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Old 17-10-2017, 14:00   #1
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Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

Hi all. Funny thing happened today.
I am working on my engine exhaust system and yesterday I pulled the exhaust riser off. Its a Volvo MD30 so the exhaust riser has a coolant loop built into it which comes out above the exhaust port and goes back into the system below the exhaust port.
Today the heat exchanger on my hot water tank sprung a leak. While I was sitting there the fresh water pump pressurized the coolant loop and coolant/water flowed into my exhaust port, down into the engine. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening but I pretty quickly shop-vac'ed the coolant mixture out of the exhaust port.
What's the next step? Another cruiser made a suggestion that seems to make sense to me... pull the injectors and turn the engine over slowly with the shop vac running in the exhaust port. Will this be enough? Do I need to pull the injectors if I crank it over by hand?
I obviously dont want to hydrolock my engine and bend a rod.
Thanks everyone
Gary
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Old 17-10-2017, 14:39   #2
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

Hi
I would remove the injectors and turn her over by hand to start with. Once you are happy that the engine can be rotated freely for at least a couple of cycles for each cylinder, I would then crank it normally until I didn't get any more water out of the ports.

I would then reassemble and see how much made it into the sump. If your oil looks ok I would give her a run until she is up to temperature and then do another oil check. If the colour is off at all then I would change your oil and filter and run her again.

She should be ok if you act promptly.

Cheers Tom
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Old 17-10-2017, 15:36   #3
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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Hi
I would remove the injectors and turn her over by hand to start with. Once you are happy that the engine can be rotated freely for at least a couple of cycles for each cylinder, I would then crank it normally until I didn't get any more water out of the ports.

I would then reassemble and see how much made it into the sump. If your oil looks ok I would give her a run until she is up to temperature and then do another oil check. If the colour is off at all then I would change your oil and filter and run her again.

She should be ok if you act promptly.

Cheers Tom
Thanks for the quick response Tom.

I was planning to do an oil change anyway but its going to be at least a couple of weeks before I can fully fire it up. Right now I have no diesel, coolant or power to the engine and on top of that Im on the hard so no raw water either.
Should I just pour a bit of oil down the exhaust and into the injector holes and assume I'll be ok for a few weeks?
Gary
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Old 17-10-2017, 16:03   #4
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

You can also pull the injectors, & put a few AC incandescent lightbulbs in the engine compartment to let things dry out/bake for a while. Though obviously excercise common sense in terms of fire safety if doing this. But I'd think that if the engine & engine room are at 150 deg.F for a while, with the cylinders & valves open to the air, she should dry out fairly well. And then you can think on lubing things for corrosion protection.
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Old 17-10-2017, 16:10   #5
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

Hi Gary
Turn her by hand until you get no more water out and if you can get some small tubing that will fit down the injector holes put that in each cylinder and use the shop vac and your hand to make a seal on the small tube. This will let you suck out any residual water.

If youcan't get the tube just go to the next step.

I would then spray a little bit of wd40 or simmilar water displacing fluid into each cylinder and the exhaust.
Turn her again and suck it out before doing an oil change and putting some oil down the injector holes.

You should be ok to let her sit then.

Just make sure before you refit the injectors and fire her up you expel any excess oil by hand and then cranking the engine. This will ensure that you dont hydraulic the engine.

Cheers Tom
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Old 17-10-2017, 16:28   #6
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED View Post
You can also pull the injectors, & put a few AC incandescent lightbulbs in the engine compartment to let things dry out/bake for a while. Though obviously excercise common sense in terms of fire safety if doing this. But I'd think that if the engine & engine room are at 150 deg.F for a while, with the cylinders & valves open to the air, she should dry out fairly well. And then you can think on lubing things for corrosion protection.
Also a good option👍

Cheers Tom
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Old 17-10-2017, 17:05   #7
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

There are good ideas here, all revolve around getting the water out of the cylinders.....

I would suggest instead of messing with the injectors, simply remove the glow plugs and do the hand rotation/ pump out thru the glow plug openings instead. Both the glow plugs and injectors enter into the pre-chamber cavity and the pump out will work the same thru either opening.

Roll the engine over a few times by hand with the glow plugs out, and then spin the engine with the starter with the glow plugs out. You might drape a cloth over the glow plug openings when cranking with the starter because it will spray water around a bit.

Then give it some WD40 or other water displacement fluid in the glow plug openings and into the exhaust manifold, crank it over a few times and it should be set until you can run it. Corrosion shouldn't be much of a problem because the fluid that went into the manifold was antifreeze...

I doubt much, if any coolant went into the crankcase, but you can do an oil change and check that later.

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Old 17-10-2017, 17:14   #8
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

Great responses I learned just reading them. Old rule holds for the crankcase - if it looks like chocolate milk, you've got engine oil in your crankcase water. True for dirt motorcycles that emulate submarines as well.
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Old 17-10-2017, 17:25   #9
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

I just pulled the glow plugs (way less things to undo) and hand cranked her a bunch of rotations. No liquid came out any of the 4 cylinders. I sprayed wd40 in the openings and tomorrow will hook up the battery to give a good spin with the starter.
Am I ok running the high pressure fuel pump with no diesel in it? I wont crank it for much more than 10 seconds.
Thanks a million everyone. Its always great to know there is such an awesome resource to help when really stupid stuff happens.
Gary
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Old 17-10-2017, 17:28   #10
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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Originally Posted by DougR View Post
There are good ideas here, all revolve around getting the water out of the cylinders.....

I would suggest instead of messing with the injectors, simply remove the glow plugs and do the hand rotation/ pump out thru the glow plug openings instead. Both the glow plugs and injectors enter into the pre-chamber cavity and the pump out will work the same thru either opening.

Roll the engine over a few times by hand with the glow plugs out, and then spin the engine with the starter with the glow plugs out. You might drape a cloth over the glow plug openings when cranking with the starter because it will spray water around a bit.

Then give it some WD40 or other water displacement fluid in the glow plug openings and into the exhaust manifold, crank it over a few times and it should be set until you can run it. Corrosion shouldn't be much of a problem because the fluid that went into the manifold was antifreeze...

I doubt much, if any coolant went into the crankcase, but you can do an oil change and check that later.

DougR
Thanks Doug. You must have been sending me the info telepathically. Thats exactly what I did.
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Old 17-10-2017, 17:31   #11
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED View Post
You can also pull the injectors, & put a few AC incandescent lightbulbs in the engine compartment to let things dry out/bake for a while. Though obviously excercise common sense in terms of fire safety if doing this. But I'd think that if the engine & engine room are at 150 deg.F for a while, with the cylinders & valves open to the air, she should dry out fairly well. And then you can think on lubing things for corrosion protection.
Good news is that Im in Guaymas Mexico. Its 35 deg in the boat with almost zero humidity right now. Things should dry out right quick.

Thanks again everyone
Hopefully I can move onto the next crisis now.
Gary
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Old 17-10-2017, 18:52   #12
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

If you didn't drain the fuel from the high pressure pump, then there is plenty in there to crank the engine for a bit. Take a piece of string and tie the manual fuel shutoff lever on the side of the pump back to the no fuel position so it doesn't inject fuel while you are cranking.

DougR
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Old 17-10-2017, 21:09   #13
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

I didn't see anyone mention turning off the raw water valve before spinning the engine. This will prevent raw water from getting into the exhaust manifold and possibly the cylinders. Remember to open the raw water valve as soon as the engine starts.

Also, if you are going to be using a shop vac -- make sure it has a spark proof motor. Even WD-40 will ignite under the right conditions.
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Old 17-10-2017, 23:56   #14
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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Originally Posted by DougR View Post
If you didn't drain the fuel from the high pressure pump, then there is plenty in there to crank the engine for a bit. Take a piece of string and tie the manual fuel shutoff lever on the side of the pump back to the no fuel position so it doesn't inject fuel while you are cranking.

DougR
Good call... didn't know it had one until I looked at the schematics just now and found a lever with nothing attached to it. I assume thats it. Now I know how to shut my engine off if my solinoid fails..... Thanks... thats been on my to do list for a long time.
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Old 18-10-2017, 08:43   #15
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Re: Engine flooded by house fresh water pump

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...its going to be at least a couple of weeks before I can fully fire it up. Right now I have no diesel, coolant or power to the engine...
Do NOT wait! Do a makeshift arrangement if necessary and run it as soon as possible.
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