Hydrolock
 

Had a MC that hydrolocked. I turned it over and pulled the bottom of 2 pistons off. Have the car checked by a competent mechanic.

I recommend getting your car on a lift and inspect everything under there before starting it. Might have some unseen damage and perhaps it's doing you a favor not starting at the moment. Was there any chance ingested water? I'd just be real certain there isn't damage that might be made worse with running that engine... :thumbs:

same thbing happen to me recently, when i try to start my car all the power cuts off and u hear the starter click. then the starter clicks again and the power cuts back on,,,,is this just a faulty starter

I was gonna pm you, Craig....

Said something about Varraram and lots of water on the road.....could be water or possibly a damaged starter motor from the mud off road?

I thought Vararams were totally safe? Hydrolocked motors with a Vararam were a lie?????

OP, take the intake off and inspect the maf and manifold area for any signs of water/mud/crap in general. From the sounds of it the motor drank liquid........

They are safe,, problem is one isolated case, and everyone thinks they will hydrolock the motor. Typical forum band-wagon.

I love how people just speculate away. You would have to drive through a puddle of water over the nose of the car, or close to that to suck enough water to hydrolock it...and if you drive through water that deep you'll hydrolock the motor with the stock intake...so all the vararam alarmist need to chill out for a sec until the OP comes back.

If he had an off road bumpy hydroplane excursion. could be any number of things,,,starter wires severed, starter messed up, any number of electronic things.
Sure it could by hydrolocked, we dont know for sure though. Plus if it is hydrolocked due to a vararam...its not gonna stop me from buying one..agian if he sucked that much water in or drove through that much sht, it would be locked with the stock intake.

Lets wait to hear back from the OP

I used to think the way you did.......until in ankle deep water ie: 3-4inches....my vararam sucked in enough to coat the maf honeycomb in water and ingest it into the manifold on my former 2007 LS2.

All it took was one pop-up thunderstorm to radically effect my feelings of driving with a Vararam in any kind of bad weather.

Every summer we see posts like this......I remember last year 3-4 vettes hydrolocked on the way to Carlisle......noone wanted to say which intake they were running despite my repeated questions.......maybe due to insurance and possible warranty implications...at least a couple of those C6's were towed to performance shops in NY.....form your own conclusions on if they were running stock intake or aftermarket with cut shroud.

All I'm saying is there is a much higher risk of ingesting water running a vararam then the stock or a top breathing intake. It's simple facts...you cannot place an intake scoop another 5 inches lower and have the same hydrolock risk as stock, fooling yourself to believe the risk is the same.

I can see where you are coming from, I guess some people get lucky with them and some don't. I had one on my C5 for 3 years and drove through numerous heavy down-pours and never had an issue. I'll agree there is a greater chance with the Vararam, sure that makes sense due to the design. I guess I rarely have seen posts about it, maybe its like you said people are not talking about it due to warranty issues or risks of problems and exposure. 3 hydrolocks on the way to carlisle? I wonder if they indeed where all running Vararams..

It's a bit of a crap shoot, I drove in many rainstorms and never had a problem (that I knew of, i didn't check the see if water had begun to climb the intake airbridge after a non-eventful drive in rain, though the lower scoop always had a small puddle of water and wet around the mouth) but what was different was the standing water on the road which wasn't near enough to cover the nose was just enough to be sucked up by the lower scoop vararam.

Let us know how it turns out. I'd had to jump on the band wagon and say hydrolock but that's just my 2 cents. If you were going slow and breaking foot off accelerator you might be ok!

Good Luck!

Let us know how it turns out.

GM will void ur warranty if there's really major damage due to the intake, they are strict these days...put the stock one back on and go to the dealer for warranty...hope u dont have an aftermarket tune either

and don't forget the Vararam is good for up to a 46hp bump
:rofl:
or so that's what they claim

c'mon dude, get real, look at the thing, the way it's designed. no way will the stock airbox suck water like the vararam water scoop

just speculating here, but the reason they're not talking about it could be one of two things: embarrassment OR taking it off and claiming that it was a stock intake that ingested water to either their insurance company or chevy dealer.

What other components need to be checked out if he hydrolocked and did not bend anything up? Remove plugs and get the water out. Check oil. The MAF was already talked about. Would the injectors be an issue as well? We had a large downpoor in NJ one afternoon many years ago. Many cars on my street with stock intakes were hydrolocked. I removed the water, but several neighbors had to take their cars in. Most had injector issues.

IMHO...it's hydro-locked !

I see you are in Ky. Not sure how close you are to Cincinnati, but I would strongly suggest you call Danny Popp, at McClusky Chevrolet, in Cincinnat , Ohio. Danny is the best vette specialist in S.W. Ohio. He only works on vettes and will take the time to discuss any problems you may have. I'm not a fan of dealerships, but Danny is exceptional. The number is 513-761-1111. Good luck.

All I was really gettin at was that none of us know how deep of water or mud he drove through since none of us were there. I guess I should have been more clear...there comes a point to which if you drive through deep enough water you can hydrolock any mortor with a stock intake...that's all.

better?:D:thumbs:

You would have to go through a lot of standing water to hydrolock the engine. Also, if he hydro planed, he would have let off the gas out of instinct. At 0% throttle the engine is at negative vaccum. I dont think that is anywhere near enough to gulp water.

Lets get back to basics: What's it take for an engine to run: Spark, fuel, air. Start with air. Make sure the MAF is securely connected. Also, check any other intake or exhaust sensors that are visable. Then go to fuel, then spark.

Thats just what I would do before spending money on it.

The one sentence that's highlighted here in the original post would sure give me indication that it hydro-locked.

Sorry to hear the accident, keep us informed as to what happens, Good Luck!