Poured gas rite down the intake, was dumb, but it did get it to finally start

Tiny
BRAD CAMPBELL
  • MEMBER
  • 1989 CHEVROLET S-10
  • 4.3L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 150,000 MILES
When it fired it blew gas back out and fuel and it caused a fire, I panicked cuz I was way out n a field, no help, no fire extinguisher so I dumped water on it, finally got the fire out, the 4 wires are bare have to fix them, other than that no real damage. Do I need to do anything to the intake or how do I deal with the water I dumped in their and what is worst it could hurt? Was only half gallon and I dumped it so fast not a lot went in there I'm sure and by then the truck I think had been shut off! Please help me!
Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 AT 10:24 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,873 POSTS
Once I stopped chuckling, because we've all been there before, I can share that the water is of little concern. If you get a real lot in the intake manifold, it will run into any cylinder that has an open intake valve, and at the worst, you'll get hydro-lock when you try to crank the engine. As long as there's some air in the cylinder, that will compress and allow the engine to crank, then the water will be pushed out through the exhaust valve. It's when you try to drive through water that's real high, and it gets sucked in while the engine is running, that you can get a cylinder 100 percent full of water. That will stop a piston dead in its tracks, and since the running engine is very much stronger than a starter, it could bend a connecting rod. Typically an engine running at a lower speed will just stall and let you sit. At that point you drag the vehicle out of the river, open the doors to let the fish out, and remove the spark plugs. With the plugs out, you can spin the engine with the starter and it will spit the water out. Then you let it dry our for a few days before reinstalling the spark plugs.

Keep in mind too that your engine is ingesting quite a bit of water when you're driving in the rain. That actually helps the engine run smoother because it makes the gas burn slowly and evenly which is desirable over the rapid "pop" that is over too quickly to make a lot of power.

What I'm trying to say is you don't have anything to worry about. The little water that might get into the cylinders will be gone out the tail pipe as soon as the engine starts. The worst thing you can do right now is let it sit for weeks. The cylinder walls actually will not rust very quickly because they have a film of oil on them, and steel needs oxygen with the water to rust, and the water will shield the walls. A bigger concern is the valves that might remain wet. Any oil residue gets burned off of them, and they are exposed to air. You won't notice a problem at first, but any rust on the valve seats will allow leakage, and leakage on exhaust valves, which get real hot, will cause the valve and seat to burn away resulting in more leakage and eventually a burned valve.

That is an extreme case. By your description, it sounds like you have little or nothing to worry about, hence my chuckling.
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Wednesday, September 7th, 2016 AT 10:58 PM

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