Hi all,

Being a Burke with the weather here in Wales creating big flood areas on the back roads coupled with my overly ambitious ideas of what my Volvo c30 2.0d r design could do I ended up killing the car in floodwater. She was running through the puddle ok for about 15 meters or so and it then got slightly deeper. I realised this and it was too late. The engine sputtered and died. It did about three 'run- cough' motions from normal before it died. The revs were up about 1800-2000 doing about 10-15 mph. I didn't try to restart her when she died. Got her towed home. Turned her over by hand to see and she did about 2/3 of an engine rotation before she locked. My brother then started dismantling the car as I was getting ready to do further work getting pots for screws etc. He removed the sensor off the top of no 4 injector before I realised what he was doing, undoing the 25mm nut on it's top below the connector plug. After a slightly heated discussion that was put back on. Being as he'd done that I decided it was then the lesser of the two evils to remove the injectors rather than the plugs right at the back under a load of pipework. I hand turned the engine to remove the water and then cranked it by the starter. I also dismantled the pipework from the intake to intercooler, turbo and drained them of fluid. Also turned it over to try and dump more water out. I'd say there was probably a litre of water in total max two that came from the bores and turbo pipes. No emulsification of the oil at that point on the cap or dipstick. Put it all back together to see if she would start. After some nursing she fired up and was rough at first dying multiple times and being hesitant to want to rev (air in fuel lines?) Once she'd started to clear she smoothed up. The white steam out of the exhaust has stopped, she idles smoothly and revs up and drives well considering. My slight ****les are at around 1,200 revs cold she is slightly lumpy. Then when hot if i lightly press the accelerator pedal like almost as if I'm not pressing it at all she hesitates for what feels like two misfires and then accelerates normally. The tappets were sounding a little louder than when I got the car before this happened as I think it was coming up to service time. They now sound a little louder again. I can't hear any obvious knocking or other worrying sounds. After a 1 mile run there is now a little mayo round the cap. My question to fellow owners/mechanics are these. Have I struck incredibly lucky in not breaking or have I slightly bent a conrod/valve? Are the running problems down to that or the injector thats been partially dismantled/ knocked? Is it worth throwing money at this motor to save it now or is it likely to blow shortly? I want to do full repeated oil flushes with new filters and a new air filter etc but being Sunday the motor factors are closed so I can't see if that'll sort the issues like the noisy tappets.

Thanks in advance,
James

 

FYI
I Backed a '74 Camaro 350 engine TH350 auto trans into a lake. I turned off the engine before it sucked water as the back end was floating & we were slipping backwards. Towed home.
3 trans fluid changes with filter.
2 oil changes with filter.
No ill effect other than operator defect.

I have pumped water out of engines that I pressure washed by removing the spark plugs & cranking it with the starter. They were old worn out engines that were full of crap & needed a rebuild but after bolting together they ran fine.

Keep an eye on the oil & trans fluid color & save up for a rebuild. If you can do the work yourself you should know how she sounds & what she feels like & should be able to tell when she says " Im really tired." before she leaves you on the side of the road.