2011S550w221

Dear all
a year ago stupid me drove through s storm in like 4 inches of rain and hydrolocked

most if not all would say the motor is toast

i researched
Cylinder 1 hydro locked on idle

I didn’t believe the no sayers

so we took about the ENTIRE motor to get to the cylinder rod which was BENT

So backing up

remove bolts from transmission
then mounts and front of motor
gotta cut the wiring harness
drain oul
drain coolant
then hoist motor out
put on motor stand
THEN take apart
Valve covers
oil pan
Remove alternator
remove manifold
remove square brain
REMOVE TIMING CHAIN - need specialty tools
crank case
remove bent piston

I may have missed something

REVERSE
buy new gaskets for everything
bought new starter, belt oil
solder back harness
u gotta buy the silicon glue to have it glued back as gasket to crankcase

took 3 months little by little
go to church every Sunday

then forgot about it 7 months
and
Hallelulah ITS ALIVE
now I gotta pay the god damn registration

Any questions welcomed

i Think since hydrolocked while idling the cylinder wall NOT damaged
only cylinder rod bent

spent like 5k as I was determined to fix

and I’m not doing this again

aloha from hawaii

W205C43PFL

Good for you, glad you fixed it.

BOTUS

how did the bore look ?

2011S550w221

that was the fear

Whew no damage

maybe due to idling when died

Just put in new piston

so there may be hope but NO mechanic will touch it because it’s A LOT of work

thx for asking

Arrie

How can you hydro lock an engine driving the car thru rain? I drive very often in rain where your visibility is 50 ft max. Should I rather stop and wait than drive?

2011S550w221

Oh one small detail
theres was A LOT of wind and A LOT of rain was coming sideways and entered the air intake in the front grille and eventually made it into the manifold and cylinder where it locked

yes u should wait and stop IF there’s STRONG WIND

thx for asking

Arrie

This just don’t make sense. I drive thru strongest rain storms 50-60 mph meaning I have very strong wind.

Any chance that you lost spark in cyl. 1 and it got cold that allowed it to flood?

2011S550w221

No loss of spark

piston rod bent

Water got into cylinder

what model and year u have?

vettebk

There is a very good youtuber doing a vlog of cars and he actually did a live video of him driving his car on the PA Turnpike where there is only a low divider between opposing traffic and a semi went through a major flooded highway creating a wall of water that plunged his almost new $93K C63 AMG into and substantially under water. The next thing you see as the water clears his hood is all the dash lights going crazy and the tach at zero. Has to tow it to the Mercedes dealer whose service manager then calmly explains how the car hydrolocked and it was going to cost him $63K to acquire, replace and install his AMG engine (hand-built only available from Germany) and they would work with his insurance company to total the car. He did a follow-up video as they auctioned the totaled car ($53K) and another idiot repaired the hydrolock with Pattern parts from China to escape using expensive Mercedes parts.

2011S550w221

🤦🏼
not worth it

Thx for your reply

MBCO

Score one for the DIY dudes! Congratulations on a job well done. I hope you will be able to drive your car in rainstorms without issues, but you can always pull over and enjoy it (with the engine off). If I recall Hawaiian storms are mostly short lived and you are mostly out of typhoon paths relative to others in the beautiful Pacific.
Keep us posted

Arrie

Seriously folks, it is possible to hydro lock a car engine just driving it in heavy rain!!??!!

I must have been very lucky as down south we have down pours you cannot hardly see 50 ft ahead and I keep going as fast as possible. I used to put rainex in the windshield so I don’t need to slow down and never thought the engine could hydro lock.

Just driving behind a semi in a moderate rain creates very wet conditions for the engine and I have been in such conditions for thousands of miles. Have not had any engine issues yet.

Is this for real???

2011S550w221

Your rain is vertical
and
lucky

Arrie

It ain't vertical at 60 mph.

BenzV12

That sounds too implausible to me as well. However, I asked a mechanic about a W221 with an M278 whose engine was replaced before . He said sometimes drivers didn't drive carefully and drove thru heavy rain and the engine and manifolds could take up some water .I have driven many cars in torrential rain ,aside from a faulty distance warning due to sensors ,I have had no problems with engine itself later . However, some cars' manifolds could suffer from rain and could develop cracks later but it would still take many many years or mileage as well

vettebk

Here is hi story

vettebk

Here is the C63 hydrolock story. He is a little long winded but this one talk about the insurance settlement

W205C43PFL

Thanks for posting the video, I believe he has an update that someone brought his car and fixed it after it got totaled. I think BMWs are more susceptible too because of the low air intake position due to the sportier intent.