Just as the title says. Has anyone ever experienced hydrolock? Sorry if it's a stupid question.

 

It's real, and if water enters thru your intake manifold and to the internal components say bye bye to the engine.


[Modified by 4thGSi, 3:00 AM 4/11/2002]

 

It is very real......just think about it in terms of science, what happens in a cylinder and a combustion chamber? mixture of gas and air get COMPRESSED.........water, as many fluids are INCOMPRESSIBLE.....therefore when the piston tries to compress the water, it can't, therefore something else has to give.......what happens? your pistons lock up or if you have the worst case, your rods break and might go thru your cylinder walls all the way thru the block leaving you with a big piece of trash for an engine.

hope this helps....
Lester

 

Lets put it this way...it's REAL, but EXAGGERATED. Just because you have a CAI, and no bypass valve, doesn't mean you should be worried about hydro lock. it takes more that just a few drops of water that can enter your intake when splashing through a puddle.

 

yea it is way exaggerated. u have to pretty much submerge the intake.

 

Think of it this way. If you have a stray drinking your water and you hold it a tiny bit above the water you dont get much water if any. These few drops will be caught by the filter. Now suppose you dunk the entire straw into the water then you get lots of water. So basically If your intake is submerged (god knows how) then it will suck lots of water and it has gotta be really bad. The thing is how the hell do you get your intake submerged??? I find it really though if not imposible to do. I just dont drive through 3' deep puddles or better yet at all when its raining. Hydrolock is a true fact but you getting it is a myth.....


Unless you have frequent flash floods

 

its real, if you floor it through a small lake

 

My friend's Cavalier ran like crap for a couple days. Come to find out his home-made CAI was dripping wet. He let it dry, and the car ran fine again. I'm sure it wasn't the best thing for the car, but hey....

Unless you try to cross rivers with your car, I don't see how you can hydrolock.

 

I hydroed my 1st car driving through a puddle, small lake, when I first started driving. I had to pull my plugs, crank it and watch the Old Faithfull geyser show. No damage luckily.

 

very lucky, you must have lived close to where it happened, or did it on the spot

 

Ya the motor died instantly. I thought it was just a wet dist. but when I tried to crank it, nothing. So we ended up pushing it to my buds house and draining it there.

 

I know someone with a Geo Storm that dunked his front end into a small lake after it rained. He sucked up a ton of water. He hydro'd the motor blowing one rod out the back and bending another. I'd rather be safe then sorry and just take of the cold air extension when it rains if you can.

 

it's a cavalier, isn't it supposed to run crappy? j/k.

 

I don't think it is that exaggerated, let me share a little story with some of you.

My car is down because of internal damage caused by hydrolocking .

It started to rain pretty heavily one afternoon( had I known it was going to rain, I would have driven my other car ), and I was caught in it on my way home that evening. I avoided all large puddles, and just stay as far from any water as possible. Anyway, I hit a small stream( probably not an inch deep ) and sprayed the water at my AEM intake( damaged inner fender liner ).
My motor stopped immediately, and I coasted into a parking lot. The car would not turn over, and i had it towed to my house.
I took out the plugs, and blew the water out of the motor, made sure the air filter was dry, and cleaned out the inside of the intake tube( to get rid of any remaining moisture ), and fought with the car until I got it started. My car ran just fine after that, for about a month maybe, then one evening it developed a tapping sound( similiar to valves ) that gradually turned into an obviouse knocking. I again parked the car, and now have to have it checked....if I am lucky, it is only bearings going out, but I'm not that lucky and expect to spend more money and time on it than that.

Cliff notes:
Water bad...MMMMkay
don't think lightly of hydrolocking, the damage may not be immediately noticeable.
at least run a bypass valve on a cold air intake( not that it would have really helped me )
It may not take more than a few drops to cause damage...read the damned story in my post.
If you just read the cliff notes, you are lazier than I am, and that is sad

 

My friend was driving his VR6 jetta on the highway when it was raining. Somehow his cai sucked up water and he bent a few of his rods. He just finished rebuilding.

 

about a month ago i was driving my 89 accord in the rain when i drove into a large puddle(small lake)...i had a short ram on it but it splashed up into the engine bay soaking my filter...it drove cool for about 3 blocks until i noticed the car would bog when i got on the gas....i guess the the extra air as i accelerated sucked in droplets of water screwin up the mixture in the cylinders...it later copletely just died...came back the next day with a new DRY filter and everything was cherry again...u most likely wont do much harm unless, like everyone said, submerge the filter...

 

ok check it out if you do submerge the filter it will blow out the bypass valve because it will create a vacuum and if the filter is only half way in it will get sucked stright through to the motor. this is why back in the day k&n had a commercial and the engine was running and the filter was completely submerged but they will never show the same thing and the filter is half in and half out because the motor would lock up.

 

Hydro lock is real- I was leaving BarfDonalds once and ran through a puddle that was deep (CRX)- I saw it coming and let off the gas- I was too late -just coasting through it my car died on my way out. I took my chances and tried to crank it- nothing- it was locked- I called my buddy at my work to bring me my tools on my cell phone- I had to remove my spark plugs while standing in the puddle and then cranked it over to blow the water out. I used the starter to move my car forward and then I replaced the plugs and prayed I didnt bend a rod- luckily she started right up and I was on my way.

 

Well, since we're on the subject and this is my first post here, I'll resurrect this one. This happened to my GSR Integra last nite. I searched the Integra board but nothing. That's why I'm here with all you Civics. So it started to pour last nite and I drove through a puddle and my car immediately stalled. So I let it coast and then started it back up again. It was very hard to start but eventually did and when it did I had to rev it to keep it going. While revving I noticed a big cloud of white smoke coming from my exhaust. My guess is I just blew out whatever was in there. It stalled once more about a block from my house and was harder to start. This morning the car fired up with no trouble and drove pretty good for about an hour. VTEC still works fine, no apparent power loss. The idle is a bit erratice but very miniscule and very seldom. Is there a possibility that a month down the line I could end up doing internal damage and what should I do to prevent it immediately? I was thinking crank with no plugs, dry the wires and cap and rotor, change oil and replace plugs? Any ideas? TIA

 

i too have a cai (custom made to be exact). and when the raining season started up las fall, i removed the extension that goes to the bottom of the bumper. i drove my car on the first day it rained and i hoped that i would not get hydro. good thing i didnt and just went with the short ram. now that the rain season seems to be gone, im gonna be putting back the complete cai. oh yes, more air for my baby