Have I drowned it?

[mykulmerc]

W209 CLK 270CDi..

ok...so I drove through a bit of a flood that was deeper than I thought and ground to a halt. Eventually it restarted and I drove away, seemingly ok. I fully understand how an engine can be killed by ingesting water. Yesterday and this morning I thought it was slightly rough at idle, but put it down to my imagination. Only drove 1 1/2 miles this morning. This afternoon, it is def rough at tickover and didn't want to pull away from cold. Didn't take long to get driving ok, but still lumpy at idle.

Is it possible to "slightly" damage an engine with water, or is it a case of its either b***ered or not?

What are the chances of the cause being electrical?

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
If the car was mine before doing anything else I would check the air filter, as if the engine had tried to breath the water I feel sure you would see some evidence here, possibly just the filter being wet restricting the air.

 

[Henry D]

More chance of it being damp electrics to be honest,if you had manage to hydraulic the engine it would not improve with use.

 

[mykulmerc]

Thanks both to you and Andy 27168. The point about the electrics is that the car is worse 24 hours later than when I first got out. It was a very damp, miserable afternoon, so I suppose that could just add to any damp thats in there, making things worse.

I've got the air filter out.....its not soaking wet, but not exactly dry either, so it in rehab at the moment. Actually its not very clean,so might treat myself to a new one tomorrow. Wouldn't the air mass sensor compensate for any reduced airflow though?

Thanks guys....any more thoughts are always welcome

 

[Dieselman]

Does it smoke blue-white smoke, if so the compression is low due to bent conrods.

 

[mykulmerc]

There was some some white smoke as I pulled out of the water, but couldn't tell if it was just steam off hot exhaust or not. There's no smoke now

 

[Alex Crow]

If it were consistently lumpy from the incident, you could have bent a con rod.

However, as you say it was initially OK, but now lumpy, I wonder if a main bearing cap bolt has stretched and is working loose - any 'orrible noises?

I have seen these bolts become stretched from hydraulic locking, so it does happen.

 

[mykulmerc]

There's no 'orrible noises. I did think I could hear a light tinkling like a petrol does with pre-ignition, but not sure how real that was. There's just the lumpy running - could be just running rich?

 

[panason1c]

Is it possible to "slightly" damage an engine with water, or is it a case of its either b***ered or not?

Yes, a small amount of water entering a cylinder can cause the piston to 'hydraulic' and bend a con rod(s) from 'slightly', (where the engine still runs) to 'catastrophic' (where the engine will not run)

In either case, its an expensive repair. (possibly covered by your insurance policy)

A compression test would be advisable imo.

 

[flango]

We have had a couple in the last week with lambda sensors absolutely soaked with water, removal clean and dry refit and problem disappeared car returned to normal running, didn't throw up any warning lights either though but fault codes were logged and the 2 cars in question wern't MB one Volvo T6 the other a Mondeo ST220 just athought