Things to check after submersion?

benspray · Nov 29, 2011

Hi All

My wife rolled my discovery into a water filled ditch this morning, shes fine so Im now wondering what to check for on the engine once its brought back to me in the morning - the vehicle was bought as a donor for its engine mainly as it was a very nicely running full service history low milage 300tdi auto (but with a pretty dodgy body)

I think the chances are that it was still running when it went under the water, but she doesnt know - it left the road, hit a bank at the other side of the ditch, flipped in the air and landed upside down in the ditch so not sure if the engine would have kept running until that point.

The airbox would have been the first thing to go under the water with how it landed so Im guessing thats the first thing to check, I plan to check the air box for water and mud that has got past the air filter, drain the oil and check for water/silt etc drain the coolant (whats left of it as the header tank broke in the impact) and take it from there.

Is it worth then refilling with oil and coolant and pulling the glow plugs or injectors and trying to turn it over to see if theres water in the bores, I assume this would squirt out if there is in which case its time to strip it really and check the rods etc I guess? if it does turn over ok and seems dry I guess it would be easy to tell if a rod was bent or other internal damage ie noise wise etc?

Anything else I can do to check before having to strip it/anything that i may have forgotten? and I guess the last question is if I get to that stage and find water in the bores is it really worth going any further?

Cheers
Ben

The Mad Hat Man · Nov 29, 2011

:welcome:
yu mite find the Discovery section is better than the 300TDI engine section....

however, remove glo-plugs and spin the engine over. if not sure remove pushrods and check for straightness.

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Hi, Thought this section would be best as its purely about the engine - The discovery is a total write off not one straight panel left!
Cheers though I will pull the glo plugs and see what happens

defender1990 · Nov 30, 2011

Sounds like it would have been running while upside down, if only for a short period, best bet is to drain the oil out, and run about 2-3 litres of oil through it with the sump plug out to make sure you get all the water. Then remove all of the heater plugs and if it will crank the engine for a good few minutes, make sure the bonnet is open and no one is in the way as this will fire water out of your cylinders. do this until no more water comes out, then put the heater plugs back in and take the rocker cover off and have a look if you can see any majorly bent push rods, if you can DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE, if all looks well then you might be ok....

Hopefully your engine diddnt ingest any water and is just a bit shaken up.

you dont need any coolant in the engine for a brief run just dont rev it up too much or let it run for more than a minute

I completely drowned a 200tdi last year in a 10 foot deep river!
and after doing the above, it somehow lived and went on to do 10,000 miles trouble free!!

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Thanks, not sure how much hope I hold out now, air filter had been dislodged and there was mud and some grass (probably pond weed actually) in the pipe to the turbo, just taken the top intercooler hose of and the inlet manifold is full oil oily water....
Will attempt the glo plug / turn over and check the push rods later today.

Cheers
Ben

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

oh and the oil dipstick had come out of the autbox filler tube so not looking like I'll be lucky with that either

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Some pics...

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Safe to say theres not much usable!

barmatt · Nov 30, 2011

Holy crap

that's a bit of a mess.

Hope the missus is ok and good luck getting that engine going again.

Oldseadog · Nov 30, 2011

Pleased to hear that your wife is OK. Seems like a lucky escape!

If you can get the engine running, a good hammer and dolly should sort the rest of it out!!

surreyrock · Nov 30, 2011

Thats scary

Especially as my other half drives an identical disco (same colour,wheels, interior)

Glad everyone got out unhurt

*minty* · Nov 30, 2011

I agree what a mess

glad the missus is ok.

Oldseadog · Nov 30, 2011

surreyrock said:
Thats scary Especially as my other half drives an identical disco (same colour,wheels, interior)

Glad everyone got out unhurt

... Bent??

surreyrock · Nov 30, 2011

Oldseadog said:
... Bent??

Not as bent as that, depends on what shes parking near

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Yep cheers all,

This happened yesterday morning and my wife is back at work today - she wanted to go in yesterday! but I wouldnt let her.
The very rear drivers side window broke ie the boot area window and luckily that was the only window not submerged! none of the doors would open etc so all round pretty lucky!
I think if it had have happened in any other car she wouldnt have got out, we took her MR2 off the road at the start of this month so she could use the Discovery over the winter...
I Will probably look for another discovery now for her now seeing how stong they are when needed ie it is a total mess but the passenger compartment is sound and probably what saved her...

Cheers
Ben

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

hmm, just had another look over it, the exhaust tail pipe is full of mud ie pre submersion mud / grass from the field tightly packed in there like the old potato up the pipe....

I may be hoping a bit but Im wondering, surely if the engine was still running at that stage this mud would have either blown out or stalled the engine? Pretty much a couple of seconds between that point and it flipping and ending up in the water but theres a chance that the water etc in the inlet manifold is just from it sitting in the water for 6 hours while we waited for the police to close the road and the crane to lift it out.

I will do some more on the engine later I think (I was ready to give up this morning when all that mud and water came out of the turbo pipe and inlet manifold)... theres no water in the oil as far as I can tell, I havent drained it yet but no mayo on the filler and its clean and water free on the dipstick as well....

Cheers
Ben

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

There was mention of flushing with oil with the drain plug out, would there be any other options here ie fill it with diesel or something (not sure how much it would hold as to how expensive that would be though!) and then flush it out or is that a really bad idea?

lynall · Nov 30, 2011

**** me she is one lucky bunny!
Only dry bit was the sump.

Lynall

benspray · Nov 30, 2011

Sump was underwater as well... the fuel tank was up and out and thats about it...!

benspray · Dec 1, 2011

Well decided after seeing what came out of the turbo and intercooler and inlet manifold that I wasnt happy just turning it over with the glo plugs out, so I've just been out and removed the head, took about 1 and a half hours so seemed worth it top end looks perfect, no damage to any valves or any of the lifter rods etc..
Bottom end wise each bore is full of engine oil and cant initially see any scoring etc in teh bores, all have a nice honed finish still, and only the front bore has any water in it, but all have a small amount of grit/silt so I guess it sucked in the water then somehow filled with oil?? not quite sure how?
Anyway, hopefully later I'll get a chance to carefully turn it over by hand and see if each piston moves and reaches the top and bottom of its stroke if they do I guess no bent rods and apart from the turbo which I'm guesing will be dead what with having silt and pondweed in, no real casualties.

Cheers all
Ben

Things to check after submersion?

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