Hydrolock

Hydrolock is a situation where a fluid, usually water, fills a combustion chamber to a point where combustion stops or compression cannot occur. Severe damage to the connecting rods and engine seizure can occur.

Table of Contents

• 1. Symptoms
  • 1.1 Crank No-Start

Symptoms

Crank No-Start

If a vehicle becomes submerged in water, drives through a flooded road, or through a deep puddle and stalls immediately after and will not start again, than hydrolock may be the cause. When an engine is running there is a constant vacuum through the air filter and intake system. When operating normally it is breathing in air and compressing it into the engine to aid in combustion to create power for the engine. Fluids however are not compressible. Meaning that if an engine is running and water is somehow sucked in through the intake and into the combustion chamber the water will not compress. An engine running at 3000 RPM can to come to a complete stop almost instantaneously if only one combustion chamber is filled with water. This will bend or break connecting rods or crank shafts, and can even break cylinder heads.