Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

[filafella]

I have a project boat with a newly rebuilt 454 engine that is not quite fully installed in it. Long story short, my boat cover failed and rain water got into the carb and subsequently into the cylinders. To make matters worse we just had multiple freezes this winter and now I'm wondering if the block to my brand new engine is now toast. Are the cylinders walls typically strong enough to withstand water freezing in them? Should I finish assembling the engine so I can run it and check for water in the oil? Or should I start tearing the heads off (yikes!) in order to inspect the cylinders? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Don S]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Who knows about the cracking, that depends on if the cylinder was full or not and if the piston was up or down. If it was my engine and it was just rebuilt, I would take it apart and check it out. If you don't, it will always be in the back of your mind and each time you hear a noise, you WILL worry and wonder.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Should I finish assembling the engine so I can run it and check for water in the oil? Or should I start tearing the heads off (yikes!) in order to inspect the cylinders?

Ayuh,... 1st thing I'd do is go pull the plugs, 'n spin it over...
If it spins over,...
Get some OIL into those cylinders, 'n roll it over somemore....

Then you can decide just how *#%$'ed you are....
Boy, that really $uck$...

Compression test, Leak-down test, 'n cooling system pressure tests will tell ya whether she's Cracked or not....

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Are the cylinders walls typically strong enough to withstand water freezing in them?

No. Cast iron will ALWAYS break if water is confined inside.

I am with Don, if you had a cyl full of water long enough to freeze, it could have very well broke something.


I would have a look......

 

[filafella]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Ok, I had to follow Don's advice and pulled the heads. From the looks of it I had 2 cylinders that had a significant amount of water in them, but neither was totally full. From what I can tell I may have lucked out because I didn't see any cracks. I'm just hoping that there isn't a hairline crack somewhere that couldn't be seen or felt. I guess I'm just going to have to run it and see if I get any water in the oil or white smoke or something. Are there any other signs of a cracked cylinder that I should be looking for in the future? Thanks again for your help guys.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Well, once you replace the head gaskets and tighten it all up, a leak-down test and maybe a cooling system pressure check will determine if you have any other "leaks"...........


I'm probably stating the obvious but, You might want to take what ever steps are required prevent this in the future......

You're lucky you didn't crack cyls, heads, and the intake manifold.....(and anywhere else that filled with water)

 

[filafella]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Well, good news turned to bad today. I went to change the oil and I had about 12 quarts of water in my engine with about 6 quarts of oil. I'm not sure if any of the water was in there prior to the freeze, but I'm expecting the worst. I'm hoping that there wasn't much water down there during the freeze and hopefully no damage to the bottom end. I'm afraid that I'll yank out the block only to find that everything LOOKS ok, but that there will be hidden cracks/damage. Hopefully if it did freeze the oil pan would've absorbed the expansion or at least show signs of damage. Anybody have any sort of experience like this? If things look good I'm planning on running the engine and hoping it works. Is this a bad idea? To think a plastic bag over the carb would've save me all this headache!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

and I had about 12 quarts of water in my engine with about 6 quarts of oil.

Ayuh,... Was the Cooling System stored dry,..??

It's pretty hard to believe 12 quarts of water run through the rings of a brand new motor....

 

[filafella]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

That's what I thought. I was totally shocked when so much water was coming out. The cooling system was bone dry still since I hadn't completely finished the install. I'm wondering if the rings leaked so much because they were new and hadn't been run yet to seal. Otherwise, who knows?

 

[Joshua Nichols]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

Have ya rolled the engine over yet?. Strange how fast that bare cast will rust once you add water...

 

[filafella]

Re: Not your usual water- in-cylinder question

I dropped the oil pan yesterday and there's barely any rust in the bottom end. I'm hoping that means the water was down there only briefly, but it could just be that there was a coat of oil protecting everything. It's a good thing that oil floats! What a fiasco.