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I have a Bad feeling about this...

jesterbomb

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Alberta
Okay, not sure where to post this, so I'm going OEM, becuas whatever answers you guys give me will apply to any motor. (In theory).

I just got back from towing a buddy's Jeep from a trail (He was alone) to the grandparents of his girlfirend. Not relevant, NVM.

Anyway, he was cruising along and on the return portion of his trip, he got succked into a hitherto unkown DEEP rut in a puddle he had crossed safely before. Fearing Hydrolock, he killed the engine as soon as the water splashed through the air filter into the engine (From what I have been able to gather at atny rate.) After using a come along to extract himself from the murky depths (Yes a come along. We are both poor.) he pulled the plugs, cranked it to clear the water and used copious amounts of WD-40 all over the place to clean it up. That night he calls me to ask a ride out to his jeep and for my help in fixing it.

Okay, I know very little about this kind of thing, mostly what I have read on here. However, he does know a fair bit more than me about wheeling incidents. He's been in a few.

Here's the tricky part. The engine wouldn't turn over after he drained and changed the oil. Some guy he works with told him that a surefire way to loosen a siezed engine is to soak the insides with diesel. I'm not so certain, but regardless, we ran a bunch of diesel through. Now it's coming out nice and clean, but no matter how many times he tries to turn it over (Via the starter or by hand) it just won't budge.

I'm kind of thinking it's a write-off. Luckily he has spare engines sitting around, but... yikes. The jeep is sitting waaay out of town, currently soaking in some more diesel.

Has anyone heard of this diesel thing before? Does anyone have any advice or possible avenues to pursue? If we could een just get it running for an hour or two, life would be made easier threefold. We realy need help on this guys.

Thanks in advance.

(Yes I searched siezed, seized and hyrolock etc. And all fluids were caught and stored in sealed pails.)

It's an 88, Five speed, Two door.
 
When you say the engine "won't turn over" you're implying that the starter is actually cranking, correct? If so, is there water in the fuze box? If he got water in the engine I would look there too.

Also you can take a crappy towel or something absorbant, remove the plugs, and push the towel down into the bore to sop up the mess, just make sure you leave yourself enough to get it out (I use this technique with rope if I need to get the harmonic balancer nutt off-the rope keeps the piston from reaching the top of it's stroke and thus the crank from revolving).

BTW: Sounds like it's time for you guys to get a snorkel!
 
Not good, I think... If, with the plugs out and tranny in neutral, you still can't turn the crank by hand you may be out of luck. That spells mechanical damage, like a badly bent crank or broken conn rod jamming the crank for example. You'd better get that thing dragged home for a better look.
 
I've heard of it - Diesel usually makes a decent parts cleaner and yock remover.

I'd like clarafication on the point already mentioned - is it "crank, no start" or "no crank?" Causes would be different, and it would help to know.

It is possible that your starter motor has been killed by its submergence.

However, if the engine won't be turned with a breaker bar on the nose screw, it's probably safe to say you're just plain boned. I've only seen that a couple of times (twice due to ring weld - once on a small block Chevvy, and once on a Caterpillar 3208,) and you'll end up tearing the engine apart just to see if it's salvageable. Whether it is or not depends largely on what's locking it up...
 
Since you said "by hand" ..I assume that the thing is seized.

Remove the starter and try again by hand.

You sorta didn't get too descriptive on what happens when he turns the key ..as in "it clicks ..you can here the solenoid moving the drive in an out ..but no crank movement" ..or.."when he turns the key ..nothing happens ..absolutely nothing."

The odd part is that I've even seen suddenly submerged engines survive this if the operator hits the key quick enough.

Keep in mind that a cylinder will rust between taking the block to the car wash (if you don't have a pressure washer) and getting it back home again. If the time span was long enough ..this may be a factor in the seizure ..although I've never heard of it being this severe to the point of not being able to move it with a breaker bar.

Soak the cylinders via the plug holes with something for an extended time. Don't even bother wicking it out.
 
my dad uses diesle on small engines all the time 4 cylinders for bobcats.
he uses it as a lub/cleaner just think of it as light oil like wd40
i have drowned a straighht 6 in my f-150 before trailered it home it sat that night the next i pulled the plugs and turned it over.
if it wont turn over either the starter battery solenoid is bad or the mtor had other issues or other issues arose trying to run the engine with water in it..
just rust in a couple of days wont stop a starter from turning it over.
if it wont turn over with a breaker bar on the crank then you just assume something else is broke.. if its a stick pull start it youll find out what wrong when you here a big bang through the side of the block :D or itll start:D
agreewd dont try to get the fluids out of the cylinders. pull the plugs spin the engine over and it willl spray out the holes its like a big air pump
 
Okay, I just talked to him again, apparently after hauling it out of the puddle and pulling the plugs, it would turn over via the starter. That's how he got whatever water that was in there out. Then it seized up. Apparently the sarter was still working, but the engine wouldn't trun, so not wanting to fry MORE stuff than he already has, he quit trying with the starter. We actually just pulled it out and bench-tested it, it still works. No flywheel damage either. (So far).

Shortly (Well, after a lengthy hike) after that is when he was able to get phone servie and called me. the next day we went out and drained the oil. I do beleive there was some water in the oil as well, but I wouldn't testify to it in court. That is when he decided to add the deisel. He filled that thing right to the fricking fill cap too. (BTW, it took two and a half 18.9 Litre buckets of diesel :shiver:) Well, I guess it will help prevent rusting anyway. He also filled the intake manifold with the stuff, why; I don't know.

He kind of figured that having an engine full of deisel and being towed down a bumpy road would help unseize it I suppose... It didn't. We got to the farm and no dice man, breaker bar wouldn't budge it, with or without deisel in the block in varying amounts. He even tried popping the clutch while rolling down a hill, (Which i suspect FUBAR'd it right there.) He only managed to tear up the lawn. I suspect the owners of the farm will be less than overjoyed about that...

So far, the consensus seems to be that it is quite possible he will be doing another engine swap? Assuming the engine cannot be turned even with such drastic measures?

*Sigh* Oh well, at least I get to learn about engine swaps hands on this way. It's a "Learning experience" for me anyway, and hopefully for him too.

I just got told he is at home depot now, eyeballing PVC pipe. :laugh2:

Sorry for the lack of clarity earlier, I was tired.
 
jesterbomb said:
Okay, I just talked to him again, it would turn over via the starter. That's how he got whatever water that was in there out. Then it seized up. Apparently the sarter was still working, but the engine wouldn't trun,.

then the motor had prolems other then the water..
next time tell him dont worry about the diesel, just wasting it..
it can sit a little bit next time..

take this as a ;learning experience.
if you ever get water in the motor and the motor dies dont try to restart.
pull it out of the water pull the plugs air filter and crank it oiver for short intervals to not overheat the starter for 5 minutes or so then let it dry out or spray wd-40 on the plugs reinsert plugs and start it up..
also you a dielelctric grease on the plug wires to help keep the water out..
 
Wait, leme get this straight, he filled the entire crank case with diesel and the proceded to pour it into the intake till it could take no more? if that's the case, i'm guessing that you guys have actualy hydrolocked it with diesel fuel. The fuel in the intake is going to get down into the cylinders and with nowhere to seep past the rings (crankcase is already full of the stuff) it's just going to sit in there. Now when you try to crank it it's trying to squish fuel. unless of course the spark plugs are still out for the cranking operation.
 
No, we pulled the plugs before trying to turn it over. I think his hope was that, somehow, by basically submerging the ENTIRE engine, it could perhaps loosen something up so it coul be moved. I think it's FUBAR'd and no amount of deisel is gonna straighten out whatever internals are bent.

At least the inside will be extra shiny, I guess.
 
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