Ok, so I took delivery of my 82 about three weeks ago. After giving the car a good detail I decided to clean up the engine compartment. Gave it a light washing and now it wont start. Didn't soak the motor. Now it wont turn over. Battery tests good. I figured it might be solenoid on starter, replaced with new starter and solenoid. Same problem. Turn the key, I can hear the starter trying to engage. After I tried to start it after I cleaned it it sounds like it possibly 'locked up'. Is that far fetched? Someone mentioned to me about some faulty castings for that motor and maybe somehow water got inside the motor? Sort of bizarre, not sure what to look for next ....

For what it's worth ... it was running great when I got it. Took it on a 20 mile run with no problem


Thanks for any input.

 

You say the battery tested good. How did you test it? I guess you pulled the terminals and made sure they are clean? Vette cables are really long so they need to be really good.

I have no idea what casting thing someone is telling you but if you can get water in your engine that would hydro lock it (other than pouring it down the intake) from what you call a "light washing" then you would have had issues running at all or keeping fluids in it. Your idea of "light washing" and mine could also be very different.

Have you attempted to roll the engine over a lil with a socket on the dampener bolt? Short of pulling the plugs and trying to roll it over to see if fluid comes out of I'm not sure what you have there.

One last thing i can think of.... your 82 has an air pump on it (or should) .... did you happen to get water in that and it sat for a while. I saw one of those lock up on a friends mustang from water contamination. Are all of your accessories spinning over freely?

 

Thanks 69. I literally more or less misted the engine to rinse off any Spray 9. No soaking. If there was a hairline crack in the intake I can't imagine that much water could get in without me noticing the car running rough before all this happened. However I think I'm going to pull plugs later today and crank it over . Just to eliminate that. Ill check air pump theory as well. Thanks for the reply!

 

Does it turn over at all?
If you have 12 volts at the battery, then check the voltage at the starter.
Check the ground cables.
I had a ground issue and found the negative cable to the battery, looked to be clean and good condition but it was corroded so badly under the insulation there was only a couple strands left.
replaced the cable and no more issues.

 

A bad alternator bearing will cause the alternator to seize. Loosen the alternator belt, (or remove), and retry.

 

Well my most feared hunch was correct. I pulled plugs, had water come out of #4 cylinder. 😩 Won't turn over with all plugs out. No idea how water got in. I did wash the motor but I certainly didn't soak it. I thinking a crack in a metal breather tube (?) going in to the exhaust manifold. (?) At any rate i'm screwed. 😕

 

DO NOT SPIN IT OVER. You have water in the pan now. Sure don't want to pump that water throughout. If you don't crank it, water will not be picked up by the oilpump screen.

At this point I think I would get the front end up. Drain the oil / water for at least a day. Put fresh oil in, filter should be fine. Squirt some oil in the cylinders, then crank it over.

Don't know what type of valve covers you have, so only you can decide if you think water got in around the PCV or breather. May have to pull the valve covers for an inspection.

 

Great advice, thanks. No so sure if its not seized up though

 

You're lucky it didn't turn over. Check the oil and see how bad it looks. Post a picture. When you get the plugs out I would blow some compressed air in there also just to assist in water back out of the plug hole (so don't seal it the plug hole).

After you drain it for a good long time (at least a day as mentioned above) then I would buy some cheap oil just to run and drain it once, and then after running that refill it with the good oil.

 

I might use kerosene for oil to help rid your engine of the water. Simply drain the oil/water you have now, then add five quarts of kerosene and turn the engine over (by hand) without starting it. I have a large socket for the crank pulley and a three foot ratchet and without plugs it turns over with some effort. You need to be absolutely sure that you don't have any water in any of the cylinders. I would even try a shop vacuum on removing any water from the cylinders. Adding maybe an ounce of oil to each cylinder is another good suggestion. Then spin the engine with no spark plugs to clear them out after.

I have seen people fill an engine with kerosene and run it at idle for 10-15 minutes and then draining it out. It is thinner than oil but still a lubricant and it will help rid you of the water left over. The hot kerosene did an amazing job of removing sludge and other contaminants from the inside of the oiling system.

Jiffy Lube used to offer a engine flush service where they reverse flowed HOT Kerosene through the engine. I tried it on a 1980 Ford P/U with 100,000 miles of sludge and when they finished it was amazing. When you pulled a valve cover it was like a new engine. The oil stayed clear for the remainder of the time we had it. Jiffy Lube charged $100 for the service which seemed like a deal on the Ford. The machine used had a large filter that was replaced after each engine flush and the filter used on our P/U was DIS-Gusting. The Jiffy Lube engine flush is done with the engine shut off to avoid problems.

Both of my Corvettes have clear oil when I change it so I have not tried the Jiffy Lube system on a Corvette.

The ground wire on my 1968 C3 had issues so I had it replaced. It sounds like you might have a dirty connection someplace. Start at the battery and follow the power.

Best regards,
Chris

 

I was at the Colorado River many years ago and a friend of mine was out in his Sanger Hydro idling down river and got swamped by a large day cruiser.
His boat went down in ten feet of water in an instant.
We had it back up and on the trailer in about ten minutes.
We drained the oil, and filled it with fresh oil and a new filter.
Drained the fuel tanks, flushed the lines and dumped water out of the carbs.
Pulled the plugs and spun the motor.
Replaced the plugs, fired the engine and had the hydro back on the water within an hour.
No damage.
I would think you should be ok.

 

Kerosene is more of a cleanser than a lubricant. If its cleaning your engine, its also removing the oil from the bearing surface.
I recall soaking greasy car parts in that stuff to remove lube many yrs ago.

Sounds like a bad idea.

 

I wonder if the OP turned the hose on the air cleaner and water went into the carb then intake, etc.
If OP has all the plugs out and he can't turn the engine over then I got to think "sounds like it possibly locked up" means he heard a rod bend and jam piston skirt, and it won't let the engine turn.
I would not dump kerosene in there either. Why add more problems?

 

Before I go further I’m going to borrow my buddies flywheel turning wrench tomorrow and see where that gets me. Thanks for input 👍🏻

 

The 82's had crossfire injection didnt they? Does yours still have that? Is the air-pump architecture still there? There are one-way valves in the exhaust manifolds for the air pump to push air into them but not allow exhuast back to the pump.

Did you happen to have a lil helper helping you when cleaning the car an maybe they gave her a "rinse" for you when you weren't looking?

I think the real elephant in the room is How did you get that much water into the engine? To get water into the cylinders you have to get it down the intake or somehow into the exhaust manifolds (or a head gasket leak or internal block/head crack).

I just dont see how a good running engine could have a gasket or sealing issue that would otherwise allow water in and still run well otherwise.

Any pics of the engine compartment sides by the valve covers?

 

Yes it does have the crossfire injection. And yes still has air pump. For the life of me cannot figure how that much water could get inside. Never doused it with water, sprayed motor with degreaser and lightly rinsed it. I never took off air cleaner when I cleaned it. But afterward when I did take it off and I saw a flexible metal breather tube that goes from air cleaner in to the intake that could of had a crack. Thats the only thing I see. Not sure if it cracked when I took off the air cleaner assembly or not. The person who I bought it from just had work done on it in December and the intake gasket was replaced. 🤔 I did not notice if the water that came out of that cylinder had any anti freeze in it. Didn't appear to. As you mention, If that was leaking the car would not be running properly. I'll see what I find when I try to turn the flywheel. 🙏🏻 Hopefully today. Thanks for the insight!

 

What about shooting some aerosol lubricant in that cylinder right away to keep if from rusting?

 

A couple of days and you're not going to have any real water problems. Unless you washed it 3 weeks to go and just now found out it won't move you're probably not seized. Even 3 weeks is not that badd. Crack at loose with a big screwdriver on flywheel teeth and then you should be able to put a wrench on the balancer and turn the motor over.

 

Tried moving the flywheel. Nothing. 😢 Out she comes. Off to the machine shop

 

Hold on, hold on. Don't slap the panic button yet. Is this a manual transmission? Was it in neutral?
It can't be hydro-locked. To be hydro-locked, the sparkplugs would have to be in. You said you removed all of them.

Maybe you fried the starter with your water hose. Maybe the bendix is now jammed against the flywheel. IDK

Did you drain the oil? Lots of water?

You had some water in some cylinders. That would not keep it from turning over with the plugs out. Somethings not right here.

Look elsewhere and keep looking.