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Intercooler coolant leaked into supercharger

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S

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
First post here, and looking for some guidance..2012 CTS-V coupe M6

I had the intercooler lid removed and when disconnecting the coolant lines they snapped back and dripped a moderate amount of coolant straight down the supercharger opening!

I immediately plugged up the coolant hoses and removed the supercharger manifold from the heads. Once the manifold was off the car and on the ground I tilted it and drained out most if not all of the coolant. Spinning the rotors slowly also released more coolant.

I know the intake ports to the heads are right there too, and it's very possible some coolant could have dripped down in there.

Any concerns with hydrolocking the engine upon startup? My friend thinks that if I unplug the spark plug coils and pull the fuse to the fuel pump and crank the engine over a few times, I should be good to go.

Any damage to the supercharger itself from getting coolant on the scrolls?

Thanks!

Melissa
 
RocketSled

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#4 ·
No concern. If you're worried about it, pull the coil packs and crank the engine over for a few seconds to blow any residual out the exhaust manifold... The motor won't crank if it's locked. And the starter motor doesn't generate enough torque to bend anything.
 
Sudderth

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#6 ·
pull the spark plugs and spin the engine over several times to make sure you do not hydraulically lock up the motor. If sufficient coolant goes into a cylinder you will break a rod and even more... Cheap insurance to be sure. You cannot compress a liquid.
 
S

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Thanks for the responses! I was hoping I wouldn't have to remove the spark plugs, as they look to be very difficult to get to and remove. Cheap insurance for sure, but the ease with going with a couple of cranks with the starter motor with the coils disconnected is tempting!
 
MrSurly

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#8 · (Edited)
SheZigs said:
going with a couple of cranks with the starter motor with the coils disconnected is tempting!
Click to expand...
Your sticking on this point tells me that you aren't taking serious advice seriously. Spinning the starter CAN cause damage!
I would offer you this advice as it's actually what I would do rather than pulling the plugs.

1. Don't unplug any wires
2. Don't turn the key on
3. Set parking brake
4. Place trans in neutral
5. Using a breaker bar and socket turn the engine over by hand at least ten revolutions.
6. You're good to go..

Note that if you had no real trouble turning it, then there was not enough water to matter but you proved it the safe, easy way.

If it stops turning (locks up) at some point, you need to remove plugs until it can be turned... and you will know for certain that you 'dodged a bullet'
 
C

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#9 ·
A little bit of water will not hurt anything, but it doesn't take much to lock the engine up if it all goes into one cylinder. I'm not too familiar with the tear down on these cars since I've never had to pull the supercharger. Is the intake off to the point where you can see into the intake runners in the heads? If it is, with a good flashlight and the right angle, you should be able to see to the intake valves. As long as you have not rotated the crank, the cylinders with the valves closed won't have any water in them but they will have water sitting on top of the valves. You can judge how much water may have gotten into the engine this way. Just take a shop vac and stick the hose into the ports enough to get a good vacuum going in the port and it will pull any water out of the runners with the closed valves Now you only have to worry about the cylinders with open valves. Depending on how much water you think got into the engine you will probably be okay with just trying to turn the engine over by hand. As long as you can go two complete rotations by hand, you should be good without pulling any plugs. If the engine won't turn, then the cylinders that had the valves open will be the problem. You may be able to figure which one it is by looking at the now closed valves. You will need to pull the plugs on those cylinders to let the water out. Once you can get two complete revolutions you should be good to go.
 
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S

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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
MrSurly said:
Your sticking on this point tells me that you aren't taking serious advice seriously. Spinning the starter CAN cause damage!
I would offer you this advice as it's actually what I would do rather than pulling the plugs.

1. Don't unplug any wires
2. Don't turn the key on
3. Set parking brake
4. Place trans in neutral
5. Using a breaker bar and socket turn the engine over by hand at least ten revolutions.
6. You're good to go..

Note that if you had no real trouble turning it, then there was not enough water to matter but you proved it the safe, easy way.

If it stops turning (locks up) at some point, you need to remove plugs until it can be turned... and you will know for certain that you 'dodged a bullet'
Click to expand...
I like this idea because I know that plug removal on these cars are a PITA. Crank rotation clockwise (facing front of engine), correct?
 
S

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Discussion Starter · #12 ·
Corsair231 said:
A little bit of water will not hurt anything, but it doesn't take much to lock the engine up if it all goes into one cylinder. I'm not too familiar with the tear down on these cars since I've never had to pull the supercharger. Is the intake off to the point where you can see into the intake runners in the heads? If it is, with a good flashlight and the right angle, you should be able to see to the intake valves. As long as you have not rotated the crank, the cylinders with the valves closed won't have any water in them but they will have water sitting on top of the valves. You can judge how much water may have gotten into the engine this way. Just take a shop vac and stick the hose into the ports enough to get a good vacuum going in the port and it will pull any water out of the runners with the closed valves Now you only have to worry about the cylinders with open valves. Depending on how much water you think got into the engine you will probably be okay with just trying to turn the engine over by hand. As long as you can go two complete rotations by hand, you should be good without pulling any plugs. If the engine won't turn, then the cylinders that had the valves open will be the problem. You may be able to figure which one it is by looking at the now closed valves. You will need to pull the plugs on those cylinders to let the water out. Once you can get two complete revolutions you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
The intake ports to the heads are much easier to view with the supercharger removed. I will try and crank it over by hand and if it locks up will inspect most likely the rear most bank of cylinders as this is where the spillage occurred. What you mentioned about the state of the valves makes perfect sense. Thanks!
 
jcs003

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#17 ·
Karch said:
So if you do this, you have to remove the spark plugs, which is what seems to be the proper solution.

Just have a lot of bandaids on hand (pun intended).

...or the headers, or the Supercharger. Either way I would not be turning the motor at all if their is liquid in my cylinders. Hence the bore scope.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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