PDA

View Full Version : Water into the Engine?



ranger2.3
07-18-2008, 10:53 PM
What exactly would happen if water accidentilly got into the engine??? What type of safety devices can be applied to the HHO system to keep the water out??? I am asking this from people who have actually dealt with this problem.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Smith03Jetta
07-18-2008, 11:36 PM
I put too much water in my system and some bubbled into my intake tube. Some of the water got into my air intake and into my engine. My engine stuttered and tried to stall. I took my foot off the gas petal and watched as the check engine light started flashing. After 2 or 3 seconds the water cleared out of the cylinder and the light quit flashing. I think that something could have gotten damaged if I kept the engine under a load while this was happening.

cougar gt-e
07-18-2008, 11:48 PM
What exactly would happen if water accidentilly got into the engine??? What type of safety devices can be applied to the HHO system to keep the water out??? I am asking this from people who have actually dealt with this problem.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Depending on the engine, the temperature and the rpm it can vary from you not noticing anything to a loud BANG!

If the engine is hot, most of the water will vaporize before it gets into the combustion chamber. Remember it's under vacuum in the intake manifold and the manifold is about 200F-220F depending on engine load, outside temps and that sort of thing. Now, if the engine is cold and fairly small and running at idle, you can have an issue pretty quick!

I don't know what would happen with the stuff added to the water. The caustic or the baking soda. No idea what would happen to the engine from them, but that would be more of a concern.

The worst issue would be if your hho system's mount broke and it inverted so that liquid only was allowed to all go out. You should be able to mount it and run the lines to the carb such that it does not have enough slack to allow that to happen.

packer fan

timetowinarace
07-19-2008, 10:15 AM
What will happen if water gets in your engine?

It will clean the carbon out. Damage could occur if your engine is hot and the water is cold. Then, CRACK, just like pouring cold water into a hot glass jar.

Water injection is common in performance applications. My local diesel performance shop uses six spray nozzles all spraying at 85# of pressure into the intake of their pulling truck. Truck/tractor pulling.

I pour a cupfull of water directly into the throttle body of older engines with the engine reved enough to keep it running once a year or so. Steam pours out the exhaust and the carbon goes with it.

In short, don't be afraid to get water in the engine intake. Water in the oil is bad.

justaguy
07-19-2008, 12:11 PM
I agree with timetowin. several years ago I had a chevy 350 that was building up carbon on the valves and spark plugs, got to a point it wouldn't hardly run it was missing so bad. I had a mechanic to look at it. Guess what he did? He took a coke bottle filled with water, held the throttle down and slowly poured the water into the carburetor . Ran like new then.

A lot of times you get water in your gas from the service stations, especially some of the rural country stores that doesn't sell much gas.

Bigtoyota
07-19-2008, 12:39 PM
Wow. Ever heard of hydrolock? What those guys are doing is just asking for bent rods, broken pistons, bent valves etc etc. Water doesn't compress like air or fuel. Get just a little too much in the combustion chamber, and it's like the piston/rod/valve hit a brick wall. As long as the water is a VAPOR before it hits the chamber you should be ok, like water injection, but pouring straight water down the intake gives me chills.

timetowinarace
07-19-2008, 01:20 PM
Wow. Ever heard of hydrolock? What those guys are doing is just asking for bent rods, broken pistons, bent valves etc etc. Water doesn't compress like air or fuel. Get just a little too much in the combustion chamber, and it's like the piston/rod/valve hit a brick wall. As long as the water is a VAPOR before it hits the chamber you should be ok, like water injection, but pouring straight water down the intake gives me chills.

Done it and seen it done many times. Nothing bent or broken at any time.

It's quite common and an old trick. People have been doing this since before I was born.

ranger2.3
07-19-2008, 03:43 PM
Depending on the engine, the temperature and the rpm it can vary from you not noticing anything to a loud BANG!

If the engine is hot, most of the water will vaporize before it gets into the combustion chamber. Remember it's under vacuum in the intake manifold and the manifold is about 200F-220F depending on engine load, outside temps and that sort of thing. Now, if the engine is cold and fairly small and running at idle, you can have an issue pretty quick!

I don't know what would happen with the stuff added to the water. The caustic or the baking soda. No idea what would happen to the engine from them, but that would be more of a concern.

The worst issue would be if your hho system's mount broke and it inverted so that liquid only was allowed to all go out. You should be able to mount it and run the lines to the carb such that it does not have enough slack to allow that to happen.

packer fan


Hi cougar gt-e thanks for the info, but you mentioned something about a carb, the bad thing is I don't have a carb(if the my truck 2-3 years older it would), but I'm fixin' to looking in to swapping in a carb for the sake of it being simpler.