engine hydrolocking misconceptions

[cam98aro]

in reference to this thread: http://forum.camarov6.com/showthread.php?t=101865

does NOT happen by "just a few drops" of water.

hydrolocking comes when water FILLS the combustion chamber and prevents the piston from compressing it, so the engine locks up, and is usually destroyed.

it is almost physically impossible for 1 or 2 drops of water to cause an engine to hydrolock... seriously think about it.. how many people on this forum have had bad head gaskets and were BURNING coolant? There is even a post currently saying that there is massive amounts of white smoke coming from the exhaust after a head gasket replacement.. im sure this is more than just a drop of water.

back in the 50's,60's,70's it was common practice to pour water down the carb while the engine was running. the water would instantly turn to steam and break the carbon off of the piston.

it is not really recommended to do this, because water is NOT compressible, and does have a higher chance of hydrolocking the engine.. but seafoam can also hydrolock an engine. seafoam has less of a chance at doing it because it is combustable, but i guarantee if you dump too much seafoam into the engine at once it can and will hydrolock, it is not that much safer than water.

i hope i have cleared up some of the common misconceptions of hydrolocking an engine.

[pace2006]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

Similar to water injection. While not actually used to clean an engine, the steam cleaning effect is certainly an advantage. Although it is not introduced to the engine in a form more concentrated than a mist, it could probably add up to a couple drops or so in a more condensed form.

[Loochy88]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

That was my car with the head gaskets and the smoke. Turned out to be coolant in the exhaust... but your point is still correct.

Seafoam isn't going to h-lock your motor though... at least not if you're using it correctly.

[cam98aro]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

That was my car with the head gaskets and the smoke. Turned out to be coolant in the exhaust... but your point is still correct.

Seafoam isn't going to h-lock your motor though... at least not if you're using it correctly.

yup, if you use it correctly, it wont hydrolock, same with water.

the water will turn to steam and increase the static compression ratio. when hydrolock occurs it means that your intake sucked up a ton of water.

my other engine has almost 12:1 compression and the piston comes up pretty far, but still theres no way putting a few drops into the cylinder will cause it to lock up. the piston comes up so far at tdc, that you can touch it by sticking your pinky through the spark plug hole, its right there, once you get passed the sparkplug threads the piston is there, i dont even know how it doesnt close the gap on the plugs

[thedetailman]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

thank you sir :D for clearing this up.

i've always done things either the right way, or the VERY cautious way when i don't know right off hand.
I do the water thing to my engine very often. the car idles and rumbles without a beat. (is very efficient to) last tank i averaged 27.

[ssms5411]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

I had my TB gasket take a leak and it flooded my car to the point it wouldn't start , I found the problem new TB gasket, swaped spark plugs, let it sit over night and it fired right up the next day with some smoke for about 30 seconds and was fine after that.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

This is actually quite simple physics. Sure water can't be compressed, but air around it can. If you just have a few drops or even a bit of water in a cylinder or multiple cylinders the air around it will still compress. The water just takes up room. If you are trying to compress mainly water, then sure you will hydro-lock and break stuff.

[ssms5411]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

This is actually quite simple physics. Sure water can't be compressed, but air around it can. If you just have a few drops or even a bit of water in a cylinder or multiple cylinders the air around it will still compress. The water just takes up room. If you are trying to compress mainly water, then sure you will hydro-lock and break stuff.

Very true , First thought was my rings were going to be toast and I loose compression , but it turned out fine. I have a methanol injection setup for my turbo to help intake temps and soon it will be functional. If you have a wideband it will tell you if too much water or methanol is flowing becuase it will run lean.

[Mogobs30th]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

in reference to this thread: http://forum.camarov6.com/showthread.php?t=101865

does NOT happen by "just a few drops" of water.

hydrolocking comes when water FILLS the combustion chamber and prevents the piston from compressing it, so the engine locks up, and is usually destroyed.

it is almost physically impossible for 1 or 2 drops of water to cause an engine to hydrolock... seriously think about it.. how many people on this forum have had bad head gaskets and were BURNING coolant? There is even a post currently saying that there is massive amounts of white smoke coming from the exhaust after a head gasket replacement.. im sure this is more than just a drop of water.

back in the 50's,60's,70's it was common practice to pour water down the carb while the engine was running. the water would instantly turn to steam and break the carbon off of the piston.

it is not really recommended to do this, because water is NOT compressible, and does have a higher chance of hydrolocking the engine.. but seafoam can also hydrolock an engine. seafoam has less of a chance at doing it because it is combustable, but i guarantee if you dump too much seafoam into the engine at once it can and will hydrolock, it is not that much safer than water.

i hope i have cleared up some of the common misconceptions of hydrolocking an engine.

What happens when the water from the few drops, lets say from a hairline crack in the water jacket, DOESN'T BURN OFF? Eventually those steady drips of water accumulate, eventually filling the CC and hydrolocking it. Its the point I was trying to make in the last thread. It doesn't take a MASSIVE amount of water at once to do it, all it takes a few drops, accumulated and not burned off due to the cooling effect of the water being in the CC, and it will eventually fill and hydrolock. My guess, with these engines, it wouldn't take more than a cup in one CC to cause some kind of hydrolocking damage.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

Do you realize how hot the motor is?

[cam98aro]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

What happens when the water from the few drops, lets say from a hairline crack in the water jacket, DOESN'T BURN OFF? Eventually those steady drips of water accumulate, eventually filling the CC and hydrolocking it. Its the point I was trying to make in the last thread. It doesn't take a MASSIVE amount of water at once to do it, all it takes a few drops, accumulated and not burned off due to the cooling effect of the water being in the CC, and it will eventually fill and hydrolock. My guess, with these engines, it wouldn't take more than a cup in one CC to cause some kind of hydrolocking damage.

im not understanding you.

if water leaks into the cylinder while the engine is off, the starter is not going to be able to turn it over, but there should be no internal damage.

im gonna have to say it sounds almost impossible for water to build up inside of a running engines combustion chamber from a hairline crack in a water jacket. The likeliness of an engine to hydrolock from its own coolant is so very rare, and is usually the cause of another catastrophic failure that would have ruined the engine anyways, or at least caused major damage.

most hydrolocking cases happen when people drive through a puddle, and they suck up a massive amount of water that the engine cant dissipate.

a cup is a massive amount of water, theres no way its going to get into a running engine unless something else is very very wrong with it, its not just going to simply build up a cup in the chamber.. and if it somehow did, i would hope the driver would at least pull over.. im sure it would be misfiring and knocking way before it will hydrolock

[Mogobs30th]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

You both are under the assumption that heat is guaranteed to burn off the water, and its not always the case. I said in the earlier post that it is possible for it to accumulate in a CC due to the fact that the water itself is going to cool the CC, even during combustion.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

Why wouldn't a few drops evaporate? Sure if you dumped a bottle as you previously stated into a cylinder it would lock up. Otherwise it's pretty hot in the combustion chamber... In the early 90's my mother while studying for her doctorate had a honda civic beater with a blown head gasket. It needed water every 10-15 miles. We drove that car for almost 2 years then sold it to another student at NC state.

[cam98aro]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

You both are under the assumption that heat is guaranteed to burn off the water, and its not always the case. I said in the earlier post that it is possible for it to accumulate in a CC due to the fact that the water itself is going to cool the CC, even during combustion.

theres no way the water will cool the combustion chamber down that much, remember, at 1000 rpm, the piston is going up and down approx 16 times a second, each second, thats 8 explosions per second, after the spark, the combustion temperature of the fuel is higher than 1800*F

i dont see water accumulating in these harsh conditions

if you could possibly get a combustion chamber so cold that water would condense inside i could see you becoming a millionaire, because all of the auto racing teams would LOVE to talk to you

[ssms5411]

Re: engine hydrolocking misconceptions

I was amazed at all the antifreeze that went into mine when my TB gasket went out and flooded my motor to the point it wouldn't start. I had it towed home and like I said fixed the TB gasket, replaced all spark pulgs ,and fired it up, it took a few times but eventually started and smoked for about a min. to get all the water out. I bought a compression kit from Habor Freight and checked it a couple of weeks later because i was worried about the rings. Now 4-5 years later still runs like a champ, total seal piston rings rule. LOL Once the engine temp is up it will burn up all fluids in the CC. Like I said with a wideband you can see how much fluid is burning up in the CC's becuase your WB readings will be LEAN instead of 14.7 at idle, or even reving it. This will be my second time using methanol injection on my car and it works very well in the AZ heat. I haven't got my EGT probe hooked up yet , but it takes about 5 mins. to reach 160 degree coolant temp. I can't wait to see what EGT temps are running in this heat and how much the methanol will decrease it, really intrests me. I have read turbo trucks running 1200-1300 EGT temps and going past 1600-1700 EGT temps is pretty bad.