new member just killed his car

ex90ranger

Member
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07 mazda 3 5door GT
Hey guys, I have a 07 5door GT

I was driving home tonight in a down pour and was forced into a freaking river that was one of the lanes of the road I was on by someone who didn't notice me trying to avoid it.

Water up to the side skirts on the car and the engine died instantly. I have the K&N CAI with the water guard. However with the amount of smoke that came into the cabin I am pretty sure the engine is done for.

I am not able to do anything with it tonight because it is still raining, but tomorrow I plan to pull the spark plugs, maf, and change the oil. I checked the oil after pushing the car off the road into a parking lot and it looked clean but I don't trust that.

Worse case, the engine is done. Going on that idea, how hard would it be to put the speed engine into the car? Is it drop in, plug in the computer and go or is there more to it? Any chance at all that the 5spd I have now will be able to bolt to it and hold up? Or is the 6spd a must? I know the 6spd is stronger but I dont have the money for a tranny replacement also.

I know that I would be looking at all of the intake pipes, exhaust, computer, turbo, and the engine itself.

Will the engine harness work with it? Will the computer for the car itself, not the engine, work? Aside from the under carriage braces, is there anything structurally that would need changed?

I am going to have to figure out what to do here and how involved it will be because insurance will hopefully be paying for the actual replacement. But most likely I will have to pay for the difference to upgrade to the turbo engine.

But then it is also possible that the engine will be just fine and I am worried about nothing. Thats not likely I fear.
 
I just got done pulling the plugs, from drivers to passengers, dry - wet - dry - wet.
When the plugs are wet after setting all night then you KNOW there was a lot of water in the engine.
The oil looks good, thankfully, but I still don't know how much I can trust that on how much got into the engine. Considering how quickly the engine shut down and all.
Also, the TB looks dry and the intake tube looks dry.
Thats good.
 
Were you on the gas when you hit the "river"? How fast was the motor turning when you hit it?

If you were just idling or even cruising along at light throttle, I'd say it's fairly likely that you got a spray of water up into the motor, but not enough to cause damage. Pull all 4 plugs and crank the motor... as long as water doesn't come jetting out of the cylinder you're probably just fine.
 
Call me crazy, but I don't think this should have been in the engine. I just pumped this out of the cylinders. I am pretty sure now that the engine is gone.



you can click that
 
if you were in the gas when that was pulled into the cylenders, you likely bent a rod at least... if it was idling, you might be OK... it basically all depends on if you hydrolocked it or not.
 
I was not gassing it by any means; I was holding it about 2k just trying to keep the car moving. I didn't want to release the clutch at all.

I just tried to turn it over and all I get is a "click" and then a high pitched wine when I try to crank it. Not the fuel pump wine either. The engine will not budge.

Where is the starter under all that plastic? I can't seem to see it. I wanted to try smacking it to see if it is stuck on a dead spot.
 
I was not gassing it by any means; I was holding it about 2k just trying to keep the car moving. I didn't want to release the clutch at all.

I just tried to turn it over and all I get is a "click" and then a high pitched wine when I try to crank it. Not the fuel pump wine either. The engine will not budge.

Where is the starter under all that plastic? I can't seem to see it. I wanted to try smacking it to see if it is stuck on a dead spot.

I doubt thats your issue.. my guess is something is either wet, or shorted. I would check all of your fuses after you are sure the car is dry. the starter has to be somewhere near the flywheel, so just look around where the engine meets the transmission.
 
I am still holding out hope for a shorted out starter. But I did a quick once over of the fuses and didn't find anything. They all checked fine for continuity.
 
I never tried to crank it with the spark plugs in the engine.

And I would have tried to turn it by hand already, I have a breaker bar however my old room mate had the sockets for it and he lost them after he moved out.
 
a compression test will reveal a bent rod. if u can get it to turn. autozone usually rents em for free ;)

if compression is low in one or a couple cylinders u got bent rod/s and that means new motor time. i would check jmi motors (google em) for a motor, and im sure you can find a computer, but for a speed3 you need a new harness as well.....
 
Do you mind explaining how low compression will indicate a bent rod?

Clifton
 
If the rod is bent, then at TDC the piston will be at a lower point in the cylinder. The swept volume of the piston will still be the same, but the volume at the top of the compression stroke will be larger, meaning that cylinder has a lower compression ratio. Lower compression ratio = lower compression.

At least, that's the logical interpretation... there could be other factors I'm not aware of ;)
 
I know C&D did a MS3 swap in a mazda 5 which has the same 2.3. They ran into a ton if issues with the wiring harness. Im not sure if the MZ3 harness is compatable with the MS3 ecu. also the regular 3's hood will not close with the TMIC, so you would have to invest in a FMIC as well. would be an awesome sleeper tho (rockon)
 
A guy locally dropped a MS3 drivetrain into an 05 mazda3. Physically, everything is a direct swap, but based on his experience I'd say it's only practical if you have an entire intact MS3 drivetrain to work with. He picked up a MS3 that had been rolled at the track, and swapped over the entire drivetrain and much of the front/rear suspension. You'll most definitely need a MS3 ECU, and even then, he said it was a lot of work to figure out how to make it work correctly with the rest of his car.
 
If the rod is bent, then at TDC the piston will be at a lower point in the cylinder. The swept volume of the piston will still be the same, but the volume at the top of the compression stroke will be larger, meaning that cylinder has a lower compression ratio. Lower compression ratio = lower compression.

At least, that's the logical interpretation... there could be other factors I'm not aware of ;)
basically a perfect explaination...
 
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