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RE: Seized Engine

Paul D-Z. asks an expensive question:

>Subject: Help!  Seized Engine!
>
>I'm one of the many victims of the flooding in Northern California, but I'm
>paying a higher price (at least automotively) than most.  My tale of woe...
>
>Monday night I drove my '88 325is into about 10 inches of water (halfway up
>the stock wheels).  The car died, and would not turn over.  After getting
>the car into a garage, I ran every electrical test I could think of,
>concluded I had a bad starter, and replaced it.  No change.
>
>At this point, I tried to move the engine by turning the crankshaft pulley.
>The crank was frozen dead solid.
>
>I can't imagine why a dunking would do this.  The car had not been running
>more than 2 minutes, and had been started from dead cold.  There is no
>external damage visible to the car or the engine.

You unfortunately have very accurately described the symptoms of hydraulic
lock of an engine..

What I suspect happened is that water went up your exhaust pipe into one
of the cylinders, which now has both valves closed with a full charge of
water in it. No starter in the world can compress water enough to let
the engine turn over.

What to do, and what to expect:

1. Best case - nothing got bent (more on this below) - remove all plugs
and let the water out. Find the cylinder with the water in it and blow
it out with compressed air. Spray LOTS of WD-40 into the cylinder. Attempt
to turn the engine over BY HAND using the crankshaft nut. If any unusual
force is required to turn it over - STOP. Something is bent.

2. Worser case - when you first tried turning it over with the starter,
it tried to compress the water. When this happens - it quite frequently
will bend a connecting rod - making for a really broken engine. At the
minimum - this will require a new connecting rod, wrist pin and connecting
rod bearings - not a job for the home mechanic (usually).

3. Worstest case (and not as likely) - you also bent the crankshaft. The
only way to really determine this is to remove the head and measure the
deck height of each piston (how far below the head they come up). ALL should
be the same, +/- a very small tolerance. If this is the case - I would look
for a new engine, it just isn't worth doing a rebuild on an engine this
damaged, parts and labor will exceed the cost of a short block.

Other stuff to check before attempting to start it:

1. Pull the exhaust and get an residual water out - if not it will
continue to create a problem.

2. Pull the valve cover if the engine turns freely and make sure that
all the valves move up and down OK without sticking (again turning
it over by hand).  Check that each valve moves the same distance
up/down.

3. Drain oil and change filter - a MUST. Water may have been forced
past the rings.

Typically in a case like this - if you have collision/comprehensive 
insurance (not just liability) - the insurance company will write
the car off as a total loss due to the flooding (lots of cars had
this happen to them in NJ two years ago in a severe coastal storm).

Problems you could expect down the road from a dunking of this sort
are mostly electrical in nature - the wiring is very good at wicking
water up into the wire, causing long term corrosion and eventual
failure. I have a friend who redid several Ferrari's that got dunked
here, and it required a complete replacement of the electrical harnesses,
and complete rebuild of all the hydraulic systems (steering, brakes).
In these cases - the engines hadn't gone in (mid/rear engine cars),
and the $15,000 he charged was less than the value of the car (around
$40,000) so it was worthwhile, but in the case of a BMW - I would
question the cost since it could exceed the value of the car, especially
if the insurance company is willing to settle (most will settle if
the water reaches any major electrical components).

Between the probable engine damage and the possible electrical problems,
I don't know if an '88 325 will be economically wise to try to get
working again.

Sorry for being the harbinger of possible really bad news - but
living on the NJ coast, this ain't an uncommon story.

Best..

=======================================
Don Eilenberger (dje@domain.elided)
=======================================
  '79 R65 FrankenCycle - der Beemer
  '87 535i BOHICA      - der Bimmer
  '75 25' Hunter       - das Boot
=======================================
DOD#1177, BMW-CCA#104316, BMW-MOA#64000
President - New Jersey Shore BMW Riders
NJ-DOD-Cycles,  Fossil Riders of NJ Inc.
        "A glutten for clubs.."
=======================================