# Possible Hydrolock



## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

Ok, so I was driving through a pretty hectic little rainstorm and for the most part the roads weren't really giving me any problems (puddles). Then about three blocks from my house I hit a series of puddles nothing super severe, then hit two major ones and about 10 seconds after hitting the second the car starts to sputter, I pull over and it dies on me. 
I have CAI and am very low. 
What should I do, look out for? I can't get towed because I am too low and don't have any tools on hand to raise my car, nor do I have a vagcom. Any help or advice would be appreciated. 

I also talked to a friend and he said that due to my filter being a k&n type it might have sprayed oil on my maf sensor and I might just have to clean that off.


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

if it was just very little water, you'll be fine. 

but if it was "some" water... um.. 

if there is enough water to affect the compression (water is incompressible) then you are screwed...


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## sagerabbit (Aug 14, 2007)

thygreyt said:


> if it was just some water, you'll be fine.


 :banghead:


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

lol, i meant to say: 

if it was a VERY SMALL amount of water, you'll be fine. 

i have personally seen a LOT worse. and that is CATCHANS full of water, CAI with water, and wet turbos. 
the car was rolling 3 days later. 

all the piping was dissembled and dried inside out.


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## jettafan[atic] (Dec 2, 2008)

Check out the throttle position sensor and the maf, also take out the coils/plugs and dip something like a qtip or rag into the cylinder to check for moisture. Get rid of any moisture anywhere and change the oil, if it comes out murky and watery then push some more oil through it and drain that. That's step 1, Step two is cross your fingers/pray/chant/light a candle or whatever makes sense for you to bring good luck and try to start it. 

We had horrible rain here a couple weeks ago and the shop I work at was swamped with hydrolocked cars, most of them were total losses. One car, an olds alero needed 2 oil changes to get all the moisture flushed out and we just blew the water out of the cylinders, it started but ran rough. the next week it came back in and the trans wouldnt shift past 3rd, idled at 2500 and was throwing too many codes to remember. It all came from the TPS being shorted out.


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

Alright thanks. I'll give that a shot tomorrow, I took the plugs and read the codes today, it told me there was a misfire in cylinder 5 and a maf error, then when I took the coil packs and spark plugs out they were pretty soaked. I'm just praying nothing serious happened. Right after I got all that done it started pouring just as hard as it did yesterday :banghead::banghead:. Eff Florida. I hate this godforsaken state. Anywho, I guess tomorrow I'm going to have to find some way to jack my car, jack that I have isn't low enough :banghead:, then change the oil, which is cool cause my 50,000 mile service was up anyway. 
Thanks for the advice, I'll let everyone know how it goes, and if there are any more tips let me hear em!:beer:


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

Also a friend of mine at a dealership here told me I should try to manually turn the cylinders just to try to get some excess water out. Thoughts?


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## jettafan[atic] (Dec 2, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Also a friend of mine at a dealership here told me I should try to manually turn the cylinders just to try to get some excess water out. Thoughts?


 Not worth the effort that it would take as long as the starter isn't shorted / fried. Just leave the plugs out and let the starter crank it, it will shoot the water out a lot quicker than if you try and do it by hand.


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

jettafan[atic] said:


> Just leave the plugs out and let the starter crank it, it will shoot the water out a lot quicker than if you try and do it by hand.


 This won't harm the engine or anything?


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## vwluger22 (Jan 25, 2005)

Nope it shouldnt, I have done it to an old 2.0 removed plugs set aside and I think discontent coil pack and cranked the car over for a second. The water in the cylinders now has a place to go instead of trying to compress and bend and brake stuff it just shoots out the plug holes 20ft or so.


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

keep us posted.


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## [email protected] (Dec 5, 2005)

My recommendation is, if you don't know how to begin to troubleshoot the problem(s) you're having after running through the puddles, just take it to a professional and have them diagnose it. No sense in chasing your tail in circles if it's important to you. :thumbup:


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## ShadowWabbit (Aug 16, 2006)

short ram FTW. hope ur car's ok tho


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## wagner17 (Oct 20, 2009)

word^ short rams much better in states with bad weather


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## spdfrek (Feb 28, 2002)

[email protected] said:


> This won't harm the engine or anything?


 that is exactly what we had to do to my car after i drove through a puddle durring a flash flood. i am low and have a cai. it has been fine since then. changed the plugs and oil and i was good to go. it was like bellagio when the water was squirting out. :screwy::laugh:


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## thygreyt (Jun 7, 2009)

spdfrek said:


> it was like bellagio when the water was squirting out. :screwy::laugh:


 lol...


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## [email protected] (Mar 15, 2009)

Haha, thanks for the help everyone. I got her up and running last night, a little rough at first but since she has been running great. I'd say we are basically back to where we were other than a whining noise coming from the belt area when driving. I think it might be my alternator, not too sure. Thoughts?


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## jettafan[atic] (Dec 2, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> This won't harm the engine or anything?


 Nope, just like what vwluger said if you have the plugs pulled then the only place for the water to go is out of the top of the cylinder. Engines get damaged when they hydrolock because liquids (water in this case) cannot be compressed. If your engine is running and all of a sudden the cylinder is filled with water that's when you bend/break a connecting rod because metal will bend, water won't. This way all that will happen is the water shoots out, kinda like the bellagio as has also been posted.


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## spdfrek (Feb 28, 2002)

thygreyt said:


> lol...


 I took a vid and need to post it up. I was surprised that the car even started after that much water came out.


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