Drowning Jeep

We went trail riding in early october and ended up on a few stream crossings. Needless to say we had a blast but as you can tell from caption. My 48 hit a large hole and drown out completely. Made for some good pictures but also made me cringe. Have a 225 V6 with T90 and overdrive. I had a snorkel on the jeep but the water was up over the cowl so the engine was completely submerged. I never did get stuck but it later died and so the rescue began.

We started by pulling all the plugs and pulled it in gear to pump all the water out. Drained all the oil and changed the filters also changed fuel filter. Let it set for a week then changed all the lubes from front to back and greased everthing to get any water out. I also had to drain the gas tank twice as precaution and assumption of contamination. I then changed spark plugs.

Got the jeep started and ran for a little bit (although never smooth) and then changed oil again. My issue now is that you have to choke the Jeep to keep it running and it seems to load up with soot after running a little while which I presume is from choking it? I also took the carb apart and cleaned up everything before re-installing. The motor seems to run fine but just cant keep it running. What did I miss? Anything else I should do and what else should check? Thanks in advance.

Bryan

 

How about the distributor? You didn't mention that. Moisture in the cap will make it run crappy.

 

I agree. I'd check the distributor for any residual moisture. It doesnt take much moisture to make it run poorly.

Another thing to try is the fuel pump. I drowned mine once and couldnt get any fuel flow out of the supply line. You seem to be getting some fuel flow but maybe its not enough.

Good luck with it! Gman

 

Could be you sucked a gasket in the intake area also. Vacuum leak means lean burn requiring choking.

 

Sorry for the late response guys, I was out of town for work this week. The distributor did have silicone around the cap but I will check again although I think I already checked and seemed alright. Not sure about gasket sucking into intake. Any other ideas?

 

Water in the fuel tank????

 

Nope, drained fuel tank right away. Put couple gallons new fuel in and drained it again.

thanks

 

bnorth10, I suspect that there was/is water in the distributor. Take the cap off & look closely. If you already have discovered what the problem was, Please let us know! Thanks, Matt W.

 

water in fuel lines, not just the tank.
water in the distributor
water in the wires?
Corroded battery cables from water

The list can go on and on... in short... water got in alot of places it wasnt meant to... it could be a combination of things being slightly different than they were.

 

Thanks for all the help guys!! I did 95% of everything suggested but ended up kitting carb as after all that cleaning still seemed to have water in there somewhere. Also dried out dist. as best as possible. Runs much better now. I have only had this particular one for about a year and it still just doesnt seem to want to fire very hot for being HEI. Any suggestions there?

Thanks again,

Bryan

 

I would replace the ignition wire to the coil with a 10ga copper as that coil pulls a good bit of current.

 

Thanks, I will try that. Anyone running a hotter plug or coil or just mostly stock?

Bryan

 

I watched a Bronco go for a swim once. On the way out of the hole we were in we had to clear a way around it because it was blocking the trail and wouldn't run. Found out later the coil had gotten wet and finally died.

 

Yeah, I replaced the coil. I got it running somewhat better but man it took a long time to work through all that water. I even cleaned the tank and it just kept hanging up somewhere.

I recently replaced the coil and re-kitted carb. but seems to run rich now. Maybee it needs re-jetted. I bought it out of Denver last summer and its in the flatlands now. Just wants to load up constantly and I cants seem to lean it enough.

BN

 

if it was jetted for this altitude, Denver, or higher, it would be lean at your altitude. Sounds like the float level is too high or the power valve is stuck on....or maybe when it was rebuilt, someone lost the little steel ball at the bottom of the accelerator pump column and additional gas is being sucked into the venturies.