I have a friend with an 89 Formula 350 that killed it during some heavy flooding down here driving through it without regard to the fact he had an open element cone filter on the end of a cold air induction setup

stalled out, he tried to restart, turned a few times and that was that, seized up

he has since removed the spark plugs and tried again with a fresh battery etc
the starter turns and just thuds, wont turn the motor even with all the spark plugs removed, he tried turning it by hand, I wasnt there, according to him it wouldnt turn, when I passed by i found that he just completely stripped the crank bolt (not the sharpest knife in the drawer as you may have guessed)

there was water in the cyls btw when he removed the spark plugs it drained out.

The deal is, he will give me this 350 in exchange for an L69 I have in an 84 camaro which is tempting but Id like to know what to expect could be wrong with the L98 internally

I'd heard that water has a nasty tendency to bend connecting rods

would this be the case? and if so, what other damage can I expect? If its just a matter of replacing a rod then that would be great, but could the cyl have been gouged to the point of making the block useless etc?


I REALLY want this engine, nice roller block would be perfect for some of my future sinister plans provided its not junk

 

Could have done a lot of damage.

For sure, bent rods. I've seen a 350 suck water and bend the rods so bad they were hitting the crank when it came around, not letting it spin.

The water in the hole will not all drain out when the plugs are pulled so the rings are probably rusted to the bore by now. (it doesn't take that long)

Worse case, it could break the block.

I wouldn't give them anything without a full teardown and inspection.

There are a lot of "ifs" when a motor hydraulics, I would think that a better donor could be had somewhere else.

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ASE Mechanic/Machinist/Smog Tech

1999 NBM Trans Am
1986 Chevy 3/4 ton pick up
1981 corvette
1995 Kawi ZX6R

GO #3

[This message has been edited by Engineboy (edited December 27, 2000).]

 

I'd think the inside would be pretty trashed. Water does not compress so something else had to give, probably the rods. A buddy of mine had a twin INCON turbo set up on is 5.0LX. He forgot to hook up the waste-gate vacuum line after a late night of wrenching. On the test drive he got on it, said it ran like never before. I guess it did cause he figured it probably built up around 25-30lbs of boost before the head gaskets blew. Coolant flowed into the cylinders and he "hydraulic'd" the motor (that's what he called it). Bent most of the connecting rods. I would internally inspect the motor before trading.

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Rob P
89RSconvtZZ4TPI
92Z28convt5spd
71Impala convt 402BB
BETTER DRIVING THRU SUPERIOR HORSEPOWER!

 

Also known as "hydrostatic lock". I've had this happen to one motor due to water, and one other motor due to gas. Engineboy is right. Is hard to know what kind of damage it may or may not have. I got lucky, no bent rods on either ones that locked up on me. Bent rods were the first frightening thing that popped into my mind when it happened to me! I did break the nosecone on my starter when it locked up on me while cranking. If he didn't drain the water out of it right after it happened, there's a good chance the pistons are froze in the cylinders. He's going to have to tear it down no matter what now, so maybe you ought to wait and see what the inside of the motor looks like before you consider trading with him.



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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

 

These guys are right, you should have a deal with this guy that you want it only if its o.k. I am a marine tech. by trade so I have seen many hydroed engines of all sizes. You'd be suprised, most of them I have just pulled the plugs on, turn the starter over and give everything around it a bath. Then after putting plugs back in and pulling over and over it will finally start and run. Most of the time you will bend rods really is if the engine is running at higher RPMs and makes a sudden stop, but it can happen just using the starter too. Just see if he will let you check it out.