Quick question, is it possible to hydrolock an engine and not destroy it? If so how would you check if this has happened or the engine is dead? Thanks.
If it's not dead already it probably won't be far. Hydrolocking bends conrods. Andy had a rod out the block a few months after hydrolocking his new motor years ago. If you are buying to rebuild then it may be ok, I would get new rods, and carefully inspect the crank.
So there's no possibility that the water stopping the piston compressing stalled the engine before a rod bent?
Yeah, I figure it's unlikely, though probably having low compression before it drank the water may have helped. Just trying to work out if it's possible at all and how to go about checking sort of pulling it to bits and looking for bent rods.
odds aren't great...I hydro-locked mine at 500rpm (i had idle problems and my mate attached the washer hose to the plenum in an effort to find a vac leak) and bent a rod...that rod exited the general engine vicinity a few months after. It was only a minor bend, compression test results came up fine, ran great, good power, but it was only a matter of time. In hindsight, hydro-locking a motor isn't great...
Well the odds are that this one was driven through a puddle so I'm guessing the odds are indeed very poor. Oh well, I guess I'll keep an eye out for a cheap second hand engine and have a go at rebuilding this one. It will be a fun project!
I recently had two cases at work where the engines had... well.. nothydrolocked pr say, but oil-locked themselfs. Wont go into detail on how it happend, however i tore one of these engines to little pieces and examined it and it actually survived. On the otherone one of the cons had broken in half. With pieces of it slushing around in the oilpan and all. I can only assume the first one had this happening while at very low revs and/or whith the clutch pedal engaged. This was NOT VG engines though but tiny Opel/Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 engines.
only way you can get away with it is if is during cranking, it can stop the motor without bending a rod.
And I'm assuming the only way I can find out if this is the case is by pulling the engine to bits and seeing what's broken? The starter motor is grinding terribly and not turning the engine at all even with all the spark plugs out to relieve the compression if that gives you any clues.
Peter don't use the starter. Pull the radiator and turn the motor over by hand using the crank pully bolt (27mm socket). That way when you "bar_it_over" you canl feel for any binding or inconsistencies in the rotation. However, noting what you have described. I suspect that the engine is what we term in the navy as the FFF.
I think you are most likely right. I've been on the look out for a crappy engine to try to learn something about engine building anyway so I guess this is probably it.
Bugger, if it's not turning over even with the plugs out that's not sounding promising. Let's put your other starter motor on it and crank just to rule that out, also hand cranking it's not a bad idea as well. I've also got a compression tester lying around, if a rod's bent compression will still read lower even if the rings are sealing. Ben