GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

today around 11pm we had a sevier thunder storm roll through and got hit hard with 20mph winds, 3" hail and heavy rain, and flash flooding. that lasted till 1am. and i had to be at my parents in the morning cause my moms van is still in the shop after she got rearended my dads truck has a massive oil leak and has a bunch of CEL on. so i needed to spend the night over there to have them use my car. on my way there i got maybe a mile and a half till i saw a car sideways on the accessroad and moved over to the left of the road and i saw a bunch of grass on the road thinking that they hit a wet spot on the road and spun in the grass. then once i got to that part i hit the water and relized it was a little to deep for the intake. as im getting out of the water the car cuts off. aw crap she got water in the pistons. tryed everything that i could but i eventually called a tow truck and they told us that the truck wont get there till 930 am. but then there was another car with similar problems and thier truck gothere at about 215am and they and that truck get us after they were dropped off. that took till 3:30am for the truck to get to us. before this me and my mom and a very helpful guy help us push my car to a parking lot cause we were thinking that the truck was not coming, so we pushed it then as we were walking back to a car my mom brought the truck came around the bend and we all started running (i was bare foot) to try and stop the truck and i was able to catch him just in time so now im hopping that the car will start tomarrow and not go to the shop. this week has not been very nice to my family. but man now i kind of know how jason felt when his engine was out of commission.

that's some serious suckage. hope it turns out to be something simple and easy to fix, instead of engine death

Oh, No! I hope its not Hydrolock! Hopefully it will dry out and you can get here running again soon without too much trouble.

Yeah hopfully it is not hydrolocked... On one of my cars years ago I made a shield to protect the CAI from water. Obviously it would not prevent suckage if submerged, just shield it from water. I also took the CAI off the car in the winters...

Sorry to hear that. Hope it can be fixed easily

Man that sucks... hope everything works out.

hey nascarman that sucks. hope you're back on the road soon

thanks guys im hopping its not hydrolocked. but i was able to get the car town back to my house around 3-30am today so having my grandpa come and help me get it fixed.

Wow, Cole. Keeping my fingers crossed there's no hydroevil in your engine. We had hail yesterday, too. Luckily, I didn't have to drive through that stuff (and no damage to the Vibe either ).

sorry to hear that. i managed to miss the worst of it up in austin, but just a few miles east of here there was knee to waist deep water on one of my friend's streets. hope things work out.

does it sound like it wants to starts. my car cut off in a car wash and i thought i was screwed. turns out the water and filter oil screwed up the mafs sensor. i cleaned it. and it started a bit later.hope its not hyrdrolock

that sucks man hope its an easy fix....

Good luck, we're losing Vibes left and right these days!

That is rotten, bro! Hopefully you're ride makes it through this ok... If not, I guess insurance will have to cover it? When will you find anything out?Whew, be careful out there, folks! That water sure can decieve, you never know how deep it is, especially at night! Good luck to you, best wishes for a speedy recovery. Let us know if you need help figuring any of this stuff out.

there is a few more things im going to try and see if they dont work. then ill get back to you guys and keep yall updated aswell. but here are some pics of yesterdays break downof the parts with all of the grass that was flung up under the car.i could feel the water hitting under the floor pan

You must have had water higher then the fog lamps and thats pretty deep. Hope all goes well.

The water had to be much deeper than that for it to cause problems. I'm not understanding how you got grass all over the place. Hope things work out for you though.I'm glad I didn't decide to to move to San Antonio to go work at the new Toyota plant. I'll stay right here in California where we don't get messes like that.

I'd much rather be in a earthquake than a heavy rain. Just kidding.

if the water was only at that yellow line, then it couldnt of hit the air intake, it would have to be up past the bottom of the two tone body panels and the filter would need to be submerged. I hope nothing to major happened!

If it wont crank, you may be hydrolocked. It's possible to do without bending a rod if you weren't on the gas when it happened. If you pull the plugs and crank the motoryou'll squirt the water out of the cylinders and things may work again when reassembled. Keep the coil packs dry and dry the plugs. Clean the MAF and make sure the battery hasn't been drained. Good luck.

Nascar,Brand new member to the Vibe community, but longtime member of the automotive community. From looking at your pictures, I would bet you injested some water during the incident, especially throught the cold air intake there on your drivers side. Even the filter looked like it had seen some liquid refreshment. Take the advise from the other posts and complete the hydrolock directions and see what happens. If you do get it to fire, turn it off immediately and change the oil before proceeding any futher. Then, if all goes well, change the oil again in 500 miles, then again 1000 miles later. With the changes, of course change the oil filters at the same time. Make sure you dry out the KN filter and re oil that as well. Keep us updated on your progress, and if you need any more information or help, Im local so just holler! I have had experience with this situation in numerous forms with other vehicles, not mine, but friends of mine. On a side note, this is an important consideration for all those out there with the cold air intakes installed in similar fashions. Puddles are your enemies, and heavy rain resulting in even as little as one inch of water on the road can send water into places it does not normally go. Just a word of caution...Looks like a great forum, and looking forward to getting to know all of you!

welcome!!! mister alamovibe... And hope your vibe gets up and running again

hey Alamo Vibes great to see some one very close by and welcome to the site. i hope to see you around sa some time once i get my enegine fixed we need to meet up some where.

Nascar,For sure on making face to face sometime, just let me know. Send me an email and I will provide my cell just in case you have any questions on your auto-aquatic dilemma.Thanks all for the warm welcome, just wish it could have been under better circumstances!

yea i was over by ih 10 and 1604 by UTSA when this whole ordeal happend and it right after the bad storm passed thursday.

but the thing is when i tried takine out the spark plugs they would not budge, the wrench was starting to bend.

How many miles you got on that thing man? They shouldn't be in there that tight! Plugs in aluminum heads can be a PITA to take out... Ordinarily they'll be tight for sure but not bending anything tight, something sounds strange there...

Shouldn't you change the oil before cranking the motor? By now, water that is in the engine (if any) would be at the bottom of the pan with the oil floating on top. If the engine is cranked over before changing the oil, the oil and water will be mixed together again.

Added Pressure from the hydrolock? Original plugs? Torque wrench install of newer plugs?

1.i think so2.and they are the original plugs3.i did not use a torque wrench i use a rachet

Ok...I have never been faced with this delimma. The plugs have always backed out. My guess is the same as some of our other friends out there, possibly the additional pressure is binding them up. The only thing I would say is be careful not to force them out as that could possible strip the threads. So, does anyone else out there have any other ideas of how to relieve the pressure? My only other idea that comes to mind would be to loosen the head bolts to relieve the pressure, but that would mean having to replace the head gasket afterwards, and that can get very involved.

Not all the cylinders will be hydrolocked so Silver may be right. Some wil have open valves. If you can't get the plugs out, you'll have to remove the head or get at the valves through a manifold to releave pressure but they may be impossible to unseat because of this same pressure. I'd ask a Toyota mechanic that's seen this before. This is not a recomendation but if it were me, I'd probably take a chance with the threads and pull the plugs with good tools. I'm just a basic maintanence guy so at this point I'd really try to find a professional opinion. Maybe call a speed shop.

There is no way any cylinder could still have pressure after several days of not running. Pistons and rings don't have a perfect seal. Lefty loosey, righty tighty on the plugs?

I don't know about that and I mean that I really don't. They normally seal gas under pressure. Fluid would make a better seal so I suppose it could still be the case. I still think Silvers explaination of why the plugs are stuck works best since not all the cylinders wll be under pressure.

well i finally got them loose and off. i used amsoil dw-40 type sray and that did the trick. after i got the plugs out we cranked the motor and cylinder #3 for the left squirted out mostly water like a giazer.then we cranked it one more time and very little water came out that same cylinder but no other cylinder popped out any water. so its off to the shop for the vibe. thanks for all of the help guys and ill keep you guys posted on what happens next.

So, does this make you the first genviber to suck serious water into the engine from a CAI?

probaly. i think so.

Nascar,Good to hear that you got the plugs out. Even just one cylinder with fluid can stop the engine cold. Probably best that you take it in as well. Technology has advanced so much, that it is best to get the opinon of ASC certified gurus. Have you already taken it in? If not, where did you plan to take it? If your interested, I have a good friend that manages the Goodyear on Military Hwy and Huebner. He has really good technitions and a couple of master mechanics. Best part, he runs an honest shop and gives discounts to certain aquaintances. If your interested, let me know and I will hook ya up.LaterzRob

All they're going to do is put it back and start it to see what's wrong. If it's damaged, it will be a bent rod and/or crank bearing and they can't tell without taking the motor apart or starting it. If your worried about some water remaining, just suck it our through the plug hole and give her a go.

Do you have full coverage insurance......at this point you need to call them. Your engine is probably toast. My wife is an insurance adjustor and she's deals with this quite frequently. If you had enough water shooting out, that stopped the engine really quick and will have bent somthing bad.

Rob ill see what i can do before it gets towed tomarrow if you can see how much he can do it for thatll be awsome.im pretty sure that the insurance may cover the engine but i dont think that i lost the motor completly. all that popped out of the cylinder is about 4-8oz.** of water.**not sure if it was even that much but it was quite a bit of water.

well i heard from the shop that i have atleast two bent push rods. . im hoping thats all that has happened to the engine. but ill keep everone upto date on every thing till i get her back.

Well, that sure as heck do sucketh man! Any word from the insurance yet? I really hope they can get you rollin' again quickly!Good luck... Hopefully they don't find too much more stuff that's all jacked up in there...

im more than sure that insurance will cover it. im hopin to have the car here by fri or sat.

i have about 25000-26000 miles on her.

Good luck.

Update: well heard back form the adjustor and they heard from the shop that im going to need a new engine!. the engine is a used engine and has 7,000 miles on it they are having us pay 500 usd and the insurance is paying 3500usd so its a 4000 usd engine!!. man am i really depressed about what i did. and i wont get the car back for another week. well thats the latest ill keep everyone upto date on ehats happening to my baby.

Good to hear that they're going to cover it. That's a good chunk of change for the engine, doesn't surprise me, that's about what the automatic transmission costs. $$$Cha ching!$$$ That's the way they need to go anyway, no telling what's messed up in there. There ain't no fixin' nothin' anymore, just replace it and move on. Is that *brand new?* Or rebuilt? Junker? I hope theyr'e not billing insurance $4 grand for a junkyard engine, I found some close to you for $1,000 or thereabouts last night when I was looking. Sooo, the question is... You won't be CAI'in the new engine, riiiiight? Please don't, at least not immediately. Hope they can get you back soon.

well its a new/used engine (7,000 miles on it). as for the CAI as long as there is no more huge storms that bring flash floods to our area. then ill take off the pipe and filter, but ill keep it on and ill keep an eye on the local weather and the weather channel for future severe storms that bring 4"/hr. rain. .

Man...that's two Neptune Vibes getting replacement engines in less than a month! {Zuben strikes Neptune off his favorite color list}