Worst cases?

[willwren]

I've heard rumors of worst-case failures regarding hydrolock, but are there any documented cases of this? I took great pains with my system to avoid this (triple-redundant safeties), but perhaps I worried too much?

[Forum Admin]

I have never heard of hydrolock while running, not that it hasn't happened but the siponing flow rate through the size hoses being used makes it unlikely - the car would bog heavily before that much water got in.

I know of one case of a friend's back in the 80's who didn't have a check valve and he siphoned enough to have hydrolocked while it was parked - fortunately on the first failed crank he knew something wasn't right and never started it before checking and seeing the resevoir was way down. Our best guess is that he had a bit less than a liter of water in a 5.7 liter engine.

[AKWRX]

Everyone is familiar with the effects of large quantities of water getting into the combustion chamber (hydro-lock) that can cause massive engine damage. But, there is a much more common form of water caused engine damage. Relatively small amounts of water in liquid form, much less than that required for hydro-lock, hitting very hot exhaust valves can warp them. It is caused by ingesting substantial liquid water, not from the normal vaporized water from injection systems. This type of damage is more subtle, usually resulting from multiple big puddle high water events over a longer period of time that have splashed liquid water into the intake system. The resulting engine damage can go un-noticed, and can be difficult to detect. Usually the first clue shows up as minor power loss from slightly lower compression due to the poor sealing of one, or more, warped exhaust valves.

[scotty305]

There's a guy who autocrosses in the Los Angeles region, he's got a very fast Mitsubishi Evo. From what I hear, he lost an engine due to a pump problem which somehow hydrolocked the engine. I'll try to get more info from him next time I see him, I'm not sure if he still uses W.I. anymore or not.

He's got a very trick anti-lag misfiring system now... :cool:

-s-