Experts,

 

I'm doing a SeaFoam treatment to my GL-10 this weekend, and want to avoid hyrdo-locking my motor.

 

What's your experience with this? How sensitive are the GL-10s to this. Should I worry?

 

Thanks.

 

./steve

If you suck in the Seafoam through a vacuum line, then you 99% won't hydrolock it, i've never had it happen and i've done it coutless times.

And just do it slowly, so it has a chance to do its work and get out the exhaust.

The 84 Turbo Coupe I used to have was completly locked up when I got it.

The PO said that they blew a hose when going up a grade with the AC on. It got hot so quick that the oil was percolating out the filler tube and seized up.

I got it home and pulled the sparkplugs out, then cranked it over. It was like 4 mini gysers, each cylinder was full of oil. But after a tune up and a few other items it fired right up and ran like a champ.

A whole bottle of the stuff down your intake in one gulp wouldn't hydro lock the engine - not enough fluid. I've drowned plenty of EA81's with swamp water till they completely died. Still turned over and fired up. Shot a ton of water out the tail pipe and lots of steam from being really wet. No damage tho.

 

GD

Be warned, EA82's can be hydrolocked with extremly detrimental effects. I sunk mine at ~4,000 rpm's and it bent a connecting rod. It still runs, but it is so loud you have to yell at each other with it idling with the hood open. If you feed it through a vaccum line, it won't allow enough volume through to lock it, so you should be safe. DO NOT just pour anything down the throat. I have hydrolocked a ford probe by cleaning the throttle body with carb cleaner. After I finneshed, I cranked it and whump, it locked. It takes less than you think.

Bent a rod?!? I want a picture to prove that. Subaru rods are insanely thick for the size engine they are in. You may have nuked a bearing tho - perhaps it was on the way out and the fluid was the last straw. The old engine out of my wagon threw a rod after too much swamp water - right out the top of the block. Took a month for it to blow tho.

 

GD

Well, after i got the water to pass by the rings, the next 15-20 times I started it, it took an insane amount of effort by the starter to spin it. I couldn't turn the engine by hand with a ratchet. The binding reduced with miles, and now it starts at the right speed and it knocks. The knocking is really loud, and it happens every stroke, not just comp. At first, it got quieter on decel, but now it's continuous. lost a fair bit of power too.

 

Since it happened as soon as the engine restarted while i was in the pond, it wasn't the water in the oil that did it. I only drove another mile or so with the water in the oil, and it was knocking hard that whole time. So that leads me to bent or twisted rod, and I think the piston has worn to fit now. I'm going to take it apart when I swap the EJ in, but for now it's still moving the car.