So I went thru a deep puddle and sucked up some water which in turn hydro-locked the engine. Had my shop take it apart, remove the water, and change the oil. Seems to be running OKish. I assume some moisture needs to be evaporated.

However, theres these bubbles coming from inside the valve cover (valvetrain is it?). Anyway, I did my best to get it on video hoping anyone could give me some advice here, any input on the situation is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Also, the exhaust smells nasty. Its almost like a burnt clutch smell..

 

Did the shop actually inspect anything or just take it apart and put it back together?

Also curious what you mean about moisture needing to be evaporated? If they stripped the engine down, all of the water inside should be completely gone, right?

Watched it a few times, but I can't seem to see anything. Where should we be looking in there? Also what is the state of the engine (warmed up and then shut off for the video) - just trying to see if the cooling system may have been pressurized as that's about the only thing that would hold pressure after the engine is off.


I'll be honest though, I'd be thinking about a new engine. I can't recall seeing anyone saving an engine that's done that. Flooding, sure, but not hydro locking.

 

They took it apart, blew it with compressed air then reassembled it. Put oil in it of course.

As for the left over moisture, im just assuming there would be something in there.. Idk, maybe not. Hope not. Well I mean, the tbody was still moist inside.

Its a stream of tiny little bubbles. Its the curved lighter color line in that puddle of oil. Coming from the bottom of that hole and goes off to the right and theres another stream you really cant see in the video, going off to the other side.

Yea, the car had just been ran then shut off.

 

Car is running at the moment and drives fine.. Theres just this nasty smell from the exhaust..

I mean, what could I expect here? Could it just decide to quit or would performance deteriorate over an amount of time?

Vitals seem all normal.

 

How far did they strip it down? Heads off?

I could just be confused with how far they opened it up. Not like a little moisture really matters though. Once the engine gets near 200 on top of intake air rushing through, it's all gone anyways.

Sorry, I'm blind, I'm not seeing it at all on my phone. The only thing I can think of though is the cooling system as that will hold pressure after the car is shut off and could force back through a blown head gasket with the engine off. Could also explain the funny smell, although I wouldnt call it burnt clutch, so i could be wrong.

Did they put on new head gaskets when they took it apart? Did they check for cracks in the cylinder walls? Either of those could cause the issue and be caused by hydrolock.

Easy enough to test though - you can use one of those pump gauge combos on the radiator to add pressure in the system to see if it A) bleed pressure down on it's own B) causes the bubbles to start in an otherwise stone cold system.

 

So it turns out that when they said "we opened it up and looked inside", they meant they took the spark plugs out and used a scope to look for water.. Apparently they just turned the engine with the plugs out then blew some air in there.. Im a little pissed to say the least. The way they were speaking had me believing they stripped it down to the heads.

Heres what im thinking NOW tho.. I dont think the car was hydrolocked at all. I think water getting everywhere in the engine compartment killed the car somehow thru an electrical component. Ive been driving the car since yesterday, the smell is gone, and its running fine.

Could this be the difference between a flooded engine and a hydrolocked engine?