Don't drink the water

[pjpvi]

I learned the hard way a couple weeks ago that if you suck water in your intake on a gas engine to pull the plugs and pump the water out before attempting to start the engine (yes, water doesn't compress quite as well as air, but the starter will break things trying). What to do if you ever suck water into the intake of our diesel engines? It would have to be a VERY deep water crossing for that to happen! Should it happen though, there are A) no spark plugs to remove to let water out and B) you couldn't really reach them if there were.

I will now be more respectful of water crossings. Glad it was my beater Cherokee instead of the van that I learned this lesson on. I never really had thought too much of snorkels until now.

Phil

[Silver350]

Did you bend any rods?

[John and Dana]

The water might not have to be as high as you might think to get into the vans. The opening for the air intake is located just over the bumper on the drivers side. So if you are going through deep water and pushing a wave that comes over the bumper you are in danger of flooding you engine. Deep water + SMB = Trouble.

I hope you didn't do to much damage to your jeep.

Cheers,
John

[pjpvi]

I snapped at least one connecting rod which then proceeded to open up the oil pan like a can opener when I was cranking the engine to pump the water out. It was a series of bonehead moves on my part, but, as I said, at least I learned on my beater.

Everything went perfect after the idiot move.
- one beautiful TLC cued up on the other side of the water positioned perfectly to winch me out.
- same TLC owner pulled my butt back out to civilization
- managed to barely squeak out enough cell coverage to get ahold of my wife, tell her where I was so she could arrange AAA tow (I was 98 miles from where I needed to end up on a 100 mile tow service)
- having margaritas by 8PM with the "Cheep" parked out in front.

I'm going back up this weekend to take the oil pan off and see if the block is salvageable. I have a bad feeling that when the connecting rod snapped that it probably damaged the cylinder wall, but I may get lucky? If not, I may short block it or find a donor engine somewhere. One thing about Cherokees, their are plenty of them available for parts.