Hydrolock!!!

[lambammm]

Originally Posted by ridaam

who knowsthis genius who can fix my hydrolocked 135?? RM

you can't fix it, but you may be able to get it running and trade it in.

edit: though it's shady and karma is a bitch.

[Lester]

Originally Posted by ridaam

Hi,

I was driving through a very low level of standing water to park my car at the train station when a suv came from the other side splashing water. The car was going fine for 5-10 yards more then died completely. BMW says it was Hydrolocking of the engine as water entered through the air intakes which were for the turbos of the 135i. The repair cost will be $21k. I have called my insurance company to file a claim already. Has this happened to any of you and has the insurance paid for the engine or did the write the car off or did they force you to pay for some reason??

RM

How deep was the water, and how fast were you travelling? Tough luck.

[Lester]

A 325i is not turbocharged. The problem is water does not compress, like air. So if you manage to fill up the cylinder with water while the engine is turning over, when the valves close for the compression cycle, there is no give. Something has to break. This is definitely something to start keeping track of. It rains a lot in the winter this part of the world.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by lambammm

just fyi. i don't know how common this is, but i've seen a hydrolocked 325i brought back to life. long time bmw mechanic friend, i don't know what rank he is or whatever since you guys are saying master mechanic this and that, but he's awesome and about 45 years old. he did it in about an hour and a half minus oil changes. here's the story:

325i owner drives into closed street during flood because there is no other way home, so he says. the water is only up to the door sill at first but a steep drop and the bmw is hood deep in a puddle. hydrolock.

mechanic comes over the next day trys to start it, nothing. takes out all spark plugs. uses the start/stop button to shoot out water from engine until almost none is coming out, looked like a disney-esque synchronized water fountain. replaces oil and filter, put in new spark plugs, started the car after numerous attempts and a whole lot of water shoots out of the exhaust. cranks the throttle for a good 20 minutes to get as much water out as possible, changes the oil and oil filter, and drives it away. the owner changed the oil and oil filter about 5 or 6 times to get the water out. last i heard, he traded it in at fair-value after drying the carpets, though the sub-woofers broke. buyers of used 325i's beware.

p.s. it wasn't my 325i if that wasn't clear...i don't drive into 4 ft puddles. i was the guy helping the mechanic press the start/stop button.

:bs:

If you fill an engine with water, it BREAKS things. You can't just pull the plugs and empty it out and get it running.

[lambammm]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

:bs:

If you fill an engine with water, it BREAKS things. You can't just pull the plugs and empty it out and get it running.

I don't know how it worked, it just did. i saw it with my own eyes, spark plugs were out and the engine was shooting water out. i was behind the wheel and the hood was obviously up, so unless he had some sort of engine shaped water gun...and eventually water was shooting out of the exhaust, a lot of water. the drained oil was the color of mud. there's no way to convince skeptical know-it-alls except to say, if your car hydrolocks try it, cause i swear i saw it and what do you have to lose?

[lambammm]

Originally Posted by Lester

A 325i is not turbocharged. The problem is water does not compress, like air. So if you manage to fill up the cylinder with water while the engine is turning over, when the valves close for the compression cycle, there is no give. Something has to break. This is definitely something to start keeping track of. It rains a lot in the winter this part of the world.

this i can agree with, water doesn't compress..at all. you might not be able to do it with a turbo charged bmw, but i wouldn't know.

[ronnyek]

the non turbo thing is a valid point, but unless the truck made a signifigant wave I dont see how it could be a full blown hydrolock... I mean I really dont see how it could happen.

[ridaam]

Water was about 4 inches, going at about 20mph! Car coming from other side splashing big amounts, combination took in some water into intake!

I took a picture to show how low the water was!

[ronnyek]

still something up... I've looked into the 135i intake configuration... about the only logical thing I coudl come up with... is like somone mentioned boost line popped off, and inhaled a ton of water....

Or maybe a little water got into turbos and in turn caused the turbos to grenade sending metal chunks into the engine...

[ronnyek]

and if your valves or connecting rods dont get major damage, you can revive a motor... my sister forgot to put the damn plug in the back of our boat, and the back half of it sank into the lake she killed the motor VERY shortly after it started sucking in water.

We just yanked the plugs, turned it overblew some air in there... sprayed in some light wd40, new oil filter, etc....

It worked great for a lot of years following the incident

[karma8]

time for a M6

[yanks4285]

Originally Posted by lambammm

you can't fix it, but you may be able to get it running and trade it in.

edit: though it's shady and karma is a bitch.

pm replied and sent.

[135iUSN]

Originally Posted by Lester

A crease on the center of the front bumper? More like a foot of water - wouldn't that mean? The center of the bumper is about the same level as the center of the front wheel, and since the center of the wheel is exactly 12 inches above ground. That means you hit a small lake at 55 mph? You're lucky you weren't injured. I will add that to the list of things not to do with my 135i. LOL.

Was the road properly drained? Perhaps you can sue the city?

are you crazy? - sue the city - lord...

In my book, should you try to sue the city, - declined !

Reason:

raining -
going 10 miles over speed limit -
raining - (one should reduce speed - not increase it)

Sorry about the situation, but if I were the insurance adjuster, I'd decline it as well. People need to be held accountable for their actions...and this move was sheer recklessness - so glad it didn't cause an accident or death to an innocent sole/family member.

Furthermore, we all would like the entire story - something is just not right!

[My135]

I've seen people fixed a hydro locked Honda Civic engine like the same way "lambammm" described but the guy who drove the Honda Civic (with cold air intake) drove the car SLOWLY over the deep water and the car died in the middle of the puddle. So, may be the water did not do much damage to the block.

[Ettore]

I actually had the same incident two years ago in Florida with my previous BMW, 330i. It happened in a parking lot during heavy rain an there was about 5 inches of standing water. I was NOT driving 55 but rather 5mph. New engine (5000miles in it) and repairs totaling about 9kUSD. My hydralocked engine had about 17000miles in it. Insurance covered the whole thing.

[frimmelnojerz]

....i call shinnanigans on this whole thread.

[ronnyek]

yeah, I dont mean to insult anyones intelligence, but this stuff just doesnt add up. If you understand how an engine works, or understand fluid dynamics, an engine is going to need to suck a lot of water to hydrolock.

Good example, get a straw, and put your mouth over half of it and suck like a MF... your going to have to suck like 10x harder to get the water up the straw. Likewise I think the only way your going to hydrolock is if boost line came undone, you could have boostline submerged in the water and suck in enough. or hit FEET of water. A big splash is very unlikely to hydrolock it.

If your turbo gets blasted and your motor eats turbine pieces, that might be a good example of how it could happen.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by ronnyek

yeah, I dont mean to insult anyones intelligence, but this stuff just doesnt add up. If you understand how an engine works, or understand fluid dynamics, an engine is going to need to suck a lot of water to hydrolock.

Good example, get a straw, and put your mouth over half of it and suck like a MF... your going to have to suck like 10x harder to get the water up the straw. Likewise I think the only way your going to hydrolock is if boost line came undone, you could have boostline submerged in the water and suck in enough. or hit FEET of water. A big splash is very unlikely to hydrolock it.

If your turbo gets blasted and your motor eats turbine pieces, that might be a good example of how it could happen.

There's a little more at work than that. When you block the intake to an engine, it's going to pull whatever is in the intake into it, or create a hell of a vacuum trying. If the airfilter gets soaked, you're in trouble. That water is going to get into the cylinder, and it won't compress like air does, which is what breaks rods. It doesn't have to fill up the cylinder, just change the compression ratio enough to do damage.

Also, when you pull a vacuum on water it boils at room temperature and become vapor. It might be possible that enough water vapor got into an engine to stall it, but not damage it, but it would seem like a pretty lucky break to me.

[ronnyek]

yeah there is a little more to that, but as you pointed out... block intake... if you took a big ass cold air intake and stuck it half in the water and fired it up... what do you think would happen... it'll probably suck in some water at high rpms... and 4 inches of water isnt going to submerge the intake

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by ronnyek

yeah there is a little more to that, but as you pointed out... block intake... if you took a big ass cold air intake and stuck it half in the water and fired it up... what do you think would happen... it'll probably suck in some water at high rpms... and 4 inches of water isnt going to submerge the intake

You don't need to come anywhere close to submersion to get this. Any water that gets into the air intakes (which are in the grills) is going into the engine. You could probbaly stand in front of the car and throw a bucket of water at it while someone revved it up and hydro-lock it.

I'm honestly concerned enough about the intake design that if I move back to FL in the spring I'll probably remove the cold air part.

This makes the third report of this happening, and it's just not worth the chance to me.

[Terrance28]

Damn this happened to me in my brand new Gto, so I know how the OP feels. Atleast its getting token cared of, new turbos and engine ftw.

[frimmelnojerz]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

You don't need to come anywhere close to submersion to get this. Any water that gets into the air intakes (which are in the grills) is going into the engine. You could probbaly stand in front of the car and throw a bucket of water at it while someone revved it up and hydro-lock it.

I'm honestly concerned enough about the intake design that if I move back to FL in the spring I'll probably remove the cold air part.

This makes the third report of this happening, and it's just not worth the chance to me.

you understand that theres a degree of bad luck mixed with stupidity to this whole thing IF it's true, right? i wouldn't be concerned about it unless you have some self control problems or are just flat out dumb. i live in florida for the school year and have never had any sort of problem with getting water in anything. actually, the only time i had an issue with a car in water was in my S4 in hoboken new jersey during a storm after work. and i was CRAWLING through the puddle. you and every other human with a properly functioning brain will not be in danger. i hardly think bmw has designed the intake to just suck in water like that.