Broken Jeep Wrangler TJ

Far more common is to get water inside the distributor cap. Cold water splashes on the outside of the cap and masses of condensation build up inside. Same for the sensors on the throttle body

I would recommend someone open the cap and the plugs and sockets on the throttle body and give it a spray with WD40 which displaces the water out.

Now if it won't crank over with the starter, then I suspect water got into the engine hydrolocking it.

A hydrolocked engine stops and the starter won't crank it over. A wet engine stops, but the starter still turns it over.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Rhubarb wrote:

No dist cap in the '02 TJ, uses the coil-on-plug design, at least in North America, not sure about Australia but no reason to think otherwise...

To the original poster... Was there water past the air filter? Water in the lower half of the box may not have gotten past the filter.Was the inside of the intake tube, between the filter and throttle body wet (your post just said "intake")

If she can crank but not fire, you *probably* did not get hydro-lock. If she's already tried to cranked it, and it wouldn't, you will probably need a new engine, because when water is sucked into the cylinders, it bends conencting rods, valves, and can punch holes through the engine block.

If the water was high enough, it could have gotten into the computer, which would cause a number of problems.

Also be sure to change out your diff fluid and tranny and Tcase fluid, if the water was that deep you probably have water in those as well.

D>Far more common is to get water inside the distributor cap. Cold water

• * * Matt Macchiarolo
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C'mon Bill, itsn't it obvious? :-)

• * * Matt Macchiarolo
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Thanks your help guys.

Unfortunately the end result it pretty bad. The engine suffered hydro lock, bending values, breaking conrods, and punching bits and pieces (that's the technical term) through the engine block.

The mechanic started looking at it yesterday arvo, we should have the full prognosis tonight.

Thanks for your help again, Cheers, Rhu

P.S She isn't a blonde but bloody well should be.

You should talk with her and get the facts about what happened. You have to be deep water to hydro lock a TJ (3 or 4 feet depending on lift). The air intake is very high. Also, did she try to start the engine several times when it was hydro locked?

Make sure you get a second opinion on the repairs. If you told the garage that you took it offroading and told him the story they will take you for a ride. You should also check the oil level. If the dip stick contains oil with water or the level is high then it could contain water. Tell him you are broke and cannot afford to fix it and that you want used parts installed. Also ask for ALL the replaced parts back. This way he cannot rip you off my reconditioning your own parts or saying something was replaced when it was not. Be a real pain in the ASS to the guy and question everything.

I hydro locked my jeep after following Mike through a beaver dam. When I saw his lab dog swimming in the back of his jeep that should have set of a warning light. But there was no damage to the jeep. Replaced the air filter and removed the water and changed the fluids when I got back.

Make sure you question evey item the mechanic says.

I have seen some TJ's I 'think' with that stupid fresh air scoop below the headlight like your YJ had.

That is trouble waiting for a bad place to happen.

And yup, if you see a 150 lb dog making swimming motions and ready to bail out of the back seat of what is in front of you, take a second thought about following the fool! LOL!

Man when my hood went under water (42" to the bottom of my lights) I was about to stop not knowing just 'how' deep this stupid crossing was, only knowing a Sami had made it the day before and my wife yelled, 'well don't freakin' stop now!', I gave it and made it. My poor old mutt wasn't impressed though, the water was over the seats.

Here is a photo of a YJ about to hydrolock that everyone can view:

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

The TJ has no lift, only 31" rubber. The water would of been around the depth you mentioned, more importantly I think is that she hit the water way to fast, so rather than creating a bow wave water would of been splashed up every where.

Also as Mike mentioned in the next post I think the air intake isn't that high - and is below the head light. We have also known that this was a major weak point with the vechiles off road ability.

She did try to start it many times afterwards - not knowing it was hydro locked.

Fortunately the mechcanic is a close trusted friend of the family and is already doing everything to reduce the cost of repairs. Further more it looks like insurance will cover the repair costs.

What did you do to avoid damage? (Just in case it ever happens again.....). Mind you as soon as we get the Jeep back on the road it will be having a snorkel installed.

Thanks very much for you advice, it is much appreciated.

Cheers, Rhu

TJ air intakes are at just below hood level. YJs had a notorious intake tube that was below the headlights. Easily discarded.

again.....).

I was the one on the other side taking the photos.

He approached the water correctly moving slow to make a bow wave, but the unknown to him or us, air scoop got him. Steve in the red YJ in the photo didn't have that scoop on his YJ, we looked and Steve bought his new too.

He was running properly at low rpm when it happened so got lucky and it didn't hurt the engine. High rpm and water make for a 'blown all to pieces' engine.

Off road mantra: Go as slow as you 'can' and as fast as you 'need' to.....

I told him to try the starter just once when it died, the engine didn't budge so I told him to stop.

When we pulled him out and pulled the plugs, 3 cylinders shot water out big time, 2 a bit of water. I missed the photo! I clicked the camera too fast! Grr.... Digital cameras take time to save so Steve even missed me with my hood submerged with his digital. Grrrr again...

Then his exhaust was 'full'. It gave one burp that looked like a fire hose output so we went under and figured out his aftermarket muffler doesn't have the 1/8" drain hole the stock one has, so we drilled one with Steve's portable drill and stood on the bumper to help it drain.

It then fired up and smoked like a bugger for a while, got photos of that too, but just 'white' water smoke, no blue.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

If it cranked over, it wasn't hydro locked.

To late for that unfortunately :(

Thanks for that - if I ever see anyone else in the same situation at least I'll know what should be done.

Cheers, Rhu

It wouldn't crank over.

If it didn't bend the rods or break one and toss it out the side of the block, consider yourself lucky. When I lived back East I followed a bunch of testosterone-overloaded kids in a 4 cyl YJ along a wet trial. When the morons saw a long deep puddle they drove right into it at full bore. It made a tremendous show worthy of "Stupid Jeep Tricks". Unfortunately it stopped dead in the middle of the large, VERY deep puddle. It being May the place was swarming with black flies, which were devouring the three young idiots in the now dead YJ. I winched them back out and we opened the hood to have a look. A hole about the size of a softball was in the side of the block under the intake & exhaust manifold. The driver then asked...."is that serious?" with a perfectly straight face. Turned out to be Dad's YJ....

???

My CJ7 was left on it's side twice, once for 12 hours, once for 24 hours. When it got put back rubber side down, it fired right up with no problems.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote: