Fuel hydrolock, are my motors days numbered?

[76stepsidechevy]

Long story kinda short due to a fuel injection problem my fuel pump overprimed and flooded the motor. I hit the key got about two revolutions (motor didn't fire) and heard a loud clunk. pulled the plugs and cleared the cylinders and tried again with the same clunk. Eventually figured out what was happening and got it running and it seems to be ok but Im still unsure about the motor. Does my high torque mini starter have enough nut to bend a rod or break a ring?

[Desert1957]

There are a few factors, yes it does have the ABILITY to do damage but only if the ring seal in close to perfect. What i mean is any "older" engine with a fair amount of leak down (20-30%)will just bypass most of the fuel past the rings or not crank over until the plugs are removed.

On a fresh or high performance engine at higher compression ratios , where leak-down is 1-5% it may not crank. this stresses rods and pistons. might even push a cylinder head gasket out if the starter is that great.

I would fix your flooding problem, change the engine oil , install new plugs, start it up. listen for any unusual noises or vibrations. If it runs OK , I'd say its good to go.

Desert

[Firebirdjones]

To answer the other question, yes a starter has enough nuts to bend a rod, and I've even seen a cracked LS aluminum block because of this.

Friend of mine had a leaky fuel injector o-ring on his LS1 and it let water into the cylinder. Cranked the engine and boom. Bent the rod and cracked the side of the block.

Bent another rod in a 427 nova years back from water entering the carb while towing it (through the scoop). Turned it over and bent a rod. Didn't hurt anything else though.

Hope this isn't scaring you

[76stepsidechevy]

I managed to short out my fuel injection ecu and its reaction was to dump fuel. I got it running but it seems to run rough at times. The ecu is damaged and I have another on the way so I'm hoping thats whats causing it to run rough and not internal motor damage. I got some fresh oil in it last night and took it for a rip down the street and hammered on it and it didn't blow up so thats a plus but im still uneasy about the whole thing. Ive read about this kind of thing happening and then the motor throws a rod 1000 mile later so I guess when I get the new ecu and get some miles on it again i'll feel a little better. This is a 260 horse goodwrench 350 so nothing crazy but it ran well and didn't smoke.