How to fix this?! (Drove through some DEEP water)

[Jay]

Righto then... ummmm... feeling pretty stupid right now  


Cut a long story short, I drove through a stream that looked ALOT shallower than what it is!

I thought I would be able to make it because it looked OK... got 1/2 way then the car just cut out, seems the middle dips down and it was almost up to the window  


Managed to get pulled out by a passerby (who just so happens to have a large Land Rover Discovery 3 with winch ... wonder why...   ) got recovered home eventually after waiting almost 2 hours in soaked clothes in the freezing cold and now have the car sitting outside.

While waiting for the recovery man my brother in law who came too see if he could help (take the P!ss more like   ) said to try crank it over after we had waited for it to drain out as much as it would, the starter motor never spun (thankfully!) and there was nothing other than a short 'DURR', we called a mechanic my brother in law knows and he said not to try start it because it can cause a hydro lock and bend the rods or some catastrophic failure to that effect.


So do I just let it sit for a day or two then change the oil and oil filter and try crank it over?

What else should I do? and what else should I look for?

To say I am gutted is an understatement  

[theman53]

Pull the glow plugs or injectors and try to spin it over by hand or with the starter. There won't be the resistance without those in the holes. That is what we always do to our gas off roaders, pull spark plugs and crank reassemble and hopefully it will start. Change the oil and anything else that might have got underwater.

[Jay]

Where the nose was pointing down into the dip water got up to the alternator by the looks of it.
Should the start motor & Alternator dry out quite quickly?



Also is there any risk of water having got into the turbo at all ? After being pulled out and pulled onto the flat bed recovery truck backwards ? 

[rabbitman]

I doubt the turbo got hurt, the alt will dry out since it's pretty open, the starter will take a bit longer.

Hopefully nothing got hurt very bad.....like rods and stuff.

I did a similar thing a few nights ago, drove down the boat launch to a river and it was too icy to back out, got down to the concrete hoping for better traction but there was none so I ended up plopping the front wheels off the little ice ledge into the water . Tried a few run-at-its, got up the ledge easy but couldn't get past the concrete. Ended up getting gravel out of the river and spreading it behind the tires, that worked first try . But now my starter's wet (read froze, it's 10F) and it takes forever to engage .

Good luck getting it going

[Op-Ivy]

Well considering a it's a diesel and it won't run now, I can almost guarantee that water got into the cylinders. That's why it isn't running. Take the air intake apart and check for water. And as theman said, take the glow plugs out. Try sticking something in the cylinder to see if there actually is water in there. If there is, blow some compressed air in it to dry it out.

Good luck.

[Jay]

If the rods / internals got stuffed I would have heard a bad noise wouldn't I?

I don't recall hearing anything other than the sound of it just kinda stopping...

[theman53]

Water could have killed the power and thus killed the fuel seliniod...temporarily. I would take all the GPs out or all of the injectors out. then take the starter out and take the end off if you can and dry it out. I have had mud packed into my bronco starter so hard it wouldn't spin, I always carry a spare when wheeling. Dry your stuff out, put the starter on and crank. just a burst not a continual turning, and see if the water flies out. When no more water flies out, put it all back in and see if it starts. If it doesn't report back. Could be as simple as a fuse/wiring or it could be bent junk.

[burn_your_money]

Turn it over by hand and not the starter once you take the injectors or GPs out. Because of the compression ratio and small openings if there is a lot of water in there it might not have enough time to get out fast enough if you use the starter.

[Vincent Waldon]

If the rods / internals got stuffed I would have heard a bad noise wouldn't I?

I don't recall hearing anything other than the sound of it just kinda stopping...

Nope... rods don't make much noise as they bend.

[Jay]

If the rods / internals got stuffed I would have heard a bad noise wouldn't I?

I don't recall hearing anything other than the sound of it just kinda stopping...

Nope... rods don't make much noise as they bend.

oh... we'll see tomorrow in the (hopefully) day light.

[Black Smokin' Diesel]

So you got water up to the windows? Wow! The engine definitely drank water. I bet the airbox is full of water. The airbox sucks air from the fender. If you're lucky and the engine wasn't revving fast it might have just stopped and no harm done. Otherwise, you bent a rod.

If you're trying to spin the engine with the starter and only get a buzz then the starter is trying to turn over but it can't because the engine is hydrolocked. Pull the injectors and spin it by hand. Let it dry a few days and then do a compression test while the injectors are out. If one cylinder has significantly lower compression then its rod is most likely bent.

[Syncroincity]

OK, who's the U-boat commander?

Friend of mine dunked his Acura like that, bent 2 rods and destroyed the rod journals on the crank. I hope you got lucky!

[macka]

cool an unterseavagen

[Jay]

If I can't get it working, I've got a few options.

1.) Petrol can, match
2.) New car, thinking maybe a Sharan 1.9TD PD 115 as we have child #3 on the way
3.) Just been offered a 1.9AAZ ( I think ) with loom & clocks.
4.) VR6 engine swap 

[LoneWolf]

injectors out, torch to look inside, if theres water then get it out with either a small pump (washer pump) or a thin strip of fabric, then you can see inside easier meaning you dont need to take the head off, chances are you sucked up water, but theres a good chance if you get it dry inside then you should be able to at least crank it over.

 also to dry the alternator and starter, use a hair dryer