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Can you say "Hydro-lock?"

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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 05:31 PM
  #1  
splitz's Avatar
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From: Northern Virginia
Can you say "Hydro-lock?"

So I went to Rauch Creek with some Jeep buddies in my pickup. Well, It was doing fine, until we hit the second obsticle, I think it was called "Drain plug."

Anyway, so my roommate thinks it would be a good idea for me to attempt it. Well I tried to drop in and I get high centered. So the group starts bouncing my rear end until my front tires grab...and grab they did. The grabbed so well I dove into the water at full trottle...which ment the intake was sucking h20, which caused the truck stalled out in the middle of the puddle...bad times.

We did some trouble shooting ie, drain the oil...not much water there, pull out the air filter (soaked), intake plenum to the throttle boddy (more water), and pulled the plugs...H20 in the 1st & 6th cylender (I think). So we were told that if we towed the truck in gear it would cause the engin to turn over and pump the water out. Not so much did that work. All it ended up doing was dragging my rear tires.

So now we're back and it is time to do a search on "hydrolock"
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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 05:56 PM
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Not sure but I think about all you can do is syphon out all the cylinders and maybe an oil change just to be safe, new air filter and dry out all the electrics.
anybody else got an idea?
Aviator
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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 06:19 PM
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Did you take the plugs out before trying this?
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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 06:47 PM
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I think the first step is to take out all the plugs and crank it over until the water is out. Next step is to pray you didn't bend or break something.
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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 09:25 PM
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Originally Posted by mt_goat
I think the first step is to take out all the plugs and crank it over until the water is out. Next step is to pray you didn't bend or break something.
Yeup and Yeup!
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Old Aug 20, 2006 | 09:46 PM
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Did you make sure to take off the parking brake?
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 03:58 AM
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From: Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by mt_goat
Did you take the plugs out before trying this?
Yes, but we did try turning her over on the trail, which in hindsight probably was a bad idea.

Originally Posted by DeathCougar
Did you make sure to take off the parking brake?
Yeah, but the funny thing is the first time we tried it I had the X-fer case in neutral...DOGH!

The problem is it won't even turn over, I'll get one solid CLICK, which I assume is from my selinoid.

Last edited by splitz; Aug 21, 2006 at 04:00 AM.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 06:27 AM
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From: Solano Co, CA Originally a North Idaho Hick
Hate to say it but your engine is probably toast. I haven't seen one yet that hydrolocked without bending a rod.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 06:34 AM
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I have seen an engine hydrolock (although not incredibly bad, it did suck up water, clank and bang, then die though) the plugs were pulled, all the water was blasted out, and it is still running to this day. The Gangus sucked in enough water in his one day to cause the engine to die, it still ran afterwards too.
If nothing happens but a click, I would assume something else is wrong, maybe with the starter for example. If you had hydrolocked, there is no reason it wouldn't turn over. It may make horrible noises but it should turn over.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 08:07 AM
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Peer pressure man i did the same thing, however at the end of the puddle, as i was coming out, it died. I got it started, but it now has this horrible tacking noise.

Good luck.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 09:48 AM
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I hydro-locked and survived. just for the record
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 10:03 AM
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It sounds like your starter could be bad... I'll bet the engine is not seized up. Swap starter motors, pull the plugs, crank it...

Let us know.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 11:07 AM
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Yeah, the starter is what I'm going to try next....just one question: Where is it?
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 11:26 AM
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Originally Posted by mt_goat
I think the first step is to take out all the plugs and crank it over until the water is out. Next step is to pray you didn't bend or break something.
Another vote for this.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 12:33 PM
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Originally Posted by splitz
Yeah, the starter is what I'm going to try next....just one question: Where is it?
Passinger side between the bell housing and motor mount. Hint: It has a big cable and a small wire connected to it.
Attached Thumbnails Can you say "Hydro-lock?"-cnv0782.jpg  

Last edited by mt_goat; Aug 21, 2006 at 12:39 PM.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 12:57 PM
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Another vote for pulling ALL the plugs and turning it over. If it still won't turn over try pulling it again in 2nd or 3rd gear.
If it still don't turn over then a new starter won't help.
Is there any chance the clutch came apart. I've blown a clutch in deep water. Truch still ran and drove just had to start it in gear. Just a thought maybe it blew apart enough that something in there is hung up enough to keep it from turning over.
Taking on water at full throttle is BADDD news but you should get it turning over.
Good Luck.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 02:00 PM
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Well the good news is I found the starter, wow that thing is a PITA to get to. Anyway, my neighbor came over and we started talking, if it wouldn't pull/roll start then the starter wouldn't matter (just like gonzo said).

So we thought, hey I should be able to turn the main pulley, so I got a 19mm socket and a breaker bar and gave it a shot. I could only turn it back and fourth about 15 degrees, so we are thinking something must be seized up in the engine.

What do you guys think? What should be my next step?

Buy a new engine
Pull the engine and start taking it apart to find out what's wrong
Buy a new truck and cut my losses?
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 02:32 PM
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Just a thought.

If you towed it, dragging the back wheels while plug still in, could have hydrolocked it tight.

Is it possible to manually turn the engine backwards a hair? Use to do this on older trucks using wrench on the crankshaft pully.

Also check the gear on the starter. I'd really look to see if there is mud or gravel jammed in, as most starters are half-exposed. If you were stuck, chances are the bottom was dragging in the mud.

This could jam the gear or the starter completely.

Mud gets everywhere when wet and dries like concrete when dry. What a wonderful thing! :-)

Good luck, let us know.

-DiskDoctr
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 06:45 PM
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well when i locked my motor all i got was a solid click from my starter. couldnt't turn the crank bolt one bit.
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Old Aug 21, 2006 | 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by 95RunnerSR5
well when i locked my motor all i got was a solid click from my starter. couldnt't turn the crank bolt one bit.
Did you check the starter gear isn't jammed? It would also lock the crank bolt.

I've seen starters stick if in very dusty or sitting around a while. I still think it is worth checking, considering the mud. It's very easy to do and fix. If not, you've only lost about 60 seconds

-DiskDoctr
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