help needed with flooded engine
 

hi, i already read the 'how to unflood' on the scudereni page but i was wondering if the engine would unflood naturally over time? would the gas evaporate over a couple days? should i leave the throttle open to let air in?

If you can't start it after trying a few times with intervals of a few hours, then it must be pretty flooded. Leaving the throttle open still requires a bit of a struggle for air to come through without vacuum or pressure. Just remove the lower plugs and crank. thats like 10 minutes of your time.

Jeremy

ttt?

Keep trying the deflooding procedure. It may take three times or so. When my car has been flooded in the past I had to pull the plugs three times before I caught the spark and the engine fired. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes not.

Also if you can tow the car in second gear that will do it.

The oil film in the motor is washed off when the car is flooded, causing you to lose compression. Time won't fix that, unfortunately.

With a "light flood", usually it only takes some cranking on the engine to get it to start. When you floor the throttle and crank, the fuel injectors are shut off - crank for 5-10 seconds with the throttle floored to help clear out the gas. Then, give it a try, lightly pumping the gas pedal as you crank. Repeat :).

If a car is lightly flooded, it can be started in a minute or two. If it's REALLY flooded, where the engine sounds "smooth" when cranking over, you need to get some oil into the motor. Pull the plugs and squirt some oil into the motor. Crank the engine with your foot to the floor to distribute the oil in the motor, then try and start it.

When you do get it started, KEEP IT RUNNING. It may not want to idle by itself for a little bit - hold the idle up and let the engine smooth out.

If all else fails, get a fresh set of leading plugs - new plugs help a LOT.

Dale

My 85' Mercedes does this :(. I'm pretty sure its a bad headgasket :(. You may want to consider new plugs like what Dale said after getting your motor to run. It may have been coated by whatever flooeded your motor, making them crap.

Jeremy

hmm, if i move it in 2nd gear should i be able to force it to crank and combust enough to dry up all the fuel in there?

i have a tow dolly and i live uphill so i have a good stretch of downhill to work with and in case it doesnt work i could get it on the dolly and tow it back up easily.


any other opinions on moving it in 2nd gear?

I'd try starting it reguarly before going for a push or tow start. You haven't stated how badly the car is flooded.

I've NEVER had to tow start a flooded car. I've always started them with the procedures I listed above. Try that first.

Dale

If your going to move it downhill in 2nd gear keep in mind that you will not have any power steering or power brakes until you get it started!

well its flooded enough that i sat there cranking the car for a good 20 seconds with no start.

it sounds like its just about to combust.. and start... but it never really reaches the point where it does go off.

so im assuming its flooded really bad.

20 seconds? That's not squat.

Crank with the pedal to the ground, then crank normally. Just keep doing it. You'll hear the engine wanting to catch more and more each time you do it. Just make sure the battery has a good charge and can keep up - if it starts cranking slow when you're about to fire the engine off, you'll have to start all over again.

Dale

You need to really do the procedure in Full in order for it to work.

About my comment earlier about towing the car in gear. When (very seldom) the 3rd gen floods, I go through the procedure in full in order to get the car running again. The car is to low to tow. But all be damned if I have to pull the plugs on the SE when it floods. That punk gets dragged around a parking lot tell she fires. It works really well. You then usually have to clean the plugs so it just saves you some time.