hey there i have a 93 xj with a 4.0 in it. i use it strickly for offroading. anyways i was out wheeling the other nite and got into a pretty deep mud hole. deeper than i thought. im geussing i sucked water in the intake cuz the hood was under water and it just quit all of a sudden. pulled it out and pulled the oil drain plug and filter. the oil wasnt grey. oil was black but seemed really thin and watery. i also pulled the spark plugs and let it sit over nite to drain and dry out. im lookin for any advice on the best way to recover from this. thanks for any help

 

Refill oil, squirt oil in cylinders disconnect coil and see if it will crank. If so crank for a minute off and on then reconnect the coil and see if it fires.... idk.

 

I would start with these:

pull all the plugs, crank it over a few times to help flush any water that may have been sucked in

drain and replace both oil and oil filter

pull the air box, clean/replace filter

pull distributor cap, clean if needed


just saying that's what I would begin with if it were me.

 

Oh ya, pull plugs and crank before putting a little oil in the cylinders.

 

I have no experience here, but water doesn't mix with oil so it would not have a thinning effect right? Did you try to start it after it went in the drink and it did not start? It just be the alt. hit the drink first, and you didn't suck up water at all? Maybe I was just supposed to assume your air filter was soaked and it clearly took in water, idk.

 

???-93? does that have a distributor to clean?

I hear WD 40 was the governments 40th attempt to make a water displacement product. So now dip it in WD 40 and you're good!
Would he want to wash any mud out of like the, alternator or belt & pulleys ect?

 

Correct. Water and oil do not mix. Oil sits on top of the water. Reason they can skim crude when an oil spill happens

 

Yeah my air filter was soaked. but yeah she runs good now. poured a little oil in the cylinders and cranked some water out then re filled and drain oil again. then refilled again with new oil and filter and air filter. runs great like always. thank guys for the help

 

Congrats, you were lucky!

 

I hydrolocked my 96 Cutlass once upon a time. Drove through a puddle that didn't look as deep as it was, water flowed directly into the intake, stopped the engine cold.

Thankfully the motor wasn't hot and wasn't spinning fast, so no permanent damage was done.

Here's what I did:

1. Drained the oil
2. Pulled the air box off, cleaned air intake tubing and let dry.
3. Pulled plugs and wires (and bought new ones, might as well since you have it all apart already)
4. Sprayed WD40 into the cylinders for added lubrication, since I knew at LEAST one was full of water (which was slowly draining back into the oil pan)
5. Cranked, water sprayed out of the affected cylinders (two of them). Stopped, sprayed more WD40, cranked some more. Did this several times.
6. New oil filter and oil, sealed it back up and drove it home. Changed the oil again the next day just as a precaution.

Car gave me 40,000 more miles trouble free (well, the throttle position sensor failed and it had a rusted hub bearing from sitting so long after being drowned) before I sold it to a guy who was amazed at how smooth it ran and gave me my asking price for it.

 

Congrats!!!! happy to hear nothing big had to be done!