The Evils of Water

On Sunday, July 3rd, 2005; my wife and I decided to visit some friends of ours who were camping in the Waiparous forestry reserve west of Calgary, Alberta. They had rented some quads and I thought a little 4-wheelin' with them would be fun. Unfortunately, I drove into a big ol' mud-hole that almost completely swallowed my Bronco.

A week later, my daughter had the misfortune of crashing her car into the canal that is near our home. No serious injuries except to pride. Check it out here.

The hole was obviously a lot deeper than I anticipated. The engine still ran, but poorly [probably sucking a little water and with a wet ignition] and there was muddy water up to the bottom of the dash. The power steering pump skipped a belt and the remaining belt slipped, so the hydraulic winch was out of commission. I needed a tow.

Luckily for me, my pal Dale was able to get at me by coming down the trail from the other direction and pull me out with his big diesel Dodge truck. It was a very heavy pull and he needed to take several runs at it before I was completely out.

Now I am out of the hole and checking the carnage....the engine looks bad....the water had been up to the carb and the truck sat in the hole for almost 40 minutes.....I knew that there would be water in there. I tried starting it.....it did run, but started knocking, so I immediately shut it off and opted for getting towed back to camp. Check out the mud and goo on the front axle.....not nice.

To get me home, my pal Dale came to the rescue again....he had a flatdeck trailer for the quads and they were planning on going home that day; so after breaking camp and taking the quads back, we went back out to trailer my Bronco home.

The next day I began the work draining fluids and assessing damage. I drained over 25 litres [6 gallons] of water and oily crud from the engine. I had a vented oil cap and I think that is how the water got inside.....my Bronco was simply not prepared for deep water. The axles and tranny were all water contaminated and took a couple of draining and refills. The transfer case was not contaminated at all. Its oil came out nice and clean.

I re-filled the engine with oil and changed the filter and started it up....it ran fine, but it knocked. I shut it down after about 30 seconds and did another oil change....I repeated the process 4 times before the oil began to look OK. The engine still knocked and I had almost no oil pressure. I knew at this point that I had no choice but to pull the engine and check it out thoroughly. I did not like what I found and in retrospect, I should have never run the engine at all....I should have just pulled it right out:

The first pic is the engine on the stand, ready for dismantling. The second picture is the oil pick-up....it is completely plugged with fine silt mud. This is why I had no oil pressure! The next picture is the inside of the timing cover, lots of crap there too.

The next two photos show the valley below the intake manifold, again filled with crap and dirty sludge, the last photo is what I found under the valve covers.....grime and dirt.....not pretty.

The next two photos are what I found when I removed the center main bearing cap. The bearing is worn to the copper and the crank is deeply scored......this ain't gonna be cheap! I was also able to wiggle every connecting rod....every one has destroyed bearings. On Tuesday, July 12th, 2005....I dropped the long-block off at a local remanufacturer...Firebolt Engines...they have been in business for a while and have a good reputation. They will also warranty the remanufactured engine for 1 year. The cost will be in the neighbourhood of $2,000 and I should have it back in a few weeks.

Other cleanup work revealed more evils of water.....mud all over the shifter cover; the clutch is packed with grass, mud, and bits of wood! The interior needs a major cleaning [I removed the seats and carpet to give them a good cleaning]. I also popped off the top of the transmission so that I could properly clean it out. I used WD40 to wash out any old oil and remaining water. It also seemed to do a good job in flushing out any remaining grit. The tranny is now back together and ready for installation.

I am also tackling the brakes and axles. I have cleaned out the axle housings and the brake drums. You can see in the first photo the amount of mud that was packing into the drums. I also pulled the rear hubs to inspect and re-pack the bearings. The driver's side bearings were fine, but the passenger side bearings show signs of corrosion, so I will be replacing them.

I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me.....I will be posting updates as I work through this process over the next couple of weeks. I want to have everything cleaned up by the time I get the engine back from the re-builders.

Update: August 8th, 2005

I have the engine back from Firebolt Engines and it is now installed. I have also re-installed the interior and it looks very nice again. I pre-lubed the engine several times by running the oil pump with a speed-ratchet. I also did it again just before installing the distributor and starting it up.

During the cam break-in run....everything seemed to go fine. I ran the engine at 2,000 rpm per the instructions and then changed the oil and filter. Afterwards I did notice a vacuum line off and the timing was a little out, but I fixed that before taking the test drive to break in the rings. The test drive seemed to go fine for the first few kms....then the engine began to sputter, ping , and backfire. I brought it back to my garage and now I am trouble-shooting the problem.

Update: August 15th, 2005

I have run through an entire series of diagnostics in order to isolate the problem. I removed the fuel tank and checked for contamination....there was none. I blew out all the fuel lines and re-kitted the carb. I found no problems at all. I also verified the fuel pressure....and it is good at 7 psi.

I checked the entire ignition system, and ended up replacing all components from the ignition switch right down to the plugs and every component in between. I also dismantled the distributor completely, re-lubed the mechanical advance, and replaced the vacuum advance. There are no ignition problems at all.

During the process....the more I ran the engine, the more pronounced the problem became.

I called the engine re-builder and I towed the vehicle to their shop. It turns out that the cam has two lobes destroyed and the lifters are mushroomed....they are replacing the cam.

Update: September 7th, 2005

They replaced the cam....but they required that I pay $1262 [for the cam replacement] pending an investigation by the cam manufacturer.....so in addition to the $2300 that I paid for the rebuild....I have to cough up extra dough [that I will get back if the cam is defective]. I am not impressed with this....but they seem to have me over a barrel!

Update: November 16th, 2005

The cam manufacturer's report states that the cam was galled and damaged by improper break-in or insufficient lubrication. Since I broke in the cam as required....the only possible explanation [in my mind] is that the re-builder forgot to add cam break-in lube to the cam and lifters when they re-assembled the engine.....bastards! Looks like their warranty isn't worth spit....they don't seem to be in any hurry to refund my money.