Today I inspected a duce(wildland fire truck) and the department left the switch on and when I got to it the batteries were drained all the way down. Now I remembered the eariler discussion about hyrdo lock. I was nervous to crank the engine, I took the intake tube off from the turbo to the intake manifold to check for fuel, none. I cranked it over with the engine stop pulled and it sounded ok so I cranked and it started right up. Now i have a hard time believeing the hydro lock senario. For the fuel to enter the combustion chamber it would have to pass through the IP, the fuel pressure would have to be high!!!! to open the injectors. Maybe I got lucky?
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Hydrostatic lock part 2
- Thread starter MATT
- Start date
- 10,350
- 75
- 48
- Location
- Meadows of Dan, Virginia
The problem with the flame heater nozzle would only happen if the check valves within it are leaking. If not, no problem in that department, at least.
Fuel leak into the cylinders via the fuel injection system? Highly unlikely. Fuel leak into the cylinders via the manifold heater system? Possible, if the flame heater system is leaking, as Bjorn noted.
The more common cause of hydrostatic lock is coolant leaking into the cylinders. The early head gaskets were prone to leakage and hyro lock was a somewhat common problem then. The newer gaskets are better (there has been at least two "improvements" to the the head gaskets) but still not perfect. The head bolts DO need to be periodically retorqued (don't know the specified interval, but the process is covered in the TMs). As the head bolts stretch and loose tension, the clamping load of the heads on the gaskets decreases and no gasket will seal if the clamping load is not adequate.
Some head gaskets have "weep" channels extending from the fire rings to the outer edges of the head to allow any leaking coolant to drain to the outside of the head. A slight amount of coolant weeping around the outside of the heads at the head-block deck junction is not a defect, it is there by design.
Moral of this story: Make sure your head bolts are properly torqued and perform a hydrostatic lock check before starting your multifuel. It only takes a couple of seconds and may save your engine from some very expensive damage!
The more common cause of hydrostatic lock is coolant leaking into the cylinders. The early head gaskets were prone to leakage and hyro lock was a somewhat common problem then. The newer gaskets are better (there has been at least two "improvements" to the the head gaskets) but still not perfect. The head bolts DO need to be periodically retorqued (don't know the specified interval, but the process is covered in the TMs). As the head bolts stretch and loose tension, the clamping load of the heads on the gaskets decreases and no gasket will seal if the clamping load is not adequate.
Some head gaskets have "weep" channels extending from the fire rings to the outer edges of the head to allow any leaking coolant to drain to the outside of the head. A slight amount of coolant weeping around the outside of the heads at the head-block deck junction is not a defect, it is there by design.
Moral of this story: Make sure your head bolts are properly torqued and perform a hydrostatic lock check before starting your multifuel. It only takes a couple of seconds and may save your engine from some very expensive damage!