Damage from hydraulic lock

[anonymous-user]

I've been a complete muppet and managed to fill a few of the cylinders of the 2.5 V6 in my Alfa 156 with water. The engine died and then wouldn't turn over, so once recovered home, I got the spark plugs out and the car did a great impression of a water fountain when being turned over. All back together (with new plugs) and it turns over, fires reluctantly and runs like a complete dog with a rather worrying death rattle.

Any suggestions as to what might have happened and how to check for this? If possible I'd like to avoid removing the engine from the car, so I'm thinking that dropping the sump and taking a look to check for bent conrods might be the best bet. Would it be worth checking the main and big end bearings at the same time?

[wildoliver]

it possibly has bent a rod or two, could have damaged the pistons, I would bite the bullet and pull the engine, its going to have to come out anyway.

[stevieturbo]

It will probably make life a lot easier taking the engine out. Repairs may be possible in situ......

But good chance they are not

[anonymous-user]

Cheers guys. With the value of the car being so low, it's questionable as to whether it's worth the hassle. Not ideal after the amount of money I've spent keeping it on the road recently.

Oh well, thanks again.

[wildoliver]

ebay, good second hand engine.

sell old one for repairs/spares.

should do it under a grand easily.

[anonymous-user]

Perhaps - if you know what you're doing with a spanner. That might be a little beyond my skills at the moment. Plus the whole things probably not worth much more than 1.5k (99 156 with near enough 150k miles). eBay as spares or repair might be my best bet I think.

[jwb]

I would guess at a bent conrod.

If we parked our Fiat twin cam Minors on a very steep slope (our drive) with a full tank the fuel used to drain through the carb into the engine filling it. If we were unlucky and the engine turned a conrod would bend.

[GreenV8S]

I'd take the sump plug off to make sure there isn't any water there, if you get nice pure oil coming out I wouldn't bother changing the oil until you know what state the engine is in. Also do a compression test, if anything's a long way out you know you've got mechanical problems. If the compression seems OK then put new plugs back in, the old plugs are likely to have been contaminated with water. If it runs OK after that then breath a sigh of relief, otherwise you're facing an engine out or at least sump off to inspect the damage.

[anonymous-user]

There's definitely water in the oil - I can tell that just looking at the state of it on the dipstick. I should have done a compression test when I had the plugs out yesterday as it's a nightmare to get at the back three.

All the suggestions and info is most appreciated guys, thanks.

I think I'll chuck some cheap oil through it tomorrow with some new filters and see what it's like. It wasn't making any nasty noises with the plugs out turning over on the starter, but I'm not normally that lucky... Next step I'll drop the sump to take a look. Anything bent, it's going on eBay for spares.

[r1ot]

I've banana'd a few conrods on landrovers from wading (no snorkel) quick way to check. Bring the crank around to zero degrees take the plugs out and stick a length of wire into the bores 1 and 4 should be the same height both at TDC and 2 and 3 should both be at BDC at the same height. If it looks a ok you've probably got away with it, if it looks a bit iffy you might need to borrow a dial gauge to check properly.

Still it might just be easier to take the engine out and strip it down. Good luck...

Just read it properly, V6 sorry, principle is still the same.

Edited by r1ot on Sunday 11th March 21:30

[GavinPearson]

There is no getting around this - if you've hydraulically locked the engine then you need to have the rods and pistons checked.

While you could try to check the height of the pistons without removing the heads, it simply wouldn't be accurate. So either remove the engine and inspect it, or remove the heads and sump and take the pistons and rods out.

You also need to fix the source of whatever caused the lock in the first place.