Should Water Pour Out Of My Inlet Manifold?

[SamGTi 0]

I had to check the wiring to my starter the other day and when I undid the bolts holding the ilet manifold to the head about a pint of water trickled from it! I am pretty sure there shouldn't be any water in there at all. And now my car starts but dies after a couple of minutes of running? I presume this could be head gasket failure? If not, what else could it be?

[welshpug 1,666]

did you replace the inlet fanimold gasket? there are 2 waterways in the mating face on the cylinder head.

[SamGTi 0]

Yeah I did, but there was hardly anything left of the old gasket! So the water that came out is normal then? Surely some of it will have poured into my cylinders too then? (which probably explains all the smoke and engine dying?)

[welshpug 1,666]

i wasnt saying you should use the old one! but yes if you didnt drain the colant then its normal for water to pour out.

 

depending on how much water was in th system and how uickly you pulled off the manifold there is a likelyhood of you having water in there, whip the plugs out and crank it over (with the fuel pump fuse out)

 

have you topped up the coolant level?

[SamGTi 0]

Yeah I topped up the coolant level. I will try doing what you said. Any idea which the fuel pump fuse is? Thanks for the advice!

[Craigb 2]

Yeah I topped up the coolant level. I will try doing what you said. Any idea which the fuel pump fuse is? Thanks for the advice!

 

No. 14 on the RHS 15A

[SamGTi 0]

Cheers Craigb!

[SamGTi 0]

Right, I just went to my garage, started my car and took it for a 10 mile drive with no problems at all. A little white smoke on start-up but nothing else. So does that mean that any water in the engine might have just condensed out of the exhaust?

[jim21070 2]

Yes, a good long run will always boil off any water that has got into the sump.

 

One word of caution, if too much water enters the cylinders it can cause a "Hydraulic Lock" as water is incompressible and if it is taking up space in the combustion chamber there is not room for it and the piston as it comes up on its compression stroke and the result can be very damaging, often bent or compressed conrods.

 

Your puff of white smoke was most likely steam from the collected water boiling away.

[SamGTi 0]

Really? Water can bend a conrod? I never knew that! Thanks for the warning jim, let's just hope it doesn't happen!

[jim21070 2]

Really? Water can bend a conrod? I never knew that! Thanks for the warning jim, let's just hope it doesn't happen!

 

Yes, a few engines were lost, particularly diesels, over in Gloucestershire the other week during the floods when the engines unfortunately took in gulps of floodwater. A pal had the same thing happen on his Renault Espace a few years back as Renault, in their infinite wisdom, put the air intake very low down.