Water in Cylinder?

[snettleship]

It's the end of the year of vintage racing and I've known that cylinder #2 did have a compression problem. I have a 1600 Crossflow with 711M block.   So I started to do a leak test. I turned the crank to bring piston #2 to the top of the compression stroke. The easiest way for me is I have one of those small flexible lights on a "stick" that can fit into the spark plug opening and see it coming up to the top.

 

 

 

As the piston was rising I saw the light getting wet! So, there is maybe a 1/16 inch of what I strongly believe is water on top of the piston. When I put about 40lbs of compressed air into the cylinder, I heard a "gurgling noise" coming out of the open weber carburetor when the piston was at the top of the compression stroke..

 

 

 

So, this can not be good, the question is..... how bad do you think?

 

 

[slngsht]

perhaps it was gas?

 

 

 

water won't be a good thing. I'm betting that with that much water you would hydrolock and cause alot of damage.

[snettleship]

When I get home, I can throw a match in and see... http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/wink5.gif

 

 

 

I will take a sample and do hope that it was not all H20. WOuld it nake sense that it was gas since the car has been sitting for a month?

 

 

 

Scott

[slngsht]

were you cranking it? maybe it sucked some fresh gas in?

 

 

 

even the slightest amount of actual liquid in the cylinder is REALLY bad news... even if it's gasoline.

 

 

 

It's not compressible, so when push comes to shove, it's usually a connecting rod or another piece of hardware that will give way.

 

 

 

Be careful

[drew...]

First - determine gas or coolant - smell will tell you

 

Second - if it is coolant bring the piston to the top of the compression stroke by hand with no spark plug(remove valve cover to insure your not in overlap)

 

Three - use a compression tester hose and pressurize the cylinder with air while keeping the engine from turning over (in gear brakes on) use up to 100 PSI

 

Listen and look at the radiator cap or bleed port, if you see or hear bubbles it is likely a head gasket - the strange thing is you would normally see an overheating issue if it is a head gasket. Does this engine have coolant in the intake manifold??

 

If you have a cylinder leakdown tester it will do the same thing - also good for telling you how rings and valves are sealing.

 

 

 

If it is fuel that could explain your reduced compression, if the raw fuel has washed the oil from the cylinder it will not seal as well as the other three - thereby reducing compression. A quick check, once you've removed the liquid, would be to put a half teaspon of oil into the clinder, turn the engine over with no spark plugs and then run your compression check again. If it comes back near the 155-160 it tells you the valves are all sealing up equally and that the rings are the same with proper lubrication.

 

 

 

Can you smell gas in the oil at all either at the filler or on the dip stick?drew...2006-12-18 14:14:27

[Birkin42]

No matter what you find the liquid is, I'd recommend you flush and change your oil. Whether it is water or gas, some of it may have made it past your rings and contaminated your oil. Running it like that is a good way to wreck the rest of your engine. Glycol from anti-freeze is particularly hard on bottom end bearings from what I understand.

 

 

 

Good luck.

[SR27.Seth]

As a mechanic, I would recommend immediatly draining the coolant, removing the cylinder head and drying out all of the cylinders. Then replace your head gasket and inspect cyl. head and block for damage and absolute flatness. DO NOT let the engine sit in the state that it is in- your cast iron rings will rust to the cylinder walls and you will be looking at a hone and ring job instead of just a head gasket replacement. Good Luck.

[SR27.Seth]

The above comment was assuming that it is indeed coolant in the cylinder and not gasoline (which would only happen if your fuel pump (elect. or mech.) was pumping in gas and overpowering the floats in the webbers ie: flooding

 

BTW..The gurgling coming out of the Weber (if indeed the engine was at TDC of compression) would be a leaking intake valve- for which you need to remove the head to repair anyway.