Did I just destroyed my smiley engine? Flooded street accide

[mkgld]

Hi. The other day I did the most stupid thing ever.
I drove through a road that looked a little flooded and it was deeper than I expected (much deeper). In half a second the nose of my Van got drown till the height of the air filter and the engine stopped.

Five minutes after this traumatic situation some guys managed to towed the van out of this water.
Then I removed the air filter, which was completely soaked and let the van dry under the sun for a while.

Luckily the van started at the first turn of the key. But it's making a dense white smoke.
I've been driving a little bit and it works but has lost a lot of power and the white smoke presist.

I've replaced the oil and the oil filter today to see if it helps, but is still struggling.

I've been told that I should let the engine run for many hours at idle.

Does anyone has any other suggestion?
What else can I try before taking it to the workshop?
Did I just destroyed my smiley engine?

MASSIVE THANKS TO YOU ALL

[marcrbarker]

These Diesel engines are so strong, do that with a petrol engine and it's a bent con rod /dented big end shell and probably more. From reading all what's happened I'd say running engine now isn't going to do any more significant damage on top of anything has already happened. White steamy smoke is water, remember the cooling down exhaust had been fully submerged for a few minutes. While water is boiling off is additional exhaust back pressure.
Very white steamy smoke almost opaque is antifreeze and that you've been unlucky and something has really broken. If it's that you'll find the radiator hoses pressure up inside and/or refrigerant loss and overheats. It would also likely be running on 3 cylinders.
There is a rough and crude cylinder compression test can do without tools but it's a tricky to do. It's stop on a steep slope facing downhill and then with key off, handbrake off, in 3rd gear and clutch up, roll forwards and listen and feel each compression stroke. If there's a repeating rhythm of 3 slow roll-forwards and a 4th fast one that's sure sign of a dead cylinder.

[mkgld]

Thanks Marc

These Diesel engines are so sttong

I've forgot to mention, it is a 2.5 di ,4hc engine.

Today I will make a video showing the smoke.

There is a rough and crude cylinder compression test can do without tools but it's a tricky to do. It's stop on a steep slope facing downhill and then with key off, handbrake off, in 3rd gear and clutch up, roll forwards and listen and feel each compression stroke.

How long should the steep road be to perform the compression test you sugested?
I am in a quite flat beach near Barcelona.

Thanks!!!

[mkgld]

This is the video showing the smoke and the sound of the engine.
https://youtube.com/shorts/KRCQYHq5kMg?feature=share

[joinerman]

That's only running on three.

[jimllshiftit]

There will be someone far more knowledgeable than me along shortly but i'm concerned you may have cracked a piston through hydraulic pressure after ingesting the water. Im not saying that that is the case and I have no idea how hard it is to crack a piston on the these motors as they do seem to be very resilient but, I guess its possible.

Two fairly easy checks id be tempted to do in the absence of a compression tester is take the rocker cover off and check for push rods, rocker arms and valve problems. Thats an easy visual check and they must all be a possibility after creating a huge amount of unwanted pressure in the cylinder. The rockers and the rods are surprisingly easy to break or bend ..... id also be tempted to check the timing.

A proper compression test will answer an awful lot of questions for you though.

[marcrbarker]

I'd left out something important in what I said earlier, I didn't write at the time. Gasoline /petrol engines although they are much weaker they have better survivability than diesel because they slow right down and stop when water messes up the 14:1 fuel/air ratio ,is like an automatic engine kill switch. Also very old petrol engines had a low down sparkplug distributor short circuits itself well below the air intake at the very top. Old (diesel) Land Rovers with no distributor to short out could have a high up snorkel intake just above the driver's head.

The diesel engine (unlike gasoline) will carry on running regardless, it's built to hit very hard to ignite fuel so although it's stronger unfortunately it's more likely to get itself into trouble, makes it a victim of it's own strength. A heavy flywheel throws an aluminium piston up a cylinder and hammers very hard against a block of water sitting on top of the piston. A gasoline would get smashed up easily but a diesel could still suffer a bent con rod and other problems.

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About the crude no tools compression check, the idea is similar to manually turning the crank around with a 19mm (you should feel a springy compression every 180 degrees turn of the crank). Instead of turning the crank by hand and feeling the springy force feedback on the tool, you use the weight of the van facing down a slope to do the pushing, but instead observe the force by the way the vehicle lurches itself along. It would tango lurch forward slow-slow-slow-quick-slow-slow-slow-quick..... if you know what I mean.
I saw the smoke and sound video, it's running on 3 and that didn't look like antifreeze smoke.looks more like unburned fuel if anything. I doubt any valve gear would be affected as the valves are fully closed shut when the piston hammers a block of water.

[marcrbarker]

It would tango lurch forward slow-slow-slow-quick-slow-slow-slow-quick...r.

This example is assuming there's one low compression cylinder. If all 4 cylinders are good the van lurches forward in evenly spaced intervals. Also a highly trained ear can do this 'compression test' by hearing the starter motor's sound.

[MinorMatt]

I would suggest you have caused damage and have lowered the compression - hence the white smoke.

Does it smell acrid or of not very much?

[mkgld]

Thanks Marc for sharing your knowledge, I am learning so much in this forum

About the crude no tools compression check, the idea is similar to manually turning the crank around with a 19mm (you should feel a springy compression every 180 degrees turn of the crank).

I think I will perform the test manually, it is going to be easier than moving the van.

I just did the valve clearance a few months ago so I know the procedure of manually turning the crank.

Other suggestions that I am receiving are removing the injectors and turn the starter on. And another one is to remove the exhaust tubes and check if there is water coming out with the engine on... what do you think about these?

Does it smell acrid or of not very much?

Thanks MinorMatt for chime in!
I think it doesn't smell that bad.. just a little more like diesel than usual, and in bigger quantities .

Two fairly easy checks id be tempted to do in the absence of a compression tester is take the rocker cover off and check for push rods, rocker arms and valve problems. ..... id also be tempted to check the timing.

A proper compression test will answer an awful lot of questions for you though.

Thanks jimllshiftit !

Checking the valves and rods is something that I can easily do.
Should I replace the cover gasket that I installed two months ago? Or it is ok to reuse it if I see it in good shape?

About the timing, I could also check that by myself.

Thank you all so much!

[MinorMatt]

Does it smell acrid or of not very much?

Thanks MinorMatt for chime in!
I think it doesn't smell that bad.. just a little more like diesel than usual, and in bigger quantities .

I think you have bent a rod (or more) - so you have a lower compression - its therefore vapourising rather than burning the diesel in one or more cylinders.

I wouldn't be spending more than a few mins of checking tbh - I would be looking for another engine. What have you done about the oil? Have you changed it or are the bearings now partly water lubricated?

If the engine is now running, any water in the top end of it will be long gone - but if there is water in the sump its still causing damage

[marcrbarker]

You would see water drop out of the sump when you changed the oil. I think the same as Matt, very much like a bent rod and time to start looking for a replacement engine. The smell of exhaust you described, the sound of it running on 3 points to that. Turning the engine over by hand would confirm one half turn without feeling any compression then three successive 180 degree springy compressions.

Removing injectors and turning with the starter would had been before the first start attempt, for blowing out any trapped water. Removing exhaust to look for water is not worth the trouble imo. Checking timing, valves and pushrods again I think you'd get little return for the effort as this is nothing like a broken cam belt.

People have in the past succeeded replace the single bent piston and rod / big end but these days it's change whole engine. The crankshaft could be possibly bent too which makes a lot of vibration before and after the repair.

[jimllshiftit]

As mentioned, these guys know much more than me. My mind was thinking of what you could investigate without compression testing equiptment, but really, that is what's required.

[metalworker0]

So all those people you see on the news driving through floods in vehicles not equipped to do so, are committing themselves to hundreds , even thousands of £££££ of damage ..best back up me thinks ..turn around even if it means 100 mile diversion.

[MinorMatt]

potentially yes... its a risk.

A transit should be ok with water just touching the bodywork. Much deeper than that and you will be sucking water in to axles anyway