My dad has a company owned '04 Explorer w/ the 4.0 SOHC. He was out on a logging road, came around a corner and hit a 18" deep stream. According to him, a wall of water came over the hood when the bumper hit, and then the engine immediately shut off. Tow truck driver pulled off the intake tube and water ran out...

Had it towed to the dealer and after pulling the plugs and being unable to turn over the engine they declared it to be dead and needing a complete replacements. The interesting thing is that there was no water at all in the oil.

We are thinking about all the possibilities of what is broken (and hoping that a dead starter was not the cause of the "seized" engine...). Does it really sound right that an engine is unrepairable after such an event? Almost seems like it has to be something on just the top end of the engine. May a bent valve jamming a piston. We're very tempted to investigate ourselves and maybe pull a head to take a look. Otherwise its going to be dead for quite a few weeks and $4600 later for a refurbished engine.

Hate to give up on an engine that only has 6000 miles on it. Especially with our '99 right next to it with 135000.

 

it'll be interesting to see what the more knowledgeable guys have to say. But the crankcase is sealed off pretty well. Absence of water there is a good sign.

water in the combustion chamber will lock a motor up. Water doesn't compress.
But i'm not sure how that in itself would total an engine if it promtly shut off.

A blown water hose leading to a warped head......... Pull the head off, water and anti freeze is sitting on top of several pistons. And that motor was a steamer for a few minutes. Had the head rebent, new head gasket, motor runs fine. Hmmm, not sure if i even changed the oil.

What would be nice to know is did water come out when they pulled the plugs? Did they spin the motor to *blow* the cylinders out?
You say it siezed. Does that mean it can't be turned by hand? with a breakover bar on the crankshaft bolt?

 

Unfortunately, they didnt say how they tried to turn the engine over. Which makes us even more anxious to have a go at it ourselves. They were talking about how it probably had bent rods and all that. I would want them to pulled the oil pan to have a look before proclaiming that. I'm just wishing we had a boroscope to take a look into each of the cylinders.

 

I agree.
I'm sure all kinds of funny things could happen if an engine gets stopped abruptly. Hadn't really thought of that aspect. I would just want lots more info before i spent 4,600$
I have no experience with a car motor that gets stopped abruptly if that's what happened. Lawnmower will shear the flywheel key if it doesn't also bend the crank. Sometimes it's just replace the flywheel key.

Sometimes i'm not much help but to raise questions. Sorry about your motor motor man.

One other thing. There isn't any way this could/would possibly come under ANY kind of warrenty is there. I can't imagine one, So you aren't tied to the dealer. Ummm, but then there wouldn't be any warrenty afterwards would there? Id want to at least have the look see myself. Then they could do the rebiuld. I don't know what all you need to consider - warranty etc.

 

Like shaggymane said, water in the combustion chamber will lock the engine up.
I would probably pull it apart and see what damage it did. Sometimes it just bends one connecting rod which could be replaced. Sometimes it does more damage.
Depending on what kind of insurance you have sometimes they will cover it.

 

I agree with Dave, your insurance should cover it--if the truck is financed, you've got comp & collision, so one of them should take care of it. If you do end up having to replace the engine, and you are willing/able to do the labor yourself, I would skip the factory rebuild & either get one from Napa or one of your local parts stores or check with the local bone yards. When I had to replace the engine in my '92 Taurus, we were able to find a '92 that had been wrecked & only had 38k miles on it. I replaced the water pump, changed the oil & dropped it in. Had no problems until the motor had somewhere around 90k on it & started leaking oil.

 

I believe Ford currently considers the warranty on the engine void, however they have offered to reinstate the entire 3yr/36000 warranty with the refurbished engine.


For some reason, the company decided that it was big enough to insure the vehicles themselves out of pocket and still save money. Which unfortunately means that the claim has to be approved by higher-ups, and it has been suggested that it could be more than 2 months before the engine replacement is approved. Hence the research into fixing it instead. We would love it if it was our rig, a deductible later and it would be done.

 

Well I would say that the connecting rod is most likely bent. Becouse the motor is a over head cam and the chance of a valve getting bent is slim. But by a slim chance it's not a connecting rod. I would pull the plugs and see if you can trun the motor over. If you can't then pull the timing chains and see if you can move it then and then see if the cams will trun. thats my .02.

 

smandzak,
I ran this by my guru upstairs. Asked him what happens when a piston sucks water in the cylinder when it's running. He kinda smiled and chuckled, said if the motor was running any kind of rpm you'll likely have all kinds of broken parts, pistons, rods, crank. even the block. Maybe if it was at idle or close to idle you might get by with no damage. Doesn't sound promising huh?

 

Dang, with the possibility for THAT much carnage, I want to take it apart just for the pictures!

 

Ran a car into a flooded intersection once during a hellacious thunderstorm, at least 18" deep. Turned over but wouldn't start. Towed it to the dealership. Diagnosis: it "ingested" water; not sure exactly what that means or what all they did but it didn't cost more than a couple hundred dollars. it was an efi 4cyl ohc mitsubishi.

they could be perfectly correct but don't you wonder if they've really been thorough in their troubleshooting?

just my experience

 

Damn...you know that really sucks man. I couldnt understand how my parents could run their cars 36k without a oil change and nothing broke down. But when you go through a big water stream and the engine is totaled...thats just horrible.

 

Well a few updates.

A non dealer repair shop would like the oppurtunity to pull the heads and see what is actually wrong with the motor before the dealer goes ahead and replaces the engine. Should just be a few hours of labor, and will settle the issue.

Before my dad had this rig (and is now back to) a 95 base Explorer. He said he had crossed the same stream many times without a problem, but the first time in the new one and boom! The horror of moving the air intake from the fender to right behind the headlight. Anybody know of a snorkle system?

And I realized that the warranty really isn't that much of an issue, since he got it in early March and it already has ~7000 miles. So that 36000 will be gone before we know it.

 

I have been looking for a snorkle system. But I have not been able to find one. I have look in Australlia. (spelling??) Not found one there to, The explorer is to new down there they have had it for 2 or 3 years now. That is my under standing. If you find one let me know.

 

Well the shop got back with the results. Four bent rods/pistons, 2 broken rods. Once removed the engine spins nicely and appears to be salvagable. Ford sells the piston and rod together, so they are quite confident that 6 of those once installed will get it back on the road. I think I'm really impressed with the head gaskets on these engines.