1988 1 ton 7.3 water in #4 cylinder. Not coolant it is rain water air cleaner on, hood down. the only thing i can figure is the hood seal is hard and dry and water came in on top of air cleaner and went into intake. i basically hydro-locked #4, i got it blown out and got it started. I think it bent a rod will have to taker her apart and see. so beware make sure there is a seal around the bolt holding the air cleaner down.

 

i was very fortunate to be warned about this here as well,and replaced my leaky cowl/hood seal right after being warned,back when i was still n/a and saw a puddle forming up around the (thankfully!) still water tight sealed wing nut on the air cleaner after a rain.
i found it at lmc and replaced it asap.

hopefully your heads up saves another idi too,roger.

 

i think this issue could be a sticky if it's not

 

X2 on making this a sticky! Seen so many IDI's with water pooling on the air clean cover do to a bad hood seal!

 

when i hydrolocked mine from a blown head gasket, the pistons and rods came out ok, the problem was a squished wrist pin bushing. here, take a look at the bottom side of the affected piston https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7769ybnqq...2014.14.42.jpg
i had my machine shop replace the bushings in all 8 pistons, and so far its run 16000 miles on the same piston and rod, with just a new bushing in it.

hopefully yours will be something simple like that too, but as you're in there, you have the whole "may as well" list

 

Can you elaborate on this cowl seal? Apparently my truck has a water leak. I learned this by driving in the rain and my right foot getting soaked

 

There is a rubber seal between the hood and the cowl firewall that runs the width of the truck. They get hard with age and as I have learned the hard way start to leak. The diesel would be the only engine really affected by this due to it using an old style air cleaner that can catch water and allow it to run down the hold down bolt.

 

check out this pic from '09 when i bought this truck.you can see the cowl seal had been leaking a while since the air cleaner lid was all rusty!
a tell tale sign to use caution when buying - attempting to start the engine if it's been sitting.i didn't know then it could have lead to very bad things.
cowl seal circled in blue.

the bad cowl seal did lead to a rusted up wiper motor as well,and it did fail shortly after purchase.i knew i was fortunately warned here,and smiled as i bought a replacement wiper motor,knowing i avoided possible engine disaster.

 

Awesome, thanks guys. Does anyone have a part number handy so I can order the correct piece? Mine def requires replacement. I'm not sure if thats causing water to run into the cab but I know I need to start there.

 

Here is what I found E5TZ1502824A no longer available from ford but the after market has them

 

Thank you sir!

 

Well got it apart ruined a Piston and rod will take it to my machine shop to have the block checked. Is there any body out there that might have a standard piston part #181315491c1 that i could purchase. I have a rod but my extra pistons are earlier with the narrow rings. What a shame this is this motor basically has no wear no piston scuff no ring ridge. This my daughter truck and spending a lot on it is not an option. My plan is to sleeve number 4 and return everything to standard. If I can get a matching piston.

 

As an update to this thread number 4 cylinder is being sleeved other cyls will be honed crank is fine all new bearings and rings.

 

Well not quite a month fired her up this afternoon. $1300 dollars later and all seems well. Time will tell. Boy it is a pita to get all the air out system to get her started.
I will be getting the cowl seal tomorrow. I also want to modify the air cleaner to shed water anybody already done this. If so would like to understand what was done.

 

well that sure was a sting.well i don't think you'll find that necessary Roger.i think you'll find with the new cowl seal,that she's high and dry and will likely be so for 15-20 more years.
i would however recommend trying to find (possibly impossible i dunno) the wing nut seal.
that rubber should allow you to pour water on the air cleaner lid and have it hold without leaking down through.
this is what mine did, thank the maker.and when i drove it it just slid off and evaporated.
(then i read the warning and acted asap.)