Low level air intake and shallow water

[V6Exec]

Just killed my car - went through some water that was a bit too deep, and the engine now makes an awful noise, is down on power and emits a petrol smell from the exhaust.

Not much I can do now, save remind others of the perils of hydraulicing an engine

[Ares]

wait,what happened,did turbo pull water in?
can you fix it?

[lozz]

Just killed my car - went through some water that was a bit too deep, and the engine now makes an awful noise, is down on power and emits a petrol smell from the exhaust.

Not much I can do now, save remind others of the perils of hydraulicing an engine

Hydrolocked?
no it carnt be if it still runs,

Take the spark plugs out, Disconect the coil packs and Turn the engine over,see if it spits any water out of any of the pots.

You might be lucky and have escaped a bent valve or 2. (good luck)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolock

[steve_earwig]

Sorry to hear that dude People do get away with it sometimes with minimal damage, so fingers crossed for you.

It's just occured to me we need a general warning for this one. If I can work out how...

[steve_earwig]

That'll do for a start, tomorrow I'll flesh it out once I've done some searching because we've talked about this problem before...

[drjonts]

Sorry to hear that

Hmmm...it might be ok but as has been said it's a case of getting all that water out and seeing how it is afterwards. My neighbour did the same to his X-plate diesel 406 and after disconnecting all the pipes to intercooler and intakes etc. and hairdrying it out, it seemed to be OK.

There's likely to be water somewhere in the pipes I reckon (not sure of the routing of pipes on a V6 though).

Agree that this is an issue on the 406 and people should be aware

Good luck.

Jonty

[V6Exec]

This is the ford - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/622538 (water level was around 6 inches higher, so I did not expect there to be a problem)

Just checked the oil - no sign of water. Functional test - starts fine and runs on front bank (rear disconnected), but did not start on just the rear (front bank disconnected).

Sadly I do not have the space or facilities to invesitigate this fully and the engine may well be repairable.

If anyone wants an early D9 V6 estate with full leather interior and all the toys, complete with 12 months MOT (but a water damaged engine) drop me a PM.

(12 months & 3 days MOT )

[Busman]

The only thing to add to this is that this is a problem with lots of modern vehicles. A quick, very unscientific look at the cars at work reveiled most air intakes to be in the same or similar positions as the 406.
I would say that the only safe thing with modern vehicles is not to go through standing water at all. And if you must, slowly at tick over is the only safe way. I tend to think that a long detour is better than a damaged engine.

[plod]

That's a real bummer

The coupe club lot seem lot more clued up on this with their Z ducts and the like
I would of done my car, but there was no evidence a front mounted scoop improved performance on the tractor engine
However, compared to the chance of hydrolocking then it's a good mod regardless escecially since the design of the air intake is set up for LHD cars i.e in the middle of the road, whereas RHD cars it's in the gutter.
Guess I was kinda hoping for a plug and play solution rather than making something myself through trial and error, but looks like I need to put this on my "to do" list

[teamster1975]

I'm gutted for you, my first 406 suffered the same fate
I took the plugs out and turned it over, a jet of water shot from each cylinder, put the plugs back in and the once smoothly running petrol engine sounded like an old tractor, totally fubar

[steve_earwig]

I guess it's up to you but I suppose if it's still misfiring after you've dried everything out and changed the air filter then it will be something more serious. My next step would be a compression test but I gather getting to the plugs is quite a job to start off with on a V6

That'll do for a start, tomorrow I'll flesh it out once I've done some searching because we've talked about this problem before...

Now updated with a few links and also how to remove the link pipe below the air filter. I'd be interested to know if they're all more-or-less the same as they all seem to have different part numbers

[Welly]

Thought about making an Insurance claim for this?

It'll get written off but you might get a hire car for a bit and some folding for the old motor?

[scotty73]

Thought about making an Insurance claim for this?

It'll get written off but you might get a hire car for a bit and some folding for the old motor?

Sneaky feckers will probably blame the water being there as an act of god.

[Welly]

....or the wrong 'type' of water

[mjb]

I guess it's up to you but I suppose if it's still misfiring after you've dried everything out and changed the air filter then it will be something more serious. My next step would be a compression test but I gather getting to the plugs is quite a job to start off with on a V6

It's a pain on the Coupé due to the strut brace, but it's not too bad (albeit a bit long-winded) on the other bodies.