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How can water enter the engine?

Montana Bronco

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Curious why the OP deleted the pics and will not repost them. He claims that Ford already has the pics, so curious why he won’t post them.
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broncabilly

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Curious why the OP deleted the pics and will not repost them. He claims that Ford already has the pics, so curious why he won’t post them.
No particular reason, just a lot of judgy people. I guess it’s not all that important to me.

Ford Bronco How can water enter the engine? IMG_5338


Ford Bronco How can water enter the engine? IMG_3763
 

mcinfantry

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broncabilly

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Thanks for proving my point. Some people think the bottom half of the engine should absorb water, some people don’t I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️.
 

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Isn't the max fording depth 30"? It sure looks like the majority of your 35" tire is under water. Open the hood and use a tape measure to measure from the ground to 30" and make note of what part of the engine would be under water. The measure again at 35". Whatever is within that space is likely where the water entered the engine.
 

mcinfantry

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Thanks for proving my point. Some people think the bottom half of the engine should absorb water, some people don’t I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️.
It’s almost, and I mean almost a risk you take going in deep water

claim it on insurance
 
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broncabilly

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Yeah there's two things about that. I think the depth for the SAS is 33.5" and the tires which are less than 35" are almost submerged, let's say the tires are 34" under. The suspension was hanging, as I was caught up on my rock sliders, so the engine isn't as deep as the tires are. Also being at that angle, the bumper and radiator were several inches lower than the rest of the engine. I haven't done it yet, but I've wanted to get a tape measure and make a line from the slider step to the water line on the grill and see just how much of the tire it passes through. It's probably a moot point but I'd guess at the tire anyway the engine was in less than 30" of water. Or I could measure from the ground to the radiator fan I suppose, the bottom of the fan was in about 4" of water I would say.

I'm in complete agreement that it was as deep as the alternator, and I expected to pay for that. Thank goodness for the TSB on it as it was replaced under warranty. I've got to assume the wading depth max is mainly intended to keep air out of the intake. And that's my main beef, is that water didn't enter there, it got in through the block somehow. But they are sticking with the theory that water got into the intake and with the engine running it got past the pistons and into the crankcase.
 

GreyZ

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Isn't the max fording depth 30"? It sure looks like the majority of your 35" tire is under water. Open the hood and use a tape measure to measure from the ground to 30" and make note of what part of the engine would be under water. The measure again at 35". Whatever is within that space is likely where the water entered the engine.
Max fording on a Sas is 33.5. The Goodyears are 34" on a good day. If this is as high as the water honestly got... This isn't what messed it up. Maybe an alternator failure... but this doesn't put water in the crankcase.
 
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broncabilly

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It’s almost, and I mean almost a risk you take going in deep water

claim it on insurance
I'm not disagreeing with the risk part, just the part that water should never have entered the crankcase. I've had 11 trucks (Jeeps, Broncos, Land Rovers) prior to this and been in water similar to this with most of them and have never seen water in my oil.

And yes, I've filed a claim with insurance, it just grinds me that Ford is flat out lying about the air intake to keep from covering it. To be fair, maybe not flat out lying but flat out guessing wrong. Nobody has allowed me to describe the situation about the water/oil, so air intake is the most obvious guess. I had asked if I could talk to the mechanic and explain the part about the water and was brushed off. They did flat out lie about the mud/water in the air filter part. And anybody at the warranty department that saw that description would easily say it wasn't covered.
 

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The picture you want to see is the one of the throttle body or inside the intake manifold, for evidence of mud and water, and not the filter box with some splashing.
 

OX1

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The picture you want to see is the one of the throttle body or inside the intake manifold, for evidence of mud and water, and not the filter box with some splashing.
Been hashed out pages ago with pics. Very minimal dirt mud in bottom of air cleaner housing, no water/mud on air cleaner itself, and intake (after air cleaner) is perfectly clean (and was not wet at time of pic).

The only way I see enough water getting in cranckcase through intake, is if it sucked it in and then you immediately shut it off (but air cleaner would be real wet and also sucked in at that point). Would have to be some really good timing, otherwise, you bend a rod.

OK, lets say that actually happens, then you wait until water drains, oh BTW, EVERY piston that had water in it, would have to have the ring end gap in the bottom most position (assuming V6, maybe not on 4 cyl block), so ALL the water drained out. If you've ever seen even an old V-8 engine in a junkyard with the heads off, you can see many times water in the cyl's, and it never drains, unless ring end gap is in perfect spot.

Now if ALL the water does not drain out of every cyl (lets assume every ring end gap is not directly down), why didn't you bend a rod after re-start?
 
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JBlanco

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Been hashed out pages ago with pics. Very minimal dirt mud in bottom of air cleaner housing, no water/mud on air cleaner itself, and intake (after air cleaner) is perfectly clean (and was not wet at time of pic).

The only way I see enough water getting in cranckcase through intake, is if it sucked it in and then you immediately shut it off (but air cleaner would be real wet and also sucked in at that point). Would have to be some really good timing, otherwise, you bend a rod.

OK, lets say that actually happens, then you wait until water drains, oh BTW, EVERY piston that had water in it, would have to have the ring end gap in the bottom most position (assuming V6, maybe not on 4 cyl block), so ALL the water drained out. If you've ever seen even an old V-8 engine in a junkyard with the heads off, you can see many times water in the cyl's, and it never drains, unless ring end gap is in perfect spot.

Now if ALL the water does not drain out of every cyl (lets assume every ring end gap is not directly down), why didn't you bend a rod after re-start?
Wait, if it didn't bent a rod, what's the damage on the engine, why it needs to be replaced?
 
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broncabilly

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There are a lot of pages I mine, but not only did it not bend a rod it didn’t stall the engine. Or even make it sputter. It needs to be replaced because it seized, most likely from driving it with sand in the crankcase.
How did it get there, it was in the water. How dis the water get there? Nobody knows or cares so long as Ford doesn’t have to warranty it.
the sad revelation today is that AAA is going to total loss it. So I lose, AAA loses, but it’s a win for Ford.
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