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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jaofxk3 wrote

Reply to comment by Commercial_Case_7475 in PSA: Contaminated Gas in Brattleboro by No-Establishment3083

I don't know much about cars, but the Mechanic was really helpful and showed and explained it was water. From the way they were saying it, I assume it was a large amount. The shop was amazing though and completely understanding with the situation and was willing to talk to anyone to help verify the issue.

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vermont4runner t1_jaoqr0e wrote

Water in an engine can and does hydro lock it. Death sentence. You got real lucky it wasn’t a higher concentration.

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jaot5s2 wrote

I think the fact that I stopped trying to drive the car after 3 minutes saved it and me. I refused to mess with it, the way it started jerking and shaking was scary enough.

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vermont4runner t1_jap2oh1 wrote

Jerking and shaking is from misfires due to the gas not igniting. Water will just bend your connecting rods and it’s game over.

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MapleMechanic t1_jaovipz wrote

Don't think it could ever happen from water in the gas, even at 100% concentration. Hydrolock would be from either head gaskets or sucking water through the intake

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vermont4runner t1_jap2rez wrote

In the gas still shoot it into the cylinder, doesn’t matter how it gets there, water in the cylinder is what causes hydro lock.

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flambeaway t1_japz714 wrote

It'll only shoot as much as it would shoot gas. Nowhere near enough to cause hydrolock. If your injectors are dumping in that much water they'd dump in that much fuel. Fuel will hydrolock an engine just as well as water.

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Tchukachinchina t1_japalvo wrote

It takes way more water than a fuel injector will shoot into the cylinder to hydro lock an engine. What you’re thinking of happens when water gets sucked in through the air intake after driving through deep water.

In OPs case, even if it was 100% water that got injected into the engine, the car would stall immediately. No fuel = no run. Drain the tank, flush the lines, change the filters, maybe run an injector cleaner, and then the car is good as it was before the incident. Absolutely no risk of hydro lock in OPs situation.

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sad0panda t1_japdhsx wrote

Technically speaking, an engine is hydrolocked when it stops running due to water in the cylinder, even if it hasn't caused mechanical damage. What you are describing is hydrolock, it's just reversible so long as you haven't destroyed the piston.

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Tchukachinchina t1_jape4zg wrote

What happened to OP is not hydrolock. OPs car shut down to lack of fuel. They’re two very different things. Look anywhere for the definition of hydrolock and you’ll find something similar to this:

“ Hydrolock (a shorthand notation for hydrostatic lock or hydraulic lock) is an abnormal condition of any device which is designed to compress a gas by mechanically restraining it; most commonly the reciprocating internal combustion engine, the case this article refers to unless otherwise noted. Hydrolock occurs when a volume of liquid greater than the volume of the cylinder at its minimum (end of the piston's stroke) enters the cylinder. Since liquids are nearly incompressible the piston cannot complete its travel; either the engine must stop rotating or a mechanical failure must occur.“

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sad0panda t1_japeinb wrote

You are using two different phrases to describe the same thing.

If there is too much water in the fuel, that means too much liquid (water) is entering the cylinder, preventing complete combustion. Hydrolock. Can you explain the difference you are seeing between this and "lack of fuel"?

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Status_Mechanic t1_japrrp1 wrote

Hydrolock is when the engine won't turn from the liquid is the combustion chamber. You can hydrolock on pure gasoline. OP didn't hydrolock.

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foomp t1_japmcpk wrote

He's using two different phrases to describe two different things. A hydraulic lock happens when a compressive space gets filled with an incompressible substance, typically water. That is a hydrolock.

The fuel injector doesn't put enough water into the cylinder to create that situation, but it does insert enough water to interrupt proper combustion.

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Sad_Dimension_1576 t1_japu8b8 wrote

Hydro lock is when the engine try’s to compress a liquid instead of a gas/air. Liquid won’t compress as much and locks up the engine.

Water in fuel gets atomized by the injectors. This is NOT hydrolock. Not enough liquid to lock the engine but it won’t burn well or at all stalling the engine.

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akmjolnir t1_jap24u0 wrote

Hydro-locking is a result of water being sucked through the air intake, not the incredibly small amounts of atomized fuel shot into the cylinders by the fuel injectors.

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sad0panda t1_japcx5o wrote

How does water being sucked into the air intake hydrolock an engine without also bending a connecting rod or otherwise causing the engine to stop? That is the definition of hydrolock. Too much liquid in the cylinder, regardless of how it got there (air intake being the obvious/common way).

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akmjolnir t1_japgs40 wrote

Were talking about injectors spraying contaminated gasoline, not submerged intakes.

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vermont4runner t1_jap2uk9 wrote

Water in the combustion chamber leads to hydro lock. By injector does take a lot longer, but water in cylinder is hydro lock.

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akmjolnir t1_jap3koa wrote

In a running engine water is sometimes injected into the cyclinders to cool down the temps and prevent pre-detonation, especially in older turbocharged engines with high boost. Menthol was also used.

You seem to have some things confused.

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vermont4runner t1_jap4qo0 wrote

A controlled amount injected into cylinders with the engine tuned properly for it is how water and menthol injection systems work. An engine that can barely run because it’s choking on diluted with water gas is not the same thing at all. Some of that water is still collecting in the cylinder, enough and you can easily get a bent connecting rod. It doesn’t take much.

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Mysterious_Lime8663 t1_jarvajm wrote

Poor Bart. You know, we had a lot of fun tonight. But, there's nothing funny about...vapour lock. It’s the third most common cause of stalling. So please, take care of your car and get it checked. I'm Joe Namath. Good night.

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