What to do after the engine is submerged?

Hey y’all,
Went muddin out in the woods yesterday & hit one hole so deep it splashed mud over the hood. She didn’t hydrolock, but there was a ton of smoke & a burning rubber smell. Oil looks clean today & the smoking stopped after a while. Here’s what I plan to do, but anyone got any other ideas of things I should check besides replace the air filter & diff oil? She’s running fine so I’m not too worried but I want to be thorough.
 

JTCO

Meme King
I would personally change oil just to be safe. May not be a bad idea to change transmission and tcase fluid. And pressure wash everything really well.
 

JTCO

Meme King
The new transmissions sealed though? I thought I’d escape that one... is there a breather tube or something?

I think 'sealed' is just referred to because it doesn't have a dipstick. I can't imagine that it doesn't have a vent. Gearboxes have to breathe.
 

Que Nelson from the simpsons: page 385 from the manual says “Water ingestion into the axles, transmission, transfer case, engine or vehicle interior can occur if you drive too fast or through too deep of water. Water can cause permanent damage to engine, driveline or other vehicle components, and your brakes will be less effective once wet and/or muddy.

When driving through water, do not exceed 5 mph (8 km/h). Always check water depth before entering as a precaution, and check all fluids afterward. Driving through water may cause damage that may not be covered by the New Vehicle Limited Warranty.”

Sounds like I’m busy this evening....
 

I dumped the diffs and the breather tubes for the transfer case and transmission looked fine so I let those be. Engine oil is looking good, but then there's this....

well, thats water...
IMG_0516.jpg

And that's mud in the air box (air filter didn't have any signs of mud though?)...
IMG_0514.jpg

And that's oil in the intake pipe.
IMG_0515.jpg

Sooooo, maybe some amount of water entered the engine? Why would the filter look clean, it was mud after all? If water entered the PCV system maybe it spashed some oil in there around and thats why I see it here? The oil looks good on the dipstick, but maybe I'll dump that tomorrow. At the end of the day, she's running fine and probably has 150 miles since we were wheeling. Do I even need to care at this point?
 

JTCO

Meme King
I dumped the diffs and the breather tubes for the transfer case and transmission looked fine so I let those be. Engine oil is looking good, but then there's this....

well, thats water...

And that's mud in the air box (air filter didn't have any signs of mud though?)...


And that's oil in the intake pipe.


Sooooo, maybe some amount of water entered the engine? Why would the filter look clean, it was mud after all? If water entered the PCV system maybe it spashed some oil in there around and thats why I see it here? The oil looks good on the dipstick, but maybe I'll dump that tomorrow. At the end of the day, she's running fine and probably has 150 miles since we were wheeling. Do I even need to care at this point?

Change the oil regardless. But if the motor had hydrolocked, you'd already know about it. I think you got lucky, IMO.
 

Change the oil regardless. But if the motor had hydrolocked, you'd already know about it. I think you got lucky, IMO.

I’m on it tomorrow. Do you think I should do a flush oil through in case there is some contamination or just dump & refill? I read some guys complaining about smoke from blowback oil if the engine is at extreme angles? Is that even a real thing?
 

OverlanderJL

Resident Smartass
Don’t go through mud but that doesn’t look like anything got in the intake. I wouldn’t stress it. Or if you think there is legit issues, trade it in tomorrow lol


2012 JKUR Billet Silver
2012 JK Dozer
1975 DJ5 Postal
 

Jeeeep

Member
Hey y’all,
Went muddin out in the woods yesterday & hit one hole so deep it splashed mud over the hood. She didn’t hydrolock, but there was a ton of smoke & a burning rubber smell. Oil looks clean today & the smoking stopped after a while. Here’s what I plan to do, but anyone got any other ideas of things I should check besides replace the air filter & diff oil? She’s running fine so I’m not too worried but I want to be thorough.

Bad things start with "Went muddin" IMO sounds like you got lucky and dodged a bullet.

The water in the bottom of the air cleaner may have come up from the bottom drains instead of the intake across the filter.

I tend to have OCD over these things and would flush all fluids even if it looked good. OCD gets expensive :doh:
 

I finally got an oil change. I bought all the stuff to do it myself, but didn’t have time. Thank god I did. Oil filter was totally shot and only 1500 miles old. She’s definitely purring better & I haven’t seen any temp spikes or anything. I had the 3.8 in my JK and it used a 1 piece old school filter. I don’t think the canister on the new engine is water tight. Someone needs to look into it.
 

Bad things start with "Went muddin" IMO sounds like you got lucky and dodged a bullet.

The water in the bottom of the air cleaner may have come up from the bottom drains instead of the intake across the filter.

I tend to have OCD over these things and would flush all fluids even if it looked good. OCD gets expensive :doh:

I’m like you & that ocd has paid off in the past. You’re right about the intake because the air filter was dry.

No way bad things start with “went muddin”. You just need to come with me!
 

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