So I was out in the campervan last night in the rather excessive rain we were having.

MASSIVE puddle across the road (more like a small lake) which for one of the first times in my life im sensible and drop it a gear skirt it wide through the shallows – needless to say the prick in the vectra following me decides this is an opportunity to undertake and hammers it through on the inside – creating a wave that nearly knocks the van over and floods my engine bay leading to instant engine death.

Completely dead – got lights but tried to restart it quickly in case it had just stalled out but nothing but a clunk and thats it.

Engine is a naturally aspirated 2.0l subaru Legacy EJ20 block. Induction is low on the left side and im pretty sure it would have pulled water through the air intake judging by its position and the tsunami that hit the van.

What's my best course of action – left it to dry out, take the plugs out and crank it to use the compression to push the water out the cyclinders?

Any help appreciated.

Water doesn't compress when an engine gets a gobful, so bits of the engine fail. (Bent rods, cracked heads etc). That's the worse case scenario.

A compression check will give youa quick diagnosis (It is/is not broken) If it's bust, take it to a dealer and get them to check. It will involve stripping the engine, and will be expensive.

I did something similar to a V6 Mondeo around Ullswater (self inflicted). It was a new engine job.

Its only been back on the road a couple of weeks after the cam belt went. Think im going to cry.

Wee in vectra owners shoes …. Prick

I lolled at take it to dealer comment – dealer for 1970s vdub with a scooby engine in it !

Well, I once took my car through a ford a bit quick and it died. The starter turned, but it wouldn't go. My dad came and toewed me home and repeated bump starting at 40-50mph eventually got it going again. The engine felt a lot better after that too!

What's my best course of action – left it to dry out, take the plugs out and crank it to use the compression to push the water out the cyclinders?

That's what I've heard. Never done it, though.

Housemate popped a con-rod through the engine of his subaru by driving through a deep puddle, not helpful 🙂

Take the plugs out and crank it to use the compression to push the water out the cyclinders?

that's what i'd try, if you've tried to start it hydrolocked and it's bent various bits of the insides of the engine already you're unlikely to make it a great deal worse. (I stand to be corrected) I'd also check the oil to make sure you haven't got any water in it as well, just in case like.

Hmm, water into a running engine is normally bent stuff.

I'd be tempted to try & get some light oil in the cylinders diesel/paraffin etc. & turn that though it a bit

Put it in reverse and push it backwards – all the water will come out.

Years ago I flooded my 2CV (left it on Putney Embankment and was gone much longer than planned – pretty silly really for a rower who knows the tide times but…). I got a van to tow me along the embankment which apparently resulted in water pouring out of the exhaust but also it eventually started in clouds of white smoke. Got it home (about 2 miles), drained the oil, ran an engine cleaner and refilled with oil and it was fine. 6 months later at service, realised that the gearbox oil had nicely emulsified too but didn't seem to have caused a problem.

if you've tried to start it hydrolocked and it's bent various bits of the insides of the engine already

Not necessarily as my example above shows (engine was checked later when I cooked it and had to replace the piston liner – nothing had got bent) and it could just be the electrics anyway.

Yup, taken a TDI Escort through what turned out to be a lake. Somehow got up to teh wing mirrors before packing up. Got a shove out (this was a singletrack road with half the A55 following me as the A55 was shut), turned it over a few times and staretd without much hassle. Lots of black gunk came out of the exhaust, but ran fine after a while…

plugs out, crank it over for a couple of minutes. then plugs back in, see if it starts.

Spark plugs out and cross your fingers as it turns over

Pull the plugs. Spray WD40 around the engine bay. Turn it over on the starter for 30 seconds. Should get rid of any small amounts of water. If it was a lot of water your motor probably broke when it swallowed it, but if it is just half drowned then this should sort it.

Used to need to do this regularly on my Mini Moke because my ambitions exceeded its capabilities at times 🙂

On modern engines make sure spark plugs are earthed – also means you can see if they are sparking.

Guess thats all I can do and keep my fingers crossed.

Its now getting to the point on a day to day basis that I dont know how much longer im going to bother for.

As above, but if it just clunks on the starter and doesn't actually turn over, then you'd have to say internals are probably fubar'd.

Onehappy hippy do you have the 2001-2003 Legacy? My air-induct is high up in the radiator.

Dont pull the plugs or try restarting. You might turn the engine over and cause more wear/damage. Thinking about it- my Forester had a downward air intake pipe – like a drainpipe on a house pointing down to the floor. It would have sucked up that water like a vacuum cleaner as soon as it'd washed high enough 🙁

Get over to scoobynet and put a post up there. Its full of Impreza owners however the majority share the EJ20 engine.

Its a phase 1 out of an 89-94. Air intake is a custom built induction system built for the camper. Its sits really low down the left side of the block – prob about two thirds of the way down the block. Right in the path of where the majority of the water would be entering the engine bay i would assume.

From the age I'd say its not economically-viable. Pulling plugs etc wont mean a damn – if all the waters been sucked in.

What van is it with a Legacy engine?! Sounds interesting.

Also sounds a bit terminal. Did you get the Vectra's reg number?

'73 Bay

Didnt get a reg, too busy trying to keep the van upright and get it somewhere close to the kerb.

time to plumb a new airtake on I recon?

Time for a recon 1.9TDI engine from salvage me thinks 😀

If its dead Im fuct, im still going to be paying for that engine for a few more years yet 🙁

The air intake is in pretty much the only location you can put it in to pull cold air from outside the engine bay.

A 1.9TDi would be ideal however the amount of work to do a diesel conversion and the lack of money means its not going to happen.

If the engine is dead then I wont have a choice but to sell it or torch it.

🙁

Have you posted up on Scoobynet?

Put it in reverse and push it backwards – all the water will come out.

I LOL'ed 😀

In all seriousness, it's very unlikely to be full of water, intakes arent anywhere near as powerfull as you'd imagine, unless you were gunning it the throttle body will have been fairly closed and the water hititng the airbox/filter should have stopped the engine pretty much dead. The midget will cut out if you just wave a hand over the air intake at idle!

I think the throttle would have been fairly wide open – i'd dropped it in to second as it was up hill on the way out of the lake.

There was water dripping from the filter / air intake when i got it to the kerb.

Posted on scoobynet – going to do what has been advised by everyone both here and there – plugs out, hand crank it over to push the water out, then turn it on the starter with the crank sensor off to hold the fueling. Then check the lift on the piston to see if the rods are shagged.

The way it just clonked when I tried to turn it over does not inspire confidence.

I'll take it off your hands for nothing rather than torching it 🙂

Series of clonks or just one?

'Clonk' singular.

Not like trying to turn on starter and not firing. Clonk like 'cant turn crank coz pistons are wedged by broken rods' clonk…

Or a "the battery is shorted out by being underwarer so very very flat" clonk?

Then I would think that the damage, if any, would be limited to the piston/rod that tried to compress water. Although the shock can affect other stuff like the bottom end bearings too. (speaking from similar experience, when the cam belt jumped & re-engaged on a car I owned there was a whole series of 'clonks' as it samshed every single valve…)

or TINAS could be right…

I was hoping electrics / battery however all lights, wipers / stereo seem to work without and loss of power – though they require a lot less power than it takes to turn the starter.

Will pop plugs out tonight if i can get to them and see if they are damp…

Got away with the cam belt letting go at 70mph a couple of months ago as its a non-interference engine. Its only been back on the road after having the belt done for 3 weeks 🙁

If it doesn't crank over with the plugs out you're screwed, it's more than likely bend rods/crank. But I don't think its that likely to have hydro locked, as above it does take some doing, usually gunning it through a very deep puddle. I'd be feeling fairly positive still at this point, it may well be something unrelated entirely that needs to dry out, crack open a new can of WD40 and get soaking everything electrical.

As im on engine No.3 build no.2 its hard to stay positive. I dont have much luck with it to be fair, it does nearly as many miles on recovery trucks and has been off the road more than on it. It is a old VW tho…

good luck.. i know exactly how you're feeling ('80 aircooled brick owner)

Good luck..
Stories like this that stopping me buying a camper..
Saw a futuristic BMW vixen camper the other day – very cool.

Stories like this that stopping me buying a camper..

Could happen to any car, in all fairness.

However I'm cautious around water, for this kind of reason.

If the intake was designed properly it wouldn't be as much of a problem, most cars have their intake as high in the bonnet area as possible, with U bends included, to avoid ingestion of water, plus drain holes in a suitably sized filter box.