Did something stupid - Need advice

caprizi

caprizi

Member
Alright guys I had the intake manifold off my S14 for some work I was doing. When i put it ll back together I stupidly mixed up the waterlines with attach underneath for the vac lines and started the car not realising this.I started the car and it ran a bit rumbly for the first 30 seconds or so then started to shoot white smoke/steam from the exhaust. At this point I realised what was going on and killed it immediately.

I pulled the plugs and fuel pump fuse and cranked it straight away in an effort to remove that water from the cylinders. Not much actually came out and i removes the rest with a absorbent material on the end of a stick through the sparkplug hole.

I have had to leave the car over night but plan to change the oil tomorrow as a precaution and try start her up after.

My question what is the likelihood this has done lasting damage? and is there anything else i should do as well as just changing oil ?

Cheers lads.
 
Find yourself a compression tester and do a test over all cylinders. Will identify if you have a bent valve or not, but likelihood is low if you were only running it at idle.

As long as you come up with better than 140psi on each you will be all good.
 
Cheers man, il get a compression test done tomorrow as well then. You reckon i should take the intake off to see if it needs to be drained or just let whats possibly in there run through the engine at idle?
 
Pull the plugs and run it on the starter for 15-30 seconds to blow out any residual moisture left in the intake. Then do the compression test.

If you want to be 100% sure, take the throttle body off and have a look inside to see if there is any coolant pooled anywhere. But if it's running a normal S14 intake it would have run down the runners and into the combustion chamber anyway.
 
That's a funny story. Obviously at your expense, but funny nonetheless. Just crank it without the plugs in to be sure and start it up. See what happens. You will soon know if you have. a bent rod I reckon. Any idea how much water it actually sucked in?
 
If it was only smoking and you turned it off it will be fine! Remove plugs and crank it as mentioned above then drop a smidge of oil down each and start it up. I think itll be fine bud tbh as the white smoke indicates it burnt off what went in while it was running
 
Hows it goin lads, thought I would update this.

So went up to the shop today drained the oil and it was more watery then i expected but anyway i popped a new filter on and filled her up and started it. It started a bit rough with a decent amount of white smoke but after3-4 seconds she started running perfect, i let it run for 10 seconds before turning her off then i popped the plugs and i had STEAM coming from each cylinder. I cranked her a few times with the plugs out to clear the residue and steam and then carried out a comp. test like Ben advised. All cylinders were within 0.5 bar of each other but they were all only between 8 and 8.5. :/ (It is bored 0.5mm could this be something to do with low results??????)

I took it for a drive and the white steamy exhaust cleared after about 2km and it seemed to be running perfect!!! Temps, pressures and everything else seemed normal. No knocking noises or anything I kept a close eye on the Power FC and it all seemed grand. Cheers for the advice lads.
 
You do see lower pressures when do a compression test on a warm motor as opposed to cold, but sounds like you've dodged a bullet
 
Ye in fairness a few weeks ago it was 9-9.5 warm which i was happy enough with at the time. No where near the comp of my JZX but im new to the SR20 world and most folk seem to think those results are normal enough
 
Yea 9-10 bar on a warm engine is alrite, as long as the difference between the cylinders is ok.

Get the engine fully warm and do a test then.
With abit of luck you've dodged the bullet and just given the inside of the engine a quick wash.

Don't forget to topup the coolant!
 
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