Cars seems to be Hydrolocked :(

[JAMallott]

All right. This has been the absolute worst half of a week ever.

It started out on Wednesday. I was taking my friend (dad's college room mate's son, about my age) out for a drive while we caught up some since I hadn't seen him in a while. He had orientatoin at OSU the next day so it was going to be a short drive. Anyway, we are out on this back road, no one on it, pitch black, and I see cop lights behind me. I get pulled over for doing 59 in a 45. $135 later, I take Phil home and head out for the night. I then went to a bar with some work people, then headed back to my mananger's house with everyone else. We all were taking a walk, past the pool in his appartment complex, and he decided to push me in. Not only did I have my wallet and speeding ticket in my pocket, but I had my phone-which is now broken.

Now, last night. I'm at my friend's birthday party on campus, and it starts POURING. I work 12 hours today, and it's about 1:30, so I decide to head home to get some sleep. As I'm turning off of 19th onto High, my car sputters a little and starts bucking as I'm driving through a HUGE puddle. When I get to the next street down, Lane Ave., my car dies in the middle of the intersectoin. I call my parents, and AAA and get my car to a shop near home and get some sleep.

So now I am broke from this ticket, don't have a phone, and my car might be hydrolocked. This week sucks.

[Dat1BlueCat]

Dang man, that is possibly the worst story i ever heard. :( . Iam sorry man, Good luck with every thing.

[Pyro81]

If your car was still running, albeit poorly, after going through the puddle then it might not be hydrolocked. Hydrolocked means that there is water in the cylinders. And since water is not compressable it won't let the motor turn over. Conversely, it could also mean that your engine tried to compress it and blew a hole in one or more of the pistons.
But let's not call the cat dead just yet.
First i need a few details. How deep exactly was that puddle? And do you have all the splash guards in place still? If your splash shields are still there then it won't matter how much water got splashed by the tires as none of it will get to the filter. However, if the water was deep enough to actually submerge the filter then you might be right. If it was deep enough that the front bumper was splashing some on it then i still wouldn't really worry about it. Something else could have just got wet enough to cause your car to quit (i.e. alternator).
Check your engine oil dipstick. I'm not sure what oil will look like if water got mixed in with it, but i know that when coolant mixes with oil it turns milky white and becomes a bit runny.

[JAMallott]

Well, first off, the shop tore into it today, and said it is indeed hydrolocked. Once I hit the puddle, the car did just die basically. Seemed to stall for about 1 second, then died. And no, I dont have the splash shield. I was going to put it on at the last mod meet after I did the extension, but forgot. I had it sitting in the garage and everything. So I think I may just go the 3.0L route :) I'll have to price everything out and see though.

[B3NN3TT]

Take the spark plugs out and turn it over a few times. Then put 'em back in and fire it up.

[wadespencer99]

And change all the fluids....

[AnthonyP]

Did they check your pistons?

[B3NN3TT]

Did they check your pistons?

I would be more worried about the valves than the pistons, but whatever.

Do the spark plug thing, and change all the fluids like Wade says. You probably baked out your oxygen sensors as well, so you may have a good solid CEL when it runs again. If it has compression issues after all that, THEN start thinking about a new motor. But don't get hasty.

[wadespencer99]

GMK bought a hydrolocked Cougar from a member (darkhorse, I think?) and was able to get it running again. I think it spun a bearing though....

[Pyro81]

I've got a couple bore scopes that i could use to look at the pistons. Not sure how much of the valves i'll be able to see, though.

[JAMallott]

Well, this shop has already tore apart the engine and said it had quite a bit of water in it. And since I'm gone all this week, and only have my sister's car for one week before she gets home, I don't have a lot of time to play around with it.

[Madcat]

Dude, aaron, I think its time to look at both sides of the spectrum here. I know you love Cougars and love your Cougar, but there does come a point where it is more beneficial to go another route(ie different car), due to all the issues you've been having with this one and the old one. It kinda seems like the Cougar has it out for you and I dont want to watch you dump mad cash into a new engine or even just engine work and then only have something else go bad later. Unfortunently Cougar's arent the most reliable, most dependable, or best cars for longevity. I mean some might disagree, but from what I've seen and heard, overall they cost alot for upkeep and if you drive them daily without the time to stay on top of things, its tuff to do. I know while you are at school, time is tuff and I doubt you have all the tools, jacks, jack stands, etc. with you all the time.
Just a thought as I see you where I was with my Saab down at Muskingum the last time it broke down. I finally said, well its time to get something new or even just more reliable.
I wish you the best, but remember, there are other cars out there too. I know Ricart has an insane inventory and I actually enjoyed buying a truck from them.

[Afroman]

I would have to agree with Madcat. If your kinda short on money for a $135 ticket, I would think a 3.0L done the right way, would be out of the question.

I had my coug at OSU too for 5 years and it was a pain in the butt to get anything done as far as repair. I did one year have it at those apartments on 17th and Pearl with the garages underneath, that was clutch!

I say either get a strait 2.5 swap from your insurence or go shopping.

[Topik]

Keep the coug and do the 3l or fix it.

[LinkMan]

Dang, go away for a weekend and look what happens. :( Sorry Aaron :banghead:

If you're short on money for a speeding ticket, you're short on money for a new or new-to-you vehicle as well. How many problems have you had with the Cougar? Problems with the first Coug have no bearing on this decision. The only way I'd drop your current Coug is if you (1) want out of the FWD vehicle, and (2) find a great deal on something you'll like at least as much. And then you decide if what you can afford is actually going to be more reliable than the Cougar - which other than alternators, fuel pumps, and sunroofs is not particularly bad, at least compared to other domestics ;)

[Tygerr]

Hmm... that sucks man. Hope you figure out what's best for you. I'm sure the motor's still salvagable.

[JAMallott]

Well, the difference between the ticket and the 3L is that since it is still my parent's car until I have the money to pay for it, they pay for maintanance and repairs. Thus they are paying for the engine replacement. And if it is just as cheap to replace the engine with the 3.0L as a 2.5L, then why not?

[JAMallott]

Dang, go away for a weekend and look what happens. :( Sorry Aaron :banghead:

If you're short on money for a speeding ticket, you're short on money for a new or new-to-you vehicle as well. How many problems have you had with the Cougar? Problems with the first Coug have no bearing on this decision. The only way I'd drop your current Coug is if you (1) want out of the FWD vehicle, and (2) find a great deal on something you'll like at least as much. And then you decide if what you can afford is actually going to be more reliable than the Cougar - which other than alternators, fuel pumps, and sunroofs is not particularly bad, at least compared to other domestics ;)
Sunroof, alt., and this are the main ones. A few flat tires, and some moding trouble, but that all is expected. I didn't even have a lot of problems with the old Cougar. Sure the tranny went out right when I sold it, but other than that I brough on all the problems it had from modding poorly fopr the most part. Cougars really haven't been all that bad to me. I have yet to see a check engine light!

[JAMallott]

Dang, go away for a weekend and look what happens. :( Sorry Aaron :banghead:

If you're short on money for a speeding ticket, you're short on money for a new or new-to-you vehicle as well. How many problems have you had with the Cougar? Problems with the first Coug have no bearing on this decision. The only way I'd drop your current Coug is if you (1) want out of the FWD vehicle, and (2) find a great deal on something you'll like at least as much. And then you decide if what you can afford is actually going to be more reliable than the Cougar - which other than alternators, fuel pumps, and sunroofs is not particularly bad, at least compared to other domestics ;)
Sunroof, alt., and this are the main ones. A few flat tires, and some moding trouble, but that all is expected. I didn't even have a lot of problems with the old Cougar. Sure the tranny went out right when I sold it, but other than that I brough on all the problems it had from modding poorly fopr the most part. Cougars really haven't been all that bad to me. I have yet to see a check engine light!

[nadthomas]

I am so buying an AEM bypass before I install the extension now.

Honestly, a straight 2.5L is most likely still going to be cheaper. If I was going to pay someone to do a 3.0L for it would be Blackcoog only, and I'm pretty sure he changes about $3k, which is a very fair price, but then you also need to drop about $500 to get it tuned right. Futhermore, you would need to ship your car to him, so that would be another couple hundred as well. So, say 4k by the time its all said and done. A shop should charge about 2500-3000 to do a straight 2.5 swap. Best of luck to ya.

Dan

[JAMallott]

Dan: Thats also what I was going to do if I go the 3L route. I was just about to PM him asking for some prices and all. We'll see how it goes...

My dad, since its his money, would rather have me replace the engine than get a new car, so looks like I'm doin that.

[Madcat]

Yeah if thats the case, I would look into engine too. Ebay is sooo sweet lol.

[B3NN3TT]

Plenty of Duratec 2.5's in Contours at Pick n Pull.

I got a Saturn short block from there last week for $62.

[soldier989]

$62 is insane for a block!

Im glad your gonna stick with the car, its sad to see something like that happened also. I will also be buying the bypass before putting the extension on. You have so much backing behind you on all your decisions for your Cougar on these boards.

The cat will purr again, all it needs is some love!;)

[JAMallott]

Ok, well, while I have been in WV, my mom OK'ed the shop to put the stock 2.5L in. I need to call them tomorrow to make sure they ont throw out my SVT UIM and CF CAI and all.

[B3NN3TT]

$62 is insane for a block!

Including crankshaft, pistons, and oil pan & pickup! If I wanted to get a head, cams, valves, springs, lifters, and timing components with that, it would have been about $140.

Good luck Aaron. Use your splash shield, man.

[B3NN3TT]

Ok, well, while I have been in WV, my mom OK'ed the shop to put the stock 2.5L in. I need to call them tomorrow to make sure they ont throw out my SVT UIM and CF CAI and all.

You know, your old 2.5 sounded pretty awful on the top end anyway. I noticed when Greg and I were trying to figure out the stalling problems, that motor had more top-end clatter than any I have ever heard. The valves were so far out of whack, it made me cringe. So you should be a lot better off this way.

[JAMallott]

You know, your old 2.5 sounded pretty awful on the top end anyway. I noticed when Greg and I were trying to figure out the stalling problems, that motor had more top-end clatter than any I have ever heard. The valves were so far out of whack, it made me cringe. So you should be a lot better off this way.
Really? Should have mentioned it to me :tongue:. But I talked to the guy more indepth today and he said there was 2 bent rods, and what seemed like a spun bearing. He also said my clutch was almost at the wear sensors, so I'm having him drop an SVT clutch (when I researched the prices on fordpartsonline.com, EVERY SVT clutch piece was cheaper than the non-SVT: go figure). The engine is a 2.5L from a 99 Contour with 68K on the motor (my old motor had 83K, so this also works out well). I'm having him transfer over my SVT LIM/UIM along with it as well. Should be done sometime next week depending on when the clutch gets in!

[Tygerr]

Cool deal man. Sounds good. Why not try and grab an svt or is that more work then a 3L?

[Pyro81]

SVT motors are rare and much more expensive.

[JAMallott]

Cool deal man. Sounds good. Why not try and grab an svt or is that more work then a 3L?
They were able to get access to a normal 2.5 quickly and cheaply. And since I need my car back, I went that route.