[shootfirst83]

Originally Posted by BMWM.D.

Looks like I was right, huh?

Yes sir! When I read what you posted about the other motor going 20k before failure (I think that's what you said), it got me thinking.

[shootfirst83]

Originally Posted by 1nityrider

I guess the moral of this story is if you're driving a car and hit anything on the road ie pot hole etc etc get a police report. It can always save you later. I remember when I did an engine swap on my 3000GT because I soon a bearing and told my insurance agent, he asked did anything on the road caused that to happen? I said no, he said if that was the case, my insurance would have covered it. At OP, glad everything worked out good for you.

100%. The insurance almost didn't cover it because I never reported the puddle. Luckily I had an adjustor who wasn't just looking for reasons to dq me.

[shootfirst83]

Originally Posted by Goofyguy

water is nasty to a motor. The hydraulic forces will surprise you. Here in Florida we had some heavy rains which lead to a lot of flooded streets. The local BMW dealership took in 114 cars during that week for hydro locked engines. My dealership I work at, took in 0. Regardless water plus engine equals a lot of bad things for pistons and rods.

I'm willing to bet that dealership was Reeves and it was last August

I'm in Tampa too...

[shootfirst83]

Originally Posted by ErvGotti

Glad everything worked out for you OP, but that must have been one hell of a puddle. I've seen a hydorlocked NA motor before but the path to the motor is short. It happened to my friends Cobalt whose CAI was routed to the bumper.

With an NA it's filter, pipe, manifold, motor then boom and it doesn't take much. With the N54 the water has to pass the intake and filter, turbos, intercooler, and up the charge pipe before even hitting the motor.

You'd think with that amount of water that the turbo's would fail first seeing as it has to go by it first or actually if the motor was at operating temp that the turbo would evaporate the water before even making it's way to the motor.

Water was over the top of the hood. The crazy thing about all of it was it just idled a bit rough afterward. I was always under the impression that hydrolock caused an immediate failure.

[ErvGotti]

Originally Posted by shootfirst83

Water was over the top of the hood. The crazy thing about all of it was it just idled a bit rough afterward. I was always under the impression that hydrolock caused an immediate failure.

Damn you're brave I wouldn't even try a one foot puddle. Like you said this shows the resiliency of these motors my friends Cobalt locked up immediately after ingesting water and it was small puddles, but his CAI routed to the bottom of his bumper.

[JStang]

I sold my Stett CAI because I couldn't deal with the stress during the nasty rain we get. Just not worth it. Glad to hear it worked out in your favor!

[WilliamS]

Originally Posted by shootfirst83

Water was over the top of the hood. The crazy thing about all of it was it just idled a bit rough afterward. I was always under the impression that hydrolock caused an immediate failure.

If its a tiny amount of water it can bend a rod creating a weak point or damage a ring causing bad oiling or blow by. In fact theres a lot of way a spoon full of water can cause havoc with bad timing.



As well the post above, yes it was Reeves.

[BMWM.D.]

Originally Posted by shootfirst83

Yes sir! When I read what you posted about the other motor going 20k before failure (I think that's what you said), it got me thinking.

Yeah.... it was an X3 that I'm talking about, and it made it probably a year before the block let go. The initial sign was a slight misfire on just one cylinder. After we figured out it was related to internal engine damage of some type, we pulled the motor and tore it down. We found 1 connecting rod was about an inch shorter than the rest.

Since the car was under factory warranty (and a lease ), the customer denied off-roading the car through deep water to almost the bitter end. Because of this, the whole thing turned into a cluster-fuck, and we actually put the engine back together (with the bent rod) and gave it back to the customer. She drove it for probably another 6 months before it came back with a major miss, a broken rod, and the hole in the block.

Originally Posted by shootfirst83

Water was over the top of the hood. The crazy thing about all of it was it just idled a bit rough afterward. I was always under the impression that hydrolock caused an immediate failure.

Wow.... if you'd mentioned that I'd have been able to tell you right off the bat what your issue was. That's some serious water.

[JStang]

Originally Posted by BMWM.D.

Yeah.... it was an X3 that I'm talking about, and it made it probably a year before the block let go. The initial sign was a slight misfire on just one cylinder. After we figured out it was related to internal engine damage of some type, we pulled the motor and tore it down. We found 1 connecting rod was about an inch shorter than the rest.

Since the car was under factory warranty (and a lease ), the customer denied off-roading the car through deep water to almost the bitter end. Because of this, the whole thing turned into a cluster-fuck, and we actually put the engine back together (with the bent rod) and gave it back to the customer. She drove it for probably another 6 months before it came back with a major miss, a broken rod, and the hole in the block.



Wow.... if you'd mentioned that I'd have been able to tell you right off the bat what your issue was. That's some serious water.

I ingested some water in my previous car (B6 Audi A4 3.0L) and threw a flashing CEL immediately after. Car ran rough for a few days but it then cleared up. I took it to my independent who said some electronics probably got wet and to let it dry for a couple of days.

When the CEL didn't go away I went to the Audi dealership who asked who installed my timing belt because it was off a couple of teeth. They also claimed that a few of the valves were bent.

My indy paid to have the car towed back to him and he realigned the timing belt and said that the dealer was full of shit because if the valves were bent the car wouldn't run.

The car ran perfect after the timing belt was realigned so is it possible that the water could have caused the belt to skip?

Sorry for the somewhat off topic question but this had me curious.

[SharkBait]

Originally Posted by JStang

I ingested some water in my previous car (B6 Audi A4 3.0L) and threw a flashing CEL immediately after. Car ran rough for a few days but it then cleared up. I took it to my independent who said some electronics probably got wet and to let it dry for a couple of days.

When the CEL didn't go away I went to the Audi dealership who asked who installed my timing belt because it was off a couple of teeth. They also claimed that a few of the valves were bent.

My indy paid to have the car towed back to him and he realigned the timing belt and said that the dealer was full of shit because if the valves were bent the car wouldn't run.

The car ran perfect after the timing belt was realigned so is it possible that the water could have caused the belt to skip?

Sorry for the somewhat off topic question but this had me curious.

Likely. Water doesn't compress easily like air, so when you suck it into a cylinder, you putting everything under extreme stress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolock). This sudden resistance plus the fact half or more of your timing belt was immersed in water could cause your belt to skip.

[BMWM.D.]

Originally Posted by JStang

I ingested some water in my previous car (B6 Audi A4 3.0L) and threw a flashing CEL immediately after. Car ran rough for a few days but it then cleared up. I took it to my independent who said some electronics probably got wet and to let it dry for a couple of days.

When the CEL didn't go away I went to the Audi dealership who asked who installed my timing belt because it was off a couple of teeth. They also claimed that a few of the valves were bent.

My indy paid to have the car towed back to him and he realigned the timing belt and said that the dealer was full of shit because if the valves were bent the car wouldn't run.

The car ran perfect after the timing belt was realigned so is it possible that the water could have caused the belt to skip?

Sorry for the somewhat off topic question but this had me curious.

An engine can still run if it has bent valves on only 1 or 2 cylinders, but it would likely be missing and running poorly in general.

On your Audi, the fact that it had a timing belt instead of a chain probably saved the engine. Water can't be compressed, so something has to give. The timing belt was what gave in that case it seems. If the engine ran good with no misfire codes after setting the timing, then bent valves isn't likely.

[Maan]

what year was your car, mileage, and mods? My warranty is running out in 49 miles haha I'm scared something similar might happen to me.