2L8LUZ

I'm fairly new to the C6 community so I am curious to how much ingested water does it take to hydro-lock an LS3??

The reason I am asking this is, I just went through a 15hr rain storm in where my car sat outside... The seals must have failed or leaked rain through them...

I went to start the car to just move from one parking space to the next...maybe 3 mins running time and I noticed that the engine was running really ruff... not overly bad but a defined miss feeling ... After shutting down the motor I went to inspect the CAI Air Raid Filter and noticed that the bottom of the filter was wet... I just pulled the filter and there was no noticeable water on the inside of the filter or puddles, it was wet though...

I'm guessing just the filter being wet would cause lack of airflow?

For public knowledge and from past unfortunate situations can anyone share their hydro-locked stories and if so how soaked their filters were??

1968swbbigblock

Your car sitting during a rain storm is not going to hydro lock an engine.
It takes more than drops. Much depends upon engine rpm vs the amount of water coming in.
I would get the car out and up to temperature, if it is still running rough check all of your plug wires. Plug wires coming loose is not uncommon

cmonkey713

It takes quite a bit of water to hydrolock an engine. What happens is the bottom feeder intakes must be almost completely submerged while the engine is running to suck up enough water to lock. As we know, you cannot compress a liquid so as the piston comes up on the compression stroke the water will not allow the piston to complete its travel to top dead center. Something has to give, it usually ends with a bent rod or worse depending on the RPM.

Mike's LS3

When you pulled the air filter you should of tried starting the car and see if idled smoothed out any. If it ran smooth you know what caused it.

WW7

Unless the engine was submerged, your not having a problem due to hydrolock. Most of the time hydrolocking is due to an internal leak such as a head gasket failing..Also, if the engine hydrolocked it would happen on the first cycle of the crankshaft and the motor would come to a stop in that cycle , after that the water would be expelled from the engine.. I agree with the others that your probably having a running problem due to excessive moisture.. Like mentioned , letting the car get to temperture and driving it around awhile should take care of the problem.. If that doesn't work after a few heat/cool cycles then it's time to hook it up to a Tech II to find out where the problem is..WW
.
.
.
.

simplegto

If the CAI has an oil soaked filter you may have washed some oil into the TB and fouled the sensor.

RC4G

Trust me, there will be no doubt in your mind if/when you have hydro-locked a motor as it is not a subtle experience.

cv67

x2 youll definitely know thats not your issue
ck to see if your battery is weak most problems are usually something very simple

EVRose

You've never heard of hydrolock due to driving through high water? It definitely happens.

Aliquantus

I've done that and remarkably, it didn't hurt the engine. Realizing right away what happened, I pulled out all the spark plugs and turned the motor over on the starter, the water streams almost knocked the hood off (this was on built 4-cylinder). Poured some oil in the cylinders and she ran flawlessly for another ten years. I guarantee stock rods on most any engine would not stand for that abuse.

WW7

Read my post again.. The first line says "unless the motor is submerged".. I think driving through high water would qualify as submerging the engine , don't you?...WW
.
.
.

EVRose

I read your post just fine the first time. I'm not talking about sinking the car in 4 ft of water. All it takes is for the air intake, which is only several inches off the ground, to be submerged and the engine is toast. Especially with aftermarket CAI.

LoganExplosion

It was probably in warm-up-mode and had a little moisture on the MAF or something. Parking in the rain is not going to hurt the car. As others have said, hydrolock is just that, locked, 0 RPM. NOT running rough.

WW7

What kind of car do you have.. My air intake is 16-18 inches off the ground...Stop trying to start arguments and nit picking over stupid stuff..I'm here to enjoy myself, not argue... ..WW
.
.

EVRose

Fine! No more arguments. I'll just leave this here and be quiet. From my 05 owners manual...

wayback

Only problems I recall reading about have had a vararam intake. They are open to the elements much lower than most other intakes.

Not saying it has never happened with a stock filter but I don't recall reading about one.

But I never drive thru high water if I can avoid it.

Dcasole

The OP states that his car sat in a 15 hr rain storm ....i take that as the car was parked ...

As others have stated , if the motor was hydrolocked you would know it as it would not start .....a little bit of water is not going to hurt anything ....alot of water when the car is running is real bad ...

Dave

HOXXOH

Straight answer. Slightly over 2 oz in any cylinder on the compression stroke will lock the engine.

It's really tough to get enough water splashed high enough to cover the stock air filter and suck in any water. Possible? Yes, but very unlikely.

Vararam is the most susceptible. A paper filter reduces the chance. Assuming you don't go deep, or at a speed to push water up, you'll survive. The biggest concern is a bow wave from an oncoming vehicle. If you see that coming, simply shut off the engine before it hits and wait to restart until the water is calm again.
I made a simple panel to block waves from 1/8" foam board and attach it with bungies, if I get in a flood situation. I've only needed it once, but it takes no room to store it. I'd much rather have it than not.

LoganExplosion

I think I'd just rock the stock intake before I bungied styrofoam to my grill.

BadgeZ28

doesn't take much water to take out a hot wire type MAF. Check for codes