engine is it?
Yes. You could have bent a rod. Several years ago I bought a Ford Ranger pickup that'd been upside down long enough to fill one cylinder with oil. 5 of 'em fired right up, but #6 evidently had enough oil in it to bend and fracture the rod. I took the plugs out and rolled it over, and it ran fine for about 5 minutes before the offending (offended?) rod exited the side of the block.
If you actually ran the motor in "hydraulic lock" for 5 seconds it is very probable that you bent or broke something. Once you drained the water out of the cylinders you should have been able to rotate the motor by hand or with the starter.....................if you couldn't then more than likely you have a problem. Short story here; I have a friend that has a 68 Camaro with a very healthy 347 SBF and some very expensive fuel injection on it. About a month ago he decided he was going to try and start it himself without anyone that was knowledgeable on this system, so he started farting around with the computer program and his portable laptop. So........he hits the ignition switch and motor cranks maybe 1/4 turn and smoke starts coming from the battery terminals and starter.............................he trys this 3 more times after replacing the starter twice and battery once. Long story short, when he hit the ignition switch the first time and every time after that, the injectors (which were 40lb units) were pumping raw gas directly into the cylinders and didn't quick until he switched off the ignition. He put the motor in hydraulic. When we pulled the plugs the gas just spilled out, and the oil pan oil looked like tea. And this was on a very high dollar motor that had never been started before.........ever. After draining the oil and pouring clean oil through the motor twice it finally ran. And the motor runs like stink! Here is a picture of the car.
For me it was #8 on my BBC,,,, I didn't think it rained THAT MUCH.... In my instance I drove the car better than 1/2 mile before making a left downhill off the road, upon which I imagine about a cup or so of water was "poured into" the cylinder out of the bottom of the stock low rise manifold (Camaro motor)... My 39 looked bitchin with no hood, but I bent a rod, and cracked a piston. The rod was bent enough that the counterweight was contacting the piston enough to prevent the engine from turning. That was 1999, the 39 has not moved under it's own power since... but soon...
When I had a problem like yours I put a combination of fluids in the cylinders like trany-diesel-wd- and what ever else you have that would lube the metal. I have found that it takes a very short time to cause rust on the cylinder walls and binds up the rings. I let that set for over night or so and take of the belts and use a large breaker bar to see if the engine will turn either direction. That will tell you if you have something broken because even with something broken it will probably turn some and suddenly have a hard stop. I have also used a large rachet on the crank nut had hit the starter at the same time to brake free a slight rust problem. Good luck!!!!
That's what he gets for putting a Ford motor in such a beautiful Chevrolet automobile. Please tell me that's not a Mustang II front suspension on that Camaro. I know this isn't a muscle car board, but damn, that's just cruel and unusual. To the OP - If you had any water in the cylinders to speak of and you got it to turn over and fire, you've very likely bent something. Saw an SBC that came out of a boat once that hydro-locked from taking a single wave over the stern into the air horns. Bent two rods, jammed one through its piston, and the other took a sharp right hand turn into the crank case (with its piston in tow), all in about half a second. Wave . . . . BOOM . . . . Clank, Clank, Clank . . . . . . Fuck. The only things they were able to save were the crank (which had to be sent off to be straightened and then back to the engine shop to be ground), four pistons, two rods, and the heads (which had to have new valves and guides put in them). The rest was junk. Were it mine, I'd have chucked everything but the heads and crank, but I digress. Sorry to say it, but IMO you're looking at a tear down, one way or another. If you haven't broken anything, at least you know for sure that you got away with it (and you know for sure that you're one lucky bastard ). All you're out is a gasket set, some assembly lube, and some time. If you did break something, you can find it and fix it before you kill the rest of it. Chance it, and you may be looking for a whole new engine, instead of just a rod and piston.
AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD your done, take it apart, you broke it, if it actually started, it broke something
yep, agreed. Been there. I flooded a car so bad once there was a foot of water in the floors. I couldnt get that engine to turn over in 1st gear while bumping it from behind with another car. I replaced the engine and pulled the old one apart and one rod looked like a funhouse mirror
ok is it just me or is that a sbf in a camero? ur my hero i haaaaaate small block chevys!!! there like doin a or shoping at wall mart, or living in a card "bored" box
When the motor was started the water was in the carb so it sucked the water in and got into one cylinder when it turned over i know it got pushed into another cylinder ...i cant believe that runnin for only 5 sconds would bend a rod ..let me rephrase that i can believe because thats the hot rodders luck but i dont want to believe hah...olnt because usually when something hydro locks it is when the motor is already hot or at least warmed and the pistons are moving at more than a idle and someone runs through a puddle and suck cold water into a hot ass motor ...god damn well now my only options is to get a new motor and swap it or trade my 65 tr-6 bobber for a bitchin kustiom 62 ranchero ...aint that a bitch
Jesus man, don't just toss it. Pull that pig out and rebuild it. Just about anyone can figure it out. Buy a manual from Chilton's or the like and tear into it. If you're fine with chucking the whole thing anyway, what harm could come of it? If you crap it up, you do what you'd planned to anyway. If you don't, you saved a bunch of money and irritation. And no, that water wasn't in the carb and got "sucked in". If anywhere, it was standing in the intake manifold or runners in the head. When the engine stops running, at least one cylinder will be left with an intake valve open, so at least one cylinder got washed down real good. Water will go around closed butterflies, no problem, and it will pool in the lowest point in the intake or heads. If you had a valve open, it went into the cylinder, and ended up in the sump. In the runners that didn't have their valve open, the water was waiting to go in as soon as you cranked the motor and that valve opened. Depending on how much squeeze you've got, it wouldn't take much water (just a few CC's) to cause your issue. Just pull the motor and get started tearing it down. It's like going to the dentist. You dread it before hand, but once it's over with, you'll be all giddy for a while (for different reasons, but still).
DeControl, Hydraulic lock just means that liquid gets into a closed space.............and you can't compress a liquid..............so something must bend or break...................and it won't be the liquid. This can happen just like it did with your motor, sitting and collecting water in the intake, head, coming in through any opening..........the carb without an aircleaner and the minute you open an intake valve the water goes pouring in, and it only takes a couple of cc's to make your day REALLY BAD! Malkintent, Yes, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, it's a really nasty 347 stroker SBF. CoolHand, Well, to each his own. Actually he was going to put the motor in Cobra kit car, but had someone give him this very nice, SS/RS Camaro with factory 4spd 327/275hp.......and he decided to use the 347 SBF. The front subframe is an Alston as is the rearend/4link...... yes, it is a Mustang II.......................
nah, mine was only running less than a minute when I hit the puddle. only takes a second of hydraulic pressure. Here is about what my rod (and I suspect your rod) looked like.
im not gvinin up on the car ...i just dont have time or money to rebuild it right now...im in the military and am training alot and i am not home alot so for right now ill trade my triumph for aanother car -cruist it untill i got time and funds to rebuild the motor .believe me the 51 is my fav car ive wanted one for like 10 years now ...i built a bad ass c-10 and traded it plus cash for the 51 and it hydrolocked so im in the fuckin hole right now ....the old lady is not happy about my current situation haha
BAH! I gotta go wash my eyes out with bleach now. Just breakin' your balls. It's his car, his money, his call. But I'd sure never do that to one I owned. I love those early Camaros dearly. My old man has a 1969 Camaro Convertible SS 396 4spd Hugger Orange with a White Interior and Top, which he bought new in 1969. They are beautiful cars, even bone stock. They made a bunch of them though, so I won't cry too hard for a single lost soldier.
So did you ever get the car to run? I dont see it. After pulling the water out did you try to start it?
No i never got the car to run . Im going to tear it down pull the pan and the heads pistons and rods at least for now get it so that no more rust can build up ...its a double hump 220 motor with alot of good guts inside im not gonna toss it its only got 1 oild change on the rebuild that what breaks my heart..
Don't take much Non-Flamable liquid to bend shit. This cat dumped some shit in the carb to clean the carbon off the pistons. Seems like he cleaned a little more than the carbon !!! >>>>.
CoolHand, I love those Cameros too! I totally restored this 68 Z28, had the factory headers (the ones that came in the trunk) and transAM aircleaner (ducted to the firewall) and I even had the ProTecO plate to prove it. Sold it to a guy in Sweden a lot of years ago.
I want to say that looks about like my 402 looked when I hydroed it.. Looks like the counterweights were hitting the bottom edge of the piston, that is what stopped my 402 from turning, likely the same with the OP's engine... Mine would turn a little more than 3/4 turn one way, and back about 3/4 turn the other way and "CHUNK", dead stop...
Nah im pullin th heads and pan and im gonna get the s.o.b. Out and see if the crank will turn and what kinda damage is done to the cylinder wall if it dont need to be machined then it will be a fairly quick fix
a question for a similar situation that I'm trying to avoid. my project was sitting under the car port today when it stared raining. I returned home to find water splashed all about the uncovered engine bay and carb (lesson learned). Is there something I can do to avoid damage? draining oil, syphoning each cylinder through the plug ports, turn the motor manually, don't turn the engine manually? Any thoughts? any help is appreciated. Thank you.
Avenue: Pull all the plugs out and crank it over with the coil wire grounded. If any any water sprays out, give it a shot of spray oil and crank it again.. That should take care of it..
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