corvette submarine

[kazis31]

i have a 2003 Z06 and we had some heavy rains in LA last couple days.
Long story short,after shopping for thanksgiving stuff i drove in water that i estimated to be shallower that it was and water went into my fuel injexctor and intaike manifold and choked the car.
i tried to start it ,but it made prertty loud engine noise,on second and third try it almoust started but completley stalled on fourth.
So i got my baby towed home(thank god for AAA)
I took off air filter and left ijector open to drain all remaining water.
I checked oil level ,it was fine .Found no water in oil,good sign i guess.
Bought new air filter and thionking of taking spark plugs out to see if there is any water in top of the engine and probably replacing them with new ones.
My question to Corvette Gods is ...could i damage engine block or head and what would be sure simpoms of any of these things taking place.
Also what would be good way to go about slowly diagnosing problem and getting this beast back to it's original primevil self..

I would apreciate any helpfull responses and previously thank anyone who would put deasent thought in it.

Maris

 

[bradfordsvettes]

if you sucked water into the air cleaner and intake you very well could have bent a rod .you can not compress water and something has to give Steve

 

[zagger]

Really sorry to hear that. Were you running Vararam? First off don't try to crank the engine over, remove ALL plugs and only then crank it. This should spit out most of the water. I would then spray large amount of engine fog oil into each cylinder and crank it some more. After that check each cylinder with a wood dowel to see if there is any liquid there, if so you can try to blow it out with some compressed air. Only once the engine is cranking with no problem and there is no more liquid in the cylinders can you install plugs and fire it up. Water injection is nasty on a motor but not necessarily fatal, it largely depends on the rpm when ingested. If the motor was spinning good there is a high probability you bent or broke something. Hopefully once you dried it out it will start and run fine, good luck.

 

[twiget]

I feel your pain kazis. I did almost the exact same thing in a brand new '99 Camaro, only I was caught in a hurricane.

The car ended up being totaled. All of the electronics that govern the motor were shot, and there was a lot of damage to the engine too.

Lets hope the damage to your Z is not as bad.hnoes

Jason

 

[Hib Halverson]

It is possible to hydrolock the engine but unless you have some kind of "ram air" system which takes air from the cooling flow or you drove into a really deep pond going fast it usually doesn't happen.

If the engine does hydrolock and you can still crank it, you usually bend connecting rods, crack heads or bend valves.

If you haven't yet, I'd immediately pull all eight plugs, then turn the motor over with the starter. if water comes out keep cranking until you get most of it out then spray someting like WD 40 into each cylinder and crank the motor some more.

A compression test can reveal if the engine got hydrolocked.

If it did, you're looking at an engine overhaul.