Hydrolocked It

Well I thought it was one of those things that would never happen to me... and tonight I did it. I was off-roading with a buddy of mine and another friend and we had to cross a few small puddles and ponds. I've done it easily fifty times before, never had an issue. Well little did we know that the beaver dam that holds all the water back had broken raising the normal water height from around 5-6 inches to something close to 2-3 feet deep. It started out fine until I realised the depth and knew my hood was under. I made it almost all the way out and it died (no water inside the cabin however). I got it pulled out and it wouldn't start. I then spent the next hour and a half removing the spark plugs cranking to remove the water, and the trying to get it to start. Long story short, everything works and I got it to start and drove it home.

Here's my issue, I've got want seems to be an engine 'knock' now. It's noticable at idle if you listen for it and easily noticble if you rev and at all. I'm worried as to what it may be. I'm planing to changing the plugs, plug wires, and all oil/fluids on Thursday as soon at the auto parts store will let me inside to buy the parts. I also have a "Check Engine Light" with these codes:
12- Start of codes
43- Ignition control circuit-peak primary circuit current not respond properly with maximum dwell time. OR Ignition coil #1, 2, or 3 primary circuits-peak primary was not achieved within the maximum allowable dwell time.
55- End of Codes

Any idea one what that might mean? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Well, water has a funny way of messing up alot of things under the hood when ya drown 'em like that. :laugh3:

When you suck in enough water to hydro an engine, you really should do a complete oil change before driving the engine any length of time - you may have diluted the oil enough to cause damage to the engine. Depends if enough water got into the crank case.

I would imagine that the code you're getting might be caused by moisture in the distributor affecting the pickup coil or contacts. The dwell being affected says to me that the contacts aren't "pulsing" correctly.

I'd suggest taking an air compressor and air gun and blow out the inside of the distributor for starters.

Have you tried to clear the code and drive it again to see if the code comes back? It might have happened during the flooding and set then, but isn't causing a problem now.

My .02 anyway.

Troy

stupid question, but how long was it submerged? and what year is it?

My experience with hydro has not been so happy. I hydro'd a Suzuki and threw a rod later that day <turns out I bent all of them and one failed>. Another fellow who hangs with my club hydro'd his 4.0L and bent a rod. The imediate result for both was a "knocking" sound with the sound worsening on the Suzuki untill other sounds made their appearance, then the sound of a 4cyl running on 3cyl.

Troy has recent hydro experience, so I'd go with his oil change advice

You didn't mention a make or year of the vehicle. We are assuming a 4.0L XJ?

The other sounds like a spark distribution, or coil problem. I'd WD-40 the coil (or coils in a distributorless system) to remove moisture, and hose off with compressed air like Troy mentioned. Then if you have a distributor, I'd remove the cap, and examine the cap and rotor for damage. Other items I would check that don't fit the code, but would be good to check: If I remember right, there is a pickup in the distributor the engine uses for a backup timing signal. Make sure the connector is clear of water. Also a favorite with water crossings is the water "pushing" the CPS out of it's holder.
Good Luck
,Ron

Second big misstake was starting it before changing the oil. I hope it's not outside below freezing with water still in the oil.

I myself have put my baby under the water a few time and as well did hydrolock it once. My experience with knocking at idle is rod bearings... I think I coughed up $50 for the 4.0L and a couple hours under the Jeep... Maybe something you'll wanna look more into...

On a side note, what would be required to insure this doesn't happen again? I guess a snorkel to keep water out of the engine, but what about the electronics? What can you do to keep them from getting wet?

carmike692000 said:

On a side note, what would be required to insure this doesn't happen again? I guess a snorkel to keep water out of the engine, but what about the electronics? What can you do to keep them from getting wet?

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Stay out of the water or get a boat. There's no other way with a XJ.

Standard procedure for dunking a motor and it stalls.
Cardinal rule #1, DON'T HIT THE STARTER, not even once, don't even think about turning that key, put your hands in your pockets, in your armpits or under your ass and keep em away from the ignition.
Pull the vehicle out, remove plugs, crank engine over and allow the pistons to blow the water out. Once the water is out, plugs in, drain the oil right then and there and put new oil and filter in. Then start it up. If it's an auto check the transfluid too, if there is water in it, drop the pan and drain it before you pump it thru the tranny. Drive it for a while and check the oil again, if it is brown or even just a little bit foamy looking CHANGE IT AGAIN
I carry two mopar filters and one case of normal 10w30 and a drain pan just for this.

Nothing like a $1800 key turn to ruin your day..

Most of the Hydrolocked posts I've seen don't turn out to well for the engine. Most of them that I"ve seen on Jeepin' have resulted in a grenaded engine if not then or soon after maybe 1k down the road or so.

RichP - Have you hydrolocked your engine before and had good success with clearing the combustion chambers and changing the oil on the spot like you prescribed? Sounds like a good idea.

The trouble codes will probably go away when the electrics are properly dry.
Get all the water out, change the oil and filter and run her up nice and warm. Then pull the plugs and do a compression test. if one or more cylinders are way down on compression, these probably have a bent rod, if they're all even, take the oil pan off and check the rod bearings for damage..

RichP said:

Standard procedure for dunking a motor and it stalls.
Cardinal rule #1, DON'T HIT THE STARTER, not even once, don't even think about turning that key, put your hands in your pockets, in your armpits or under your ass and keep em away from the ignition.
Pull the vehicle out, remove plugs, crank engine over and allow the pistons to blow the water out. Once the water is out, plugs in, drain the oil right then and there and put new oil and filter in. Then start it up. If it's an auto check the transfluid too, if there is water in it, drop the pan and drain it before you pump it thru the tranny. Drive it for a while and check the oil again, if it is brown or even just a little bit foamy looking CHANGE IT AGAIN
I carry two mopar filters and one case of normal 10w30 and a drain pan just for this.

Nothing like a $1800 key turn to ruin your day..

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X2

To take it one step farther, most anything that has been under water needs to be cleaned. With me it's an ongoing process. I pressure wash the undercarriage often. After a mud bath I pull the drums and pop the starter off, pressure wash the alternator. Most everything that has threads gets a coat of grease. It's all a pain in the arse, but in the long run will pay for itself many times over. The clean up, the first few times takes forever, but like anything else it gets faster with practice. I clean connectors pretty much continuously, every weekend I hit a few.
Anything with a mud coating, that stays there long, is gonna start to rot. Especially if you live in salt country. There are odd spots like the inside of the doors (bottom), rear quarter panels and others that need to periodically mucked out (hot soap and water is your friend). Spraying a high pressure cleaner in the frame holes, also helps. Anyplace that has something rotating in a seal and the brakes need extra attention. Anything that moves needs a coat of grease, linkages, hinges whatever.

RCman said:

Here's my issue, I've got want seems to be an engine 'knock' now. It's noticable at idle if you listen for it and easily noticble if you rev and at all. I'm worried as to what it may be.

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You're right to be worried but you can save the day before you grenade the engine altogether. You've probably bent at least one rod so I suggest you don't run the engine again until you pull off the oil pan and have a look. You can rebuild the engine replacing the bent rods & rod bearings with the engine in the vehicle (you'll need to remove the head to remove the rod/piston assemblies from above).
If you don't take my advice and run the engine before doing a bottom end inspection, it could throw a rod out of the block and you'll end up buying another engine.

four_shot said:

stupid question, but how long was it submerged? and what year is it?

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It wasn't completely under water for any period of time I was able to stay keep going through it until I was almost out. So from what it looks like I should be ok with the tranny, axles, etc. However, I will be checking it anyway.

It's in my sig, a '97 4.0L Auto.

Zuki-Ron said:

Troy has recent hydro experience, so I'd go with his oil change advice

You didn't mention a make or year of the vehicle. We are assuming a 4.0L XJ?

The other sounds like a spark distribution, or coil problem. I'd WD-40 the coil (or coils in a distributorless system) to remove moisture, and hose off with compressed air like Troy mentioned. Then if you have a distributor, I'd remove the cap, and examine the cap and rotor for damage. Other items I would check that don't fit the code, but would be good to check: If I remember right, there is a pickup in the distributor the engine uses for a backup timing signal. Make sure the connector is clear of water. Also a favorite with water crossings is the water "pushing" the CPS out of it's holder.

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Well, I'm going to take Troy's advice and change all of the fuilds as soon as I can get my hands on them. I will aslo be replacing my distributor, cap, rotor, plugs, etc. Anyone have any good parts to suggest?

Dr. Dyno said:

You're right to be worried but you can save the day before you grenade the engine altogether. You've probably bent at least one rod so I suggest you don't run the engine again until you pull off the oil pan and have a look. You can rebuild the engine replacing the bent rods & rod bearings with the engine in the vehicle (you'll need to remove the head to remove the rod/piston assemblies from above).
If you don't take my advice and run the engine before doing a bottom end inspection, it could throw a rod out of the block and you'll end up buying another engine.

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I'm hoping that it's not a bent rod or rod bearings. I realise thats I have a good chance that it is, but mabye I'll get lucky. I'm going to change all of the above first, run it for a few seconds, if it's there then I guess I'll have alot of work ahead of me. I ran it for a few seconds this morning to pull it into the garage, it wasn't as bad as I had thought the knock was, still there however.


Thanks everyone!

I drove mine most of the way into a river. The worst I got out of it was a valve, that looked like an inside out mushroom. But about two years later, the connecting rod bearings started making noise. I still have a knock someplace, I never have localized.
Opening up the bottom and doing a good inspection is probably smart.
I've drowned my distributor a bunch of times, blew it out with air and ragged out the cap, greased the rotor shaft. Never seemed to hurt anything. The spark plug cable boots need a good drying, probably.
Look for hidden mud traps, that may come back to haunt you in a few years. Like between the radiator and the A/C condenser, inside the radiator fins. Under the mounting board in most any relay or fuse holder.
I'd pull every connector I could find and at least blow then out with air. Water always seems to find it's way in, but then never dries out again.
I still occasionally find trapped mud in places, I thought were cleaned.

carmike692000 said:

RichP - Have you hydrolocked your engine before and had good success with clearing the combustion chambers and changing the oil on the spot like you prescribed? Sounds like a good idea.

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Yup, on one bad weekend I dunked it twice, luckily I had stopped at walmart on the way to paragon and they had sunoco 10w30 on sale so I bought 2 cases and had my standard 2 mopar spare filters. When I got home I changed it a third time and put my standard mobil-1 and mobil-1 filter back on. Difference was that when it stalled I just shut the key off and was towed backwards out but had water in the oil. It steamed like crazy when I popped the hood which probably allowed the electrics to dry out pretty quick. Since then I've stayed away from water, prefer rocks now...
I did use all the oil though when two others dunked theirs....a third driver said 'F8ck that removeing plugs and oil' turned the key and grenaded his 318 ZJ..expensive lesson..

RichP said:

a third driver said 'F8ck that removeing plugs and oil' turned the key and grenaded his 318 ZJ..expensive lesson..

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I don't think I'd ever stop kicking myself. How long did it take you to do all that out on the trail?

carmike692000 said:

I don't think I'd ever stop kicking myself. How long did it take you to do all that out on the trail?

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Oil change takes 10 minutes tops. One thing I have always liked about all our jeeps, no need to jack em up to get under em...