It rained last night; the hood was shut but apparently not watertight. I opened my car after work today to discover the rags I'd stuffed in the top of the lower intake manifold were sopping wet, and I had water in several of the cylinders. I wet-vacced as much water as I could, removed plugs, etc, and rotated the crank through its full cycle to ensure no hydrolock. I'm hoping they'll quickly dry when I start the engine up...

What I'm more worried about is the week prior to this, when I had the headgaskets pulled, and all that rain would have gone right into the camshaft. I had rags stuffed in there most of the time and I don't recall them ever being soggy, but I'm still afraid I've got water inside my block.

How ****ed am I? My plan was to add a quart of oil to hopefully "rinse" any standing water out, and then pull the drain plug. I'd already planned to change the oil & filter after 20-40 miles or so to get all the crap out that's fallen into the engine while I worked.

 

Not sure if there is any real way of cleaning it all out. Does your oil show signs of water in it on the dip stick? I did just what you said on a car that I bought that had blown head gaskets. Oil was milky. I removed the intake and heads, vac out everything I could and poured 4 quarts of really cheap oil over the lifters and down the hole where the intake would sit. Then drained it all out the oil pan. I don't know if it really helped or not, since I don't have the heads back on it yet but it sure eased my mine!

 

Your good, clean rain water should not hurt anything with the stuff you are planning to do. If it was going to sit for a week or two with the water in it that would be a problem. The reason we normally freak out about water in the motor is because most the of the time its antifreeze. That is real bad when it happens.

Cause its water the first time it warms up it will all just steam out.

 

Thanks, that makes me feel better!

I drained the oil 2 weeks ago and haven't refilled yet. The dipstick's still completely dry, which I suppose means I've at least got less than 4 or 5 quarts in there

 

I poured about a quart of fresh oil in, and drained a bunch of oil and water out. I put in 5 fresh quarts after that.

Finally got everything back together after replacing the headgasket... and she won't start, ARRGHHH! Sounds like she's trying to turn over, and I'd swear I can hear some of the cylinders firing, but it's an unsteady sound, like there's an issue with some of the cylinders.

The first time I cranked it, the vacuum hose blew off the upper intake manifold, and a jet of smoke came out. Happened twice. I replaced the hose, and hasn't happened again. I *suspect* water in the cylinder mixed with gas and splashed out the intake valve.

I've got fuel: I pulled plugs on cylinders 4 & 6, and both were wet with fuel.
I've got spark: cranked with plug #4 pulled, and it sparked just fine.

What's the most likely problem? I've about killed the battery trying to crank it; it's on the charger now.

It turns over a second or two, then the starter stalls for a moment, then it cranks another second or two, stalls, repeat. Kinda makes a sound like wha-wha-chunk. wha-wha-chunk.

 

Are you sure you have the plug wires on the right cylinders and they are not crosswired? Double check to make sure all your wiring connectors are plugged in good. I don't think you can physically cross the injector wiring harness because they are only long enough to reach the injector they should go to. Also double check all the vac lines to ensure that they are routed to the right places.

 

If the plugs were wet with fuel it means that the cylinder was not firing, even though you stated that you had a good spark. Make sure the ignition wires connect the proper coil to the proper spark plug. If the coils were moved around, the plug labels are no longer valid, position of the coil pack over the ICM determines the firing order.

 

Got it running! But it really runs like crap, idles HORRIBLE, sometimes stopping completely, very slow throttle response, won't go above 4k rpm, even at full throttle... and there's steam coming up from EVERYWHERE, from both sides, from high, from low, from inside the oil fill spout, and from inside the upper manifold. It's not foul smelling; has no smell at all, really, so I think it's just steam, though it could be coolant. The exhaust is transparent (finally!! hasn't been transparent in years!) I checked the vacuum system- looks perfect. I double-checked all the connectors, and looked carefully but didn't see any leaks at any hose couplings or gaskets.

As it turns out, I had wire 6 on plug 4 (oops), and 6 was disconnected completely (wtf grover??), but those were the two I pulled when I was checking for fuel and spark, and I'm certain I had them right when I first tried to crank the engine. Hypothesis time: I asked my wife if she could clean off the old gaskets and dirt while I was at work... instead, she left the gaskets completely alone and instead cleaned everything off the heads, valve covers and lower intake completely off with a pressure washer and degreaser, even the parts that are supposed to be well lubricated with oil. Could that (and the rain water in the block and cylinders) be causing all the smoke? Could it be causing the rough idle, too?

And other thoughts?

 

She didn't get water down under the coils where they plug in to the metal piece that mounts to the motor did she? If you have an extra plug wire and plug, use it to test ALL of the coils to make sure they are firing by snapping the plug wire on the coil and grounding the plug as someone fires over the engine. The steam you refer too may be the oil and stuff that she washed off the heads that is burning off the sides of the engine.

Oh, and the fuel injectors, is there any way that could have gotten dirt in them while they were removed?

 

Are you saying that the old gaskets weren't scraped off, and the mating surfaces weren't completely cleaned (nice and shiny)? If so, that IS your problem.