dbman96

OK in a completely NOT surprising turn of events I have joined the ranks of the hydrolocked. By some beautiful coincidence my wife borrowed my car after an intercooler hose apparently came loose; she was surprised by about a 10" deep flooded section of road and before she could do anything about it my car injested a couple cylinders full of water.

After being pushed off the road by the police, towed to a garage by AAA, I tried pulling out the plugs and cranking it but it wasn't turning over at all. So I get on the phone frantically searching for a rental place with a tow dolly; found one, got dad to come up with the Grand Cherokee, and we trailered the car down to his garage.

Dropped the oil pan and all the hardware inside and I can now clearly see the #1 connecting rod is tweaked pretty good and the head of the bolt on the shoulder of the connecting rod at the crankshaft end is hitting up against the underside of the cylinder. The engine turns freely in both directions up to this point, where it of course stops.

I'm taking the head off tonight and I'll pull all the pistons and rods out. The engine was only just above idling when it took the damage so I think it might be pretty minimal. Since the impact was on the underside of the cylinder, the cylinder walls and the piston itself appear undamaged; there's definitely a bit of a crush spot where the bolt hit but that seems to be all that happened.

So now I'm looking for suggestions. I need an economical solution to this but I'm prepared to do what I have to.

Can I replace that one connecting rod and be done with it? Do I need a full set of rods? Pistons? Probably need new bearings. I'll certainly put new rings in when the pistons are out; if they're undamaged should I keep the old pistons or replace them too? With the impact from the connecting rod is there likely any damage to the block / cylinder liners / etc. and am I going to need to be re-sleeved or anything like that?

I'll have the internals out tonight and I'll post pictures if I can to get some more opinions but I'm looking for gut reactions of what I'm going to need to replace and how much it's going to cost.

I know this is a great opportunity to put in some lower compression pistons, stronger rods, etc. but I don't have a WHOLE lot of money to play with here so I'd like to see what my cheapest option is for now and then see how much more it would cost to "upgrade" while I'm at it.

Thanks in advance for the help guys I know you'll get me through this!

VaporTrail

Here's what I'd do:

Forged pistons
Rings
Eagle connecting rods
ARP head bolts
New bearings throughout.
Waterpump and timing belt

Your crank is probably fine. But put new bearings in there anyway, since you're in there. Your block would then be good for 15lbs easy then.

If youre on a budget, a new rod, new rings, and bearings throughout would get ya dun.

Liltrix

I would take the oppertunity to do it right. It will eventually cost more in the long run to take everything apart when U wanna do it right. I believe in doing the job just once and doing it right. I know someone with a turbocharged B18 powered civic with DFI and a lot of goodies, but they dont do the job sensibly so the car is blowing up all the time, this is the second or third time its blowing up. Dont be like that do it once and do it right.

VTC_CiViC

Hmm.. I'm supprised you saw so much damage. I injested a good amount of water in my Civic a couple years back, didn't damage the motor whatsoever. Honda did manage to blow it for me so as to replace the short block and let insurance cover it, so I couldn't complain. I'd definatley replace the bearings while you have it open. I belive I read about replacing the rings w/o rehoning the sleevs, something out it not letting the rings seat properly, you mught wanna wait till somebody whose done this get's back to you because i'm pretty sure the sleeve's should be refinished.

HX_Guy

I would say to do it "right" as well since you have this "oportunity"
Its not cheap though - by any means!

Im rebuilding my engine right now and my tab is going to be around $1500! Thats about $200 of machine work and $160 for GSR girdle/parts included...which you may not need.

A word of advice, try and buy your parts online...it usually works out cheaper...like through Mike K.
Also I know a place you cna get Eagle rods for $325 shipped

GSRacer

yeah i always had that question. If the intercooler is exposed to a deep pudle... Will it suck up water?

dbman96

Is there an OEM rod/piston combo that I can put on the GSR block that might drop compression a little bit but still hold up to high RPMs and boost? I don't race the car and don't plan on keeping it more than another year so buying $600 worth of forged pistons and $300+ in rods plus all the associated parts and machine work just doesn't make sense. I'm happy running low boost and stock replacement would be fine but any suggestions anyone can come up with for an upgrade that won't put me in the poorhouse would be great.

Incognito

Your can replace 1 piston/rod if you take the whole set out and get them balanced at a machine shop. To lower compression ratio the cheap way, pick up an Inline Pro head gasket (since you're going to have to replace the head gasket anyway). It drops compression down 1 full point on a GSR motor, to 9:1. Depending on the mileage of the motor, you may or may not need to get new rod bearings, but it's definitely smart to get a new set of rings for all 4 pistons.