LT1 issue

[John Nechiporchik]

During testing last night, The clamp on the upper radiator hose came loose resulting in the hose coming off during the launch of a test pass. The car left hard and the motor began to flutter bad at the top of first gear. It felt like a fuel issue.
Aborted the run and returned to the pits where I found the hose off at the intake, near the throttle body opening. I believe the hose came off and the throttle body got a healthy dose of water. FYI, the water has water wetter (Red Line) and likely a very small bit of antifreeze left from the winter.
I re-filled the radiator and proceeded to make another pass. This pass resulted in the car acting like it had a fuel issue, and was down on power. In third gear (4 speed car),it laid over ,climbed to 6500, dropped to 6000, then slowly climbed up to 7000.
I clicked it off at that point.
So far, I have only examined the plugs, and they all appear OK.
I was wondering if perhaps there was some residual radiator solution in the intake that showed up during this pass.....or if I have other, more significant issues.
I will go thru the valves and check spring pressure,lash,rockers etc. later today.

BTW, When I drained the overflow in the garage last week, the puddle did not dry up for a few days....Likely the effect of water wetter and residual antifreeze. That's why I'm thinking there may have been some residue left in the intake.
Thanks for any help/advice.

[Mike Pearson]

If it got a big enough gulp of water down the intake it could have hydraulic damage in the lower end. I would do some serious checking before running it again. Bent rod or damaged piston would be possible. Engines do not like water in the combustion chamber. Hope its minor. Leak check and compression check would be first. Look for differential between cylinders.

[John Nechiporchik]

Mike, That is my concern. I'm going to run a compression check today. I did one last month so I have good baseline data.

[John Nechiporchik]

Compression check results:
1,3,7,2,4,8 all same at 200psi.
5,6 both at 180psi.

Interestingly on same journal.

When tested last month, all 8 were same at 200psi.
Looking at valve train next and will run leak down tonight . Need to borrow the tools.

[Rob Petrie E395]

IF it got that big of a dose of water. It might also have gotten some in the optispark. They are famous for problems when the water pump starts going bad and weeps antifreeze. I imagine a large dose all at once would cause similar opti problems.

[John Nechiporchik]

Rob, Interesting comment.
As I was looking at the area where the water could go, it became apparent that the one connector receptacle, located around 11:00o'clock facing the engine is wide open and not utilized as this set-up is configured. Looking down into the receptacle with a flashlight exposes the 3 terminal prongs. I'm certain that this area was the recipient of a good bath during this process.
As indicated in the previous posts, I'll continue down the path Mike suggested and complete the leakdown test .
Hopefully I get good results.
If I chase the optispark unit, does it need to come apart to "DRY OUT" or will time cure the problem???

Thanks
John

[Dan Fahey]

Originally Posted by John Nechiporchik

Rob, Interesting comment.
As I was looking at the area where the water could go, it became apparent that the one connector receptacle, located around 11:00o'clock facing the engine is wide open and not utilized as this set-up is configured. Looking down into the receptacle with a flashlight exposes the 3 terminal prongs. I'm certain that this area was the recipient of a good bath during this process.
As indicated in the previous posts, I'll continue down the path Mike suggested and complete the leakdown test .
Hopefully I get good results.
If I chase the optispark unit, does it need to come apart to "DRY OUT" or will time cure the problem???

Thanks
John

Have a lot of experience with Opti's.
Water got in mine it created a small almost undetectable carbon track.
PMed it with a new Cap and Rotor worked fine.

Had a few Opti's fail.
Tried 3 Summit versions because of price.
All three failed in 6 months. It was the Trigger.

Twice my GM brand new units failed after 6 months.
Discovered carbon tracking the other a cracked rotor with carbon tracking.

Always keep a rebuilt Unit and a Rebuild Kit.

Never know when the water pump will spring a leak.

D

[John Nechiporchik]

This car has a crank trigger....I believe that is why there is no harness connected to the receptacle for the optic sensor module.
However, The opening where the harness would connect is a direct path to allow water into the dist.cap/rotor area. I looked in ther with a flashlight and thwere was definitely moisture on the sensor terminals. Put a Q-tip in there and definitely came out wet.
If leak down does not show anything, tomorrow I remove cap/rotor.

[GUMP]

Originally Posted by John Nechiporchik

This car has a crank trigger....I believe that is why there is no harness connected to the receptacle for the optic sensor module.
However, The opening where the harness would connect is a direct path to allow water into the dist.cap/rotor area. I looked in ther with a flashlight and thwere was definitely moisture on the sensor terminals. Put a Q-tip in there and definitely came out wet.
If leak down does not show anything, tomorrow I remove cap/rotor.

If you got water inside of the Optispark plan on replacing the cap and rotor. In the future fill that plug for the optical sensor with silicone.

[John Nechiporchik]

Got a spare cap and rotor. Will replace tomorrow.