I tipped my mini excavator

[Modrob]

Sort of related but the hydrolock thing caught my attention…couple weeks ago when the outer bands of Helene dumped some serious water on us, I had our Power Trac (Kohler 25hp gas) sitting out but had a tarp over the engine and the hood down to keep it secure. When I was finally able to get to it, tried to start and it would just “bump” like low battery. Tried charging the battery (it was fairly new) and no difference. Getting my hands in to try and turn it over by hand it would move so far then “bind” up. With the troubles I have had recently I thought I’d take the head off the previously troubled side and investigate for bent rod etc. Upon starting to lift the head, some water started exiting. Getting it off, I found a good bit of water sitting on top of the piston. Never having experienced hydrolock before I thought I’d now seen it. No bent pushrods. Cleaned out both heads, then hand cranked it a few turns. Pulled carb as well and found water inside it! Back together, removed plugs, cranked and blew some residential water out. Running fine now. Would not have imagined water getting into it but those storm rains were heavy and at times blowing sideways…

 

[bigtiller]

I knew if there was anyone other than me who could utter these words, as if you've had multiple vehicles on their side multiple times, it would be you or Renze.

A buddy in high school accidentally rolled his jeep when he hit a high railroad crossing off-plumb, with a bunch of us in the vehicle. We got out, stood the thing back up, and did it like 3 more times.

We did the same thing as teenagers in a 1950 ford. And then we went to town and got some more kids and did it again. We did it every night for a week. We finally parked the old ford on the main drag through town so all could admire our achievement. Fun times.!!

 

[sd455dan]

When you tip them over, you need to make sure no fluid is in a cylinder. The reason is you can hydro-lock the engine and cause damage like bending a rod. To prevent this, you would first pull the injectors or glow plugs and crank it over to rid any fluid. Good video:

That is one advantage of some diesels being equipped with an exhaust valve opener mechanism that allows the fluids to be expelled without hydro lock. No need to do anything but flip a lever and make sure the fuel stop is also pulled before hitting the starter after an unfortunate event to clear the cylinders out.

Here is hoping that muffler is just full of oil and burning it off.

Does the engine sound normal all cylinders firing?

 

[jrsavoie]

Hydro-lock seems unlikely, if it was only on its side for a few minutes, unless it was some old engine that was already burning oil thru leaky rings or stem seals. But still always best to check all fluids, then remove glow plugs or spark plugs from all cylinders prior to cranking, to ensure all cylinders are dry enough to run.

If the smoke had lasted several seconds after re-starting, I'd have guessed a small amount managed to leak into the cylinders while the machine was on its side. After all, it's not like piston rings and valve stem seals suddenly become porous, just because the machine is on its side.

Someone mentioned coolant in the cylinders. Tell me how that could happen? I'm having trouble understanding how there's any path between cylinders and coolant, no matter which way you flip the thing. The coolant on these machines is a closed and pressurized system like any car, right? If there were some leak path dependent on gravity, your system would never pressurize, and the coolant would boil off.

Oil on exhaust seems possible, esp. if somewhere downstream that's not super hot, as that's the only way it'd keep smoking after several minutes. Still, seems unlikely, unless there was a lot of it.

Damage due to hydro-lock, although unlikely in my opinion, could cause continued smoking and the stalling under load that the OP describes. A bent connecting rod or broken valve stem would be sources of continuous oil intrusion thru piston rings or valve stem seal.

I work on gassers, not much experience with diesels. Can you run compression and leak-down tests, to see if anything serious was damaged? Short of that, if you can't find any obvious external source for the smoke (eg. oil on exhaust), then I'd be pulling the valve covers to check for damaged valve stems, etc. Last resort is pulling a head to check pistons, but at least on a gasser, you can usually debug that by compression and leak-down tests.

Why not on a diesel?

 

[WinterDeere]

Why not on a diesel?

?? I don't follow your question.

The only thing I said about diesels, is that I have less experience working on them, versus gasoline engines.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

NEXT time?

Anytime I look at mini excavators, among other things, I look to see if the boom is twisted from a tumble. I think the Wacker-Giel versions are the only minis with a tilting track system to level out the house to try to keep them from tumbling over.

 

[DutchInNZ]

It did not turn over, but then later on it did when you persisted, and now a hell of a lot of white smoke. So much smoke and that white colour, that is no diesel, that is definitely coolant. Most probably it was indeed hydrolocked and that, because of the too high pressure, the head gasket blew out someplace. That is the cheap consequence; the other might be that you cracked the head, but normally a gasket gives way sooner than that. I would not worry about the pistons and connecting rods either; also those can stand a lot more than a gasket.

 

[gstrom99]

Too bad the OP hasn't come back and posted since last Thursday, with a response or update...

 

[sd455dan]

It did not turn over, but then later on it did when you persisted, and now a hell of a lot of white smoke. So much smoke and that white colour, that is no diesel, that is definitely coolant. Most probably it was indeed hydrolocked and that, because of the too high pressure, the head gasket blew out someplace. That is the cheap consequence; the other might be that you cracked the head, but normally a gasket gives way sooner than that. I would not worry about the pistons and connecting rods either; also those can stand a lot more than a gasket.

One whiff of that exhaust and the OP will know if it is barely burned diesel or antifreeze. Sickly sweet -coolant/water

Unburned diesel will smell like diesel.

If it runs and sounds normal I would pop the radiator cap see if still full, put a nitrile glove on the filler, fire up the engine and see if it pumps up...(head gasket) and if not run it to see if the smoke clears out if it continues to sound normal also would check the oil first and the air filter is not contaminated either.

 

[ruffdog]

I wonder if a cyl liner could crack with a hydro-lock?