Oil in cylinder

[Wedged'86]

Hi,

So my car stalled due to a hydro lock situation developing in cylinder 4.
When I inspected it I found that it was full of oil.

It took me a while to get around to pulling it apart but when I did the oil had drained back down past the ring.
I assumed I had worn valve seal. I used a cylinder leak down tester to check the cylinder but it tested fine. However I did find that cylinder THREE has a leaking exhaust valve haha.

So I plan on doing valve seals anyway but this doesn't seem to be what caused the problem in cylinder 4 and since it FILLED with oil I assume it leaked down from the cams.

Does anyone know what could have caused this? My oil is thinner than 20w-50 snit I don't think that could cause it alone.

Thanks for your imput guys.

[oldcorollas]

HG? 10char

[Wedged'86]

Well I have good compression in all cylinders except #3 which is leaking out of the exhaust valve so I didn't think it could be a head gasket.

Btw this is a 4age 16v.

Valves will get done on Monday. But I suspect that it won't help...

[Wedged'86]

Btw what does 10 char mean??

Thanks for your help.

[oldcorollas]

minimum 10 characters to post.

i am pretty confident that you will never ever get enough oil coming down past a valve stem, to cause hydraulic lock (while it is running).

to be full of oil, it would have to be pissing in there... and the only source of high pressure oil is the oil gallery, which would have to get past the head gasket to be able to get into the cylinder.
oil pressure during compression test not high enough to squirt in, but high enough to not allow large amounts of air to escape into the oil system?

how much oil was in the cylinder?

[andrew_mx83]

i am pretty confident that you will never ever get enough oil coming down past a valve stem, to cause hydraulic lock (while it is running).

yeah that would never happen. also the valve stem and head would be covered in oil.

my money is on BHG/cracked head unless you tipped it on its lid. obviously you would have the head thoroughly checked while its at the machine shop....
what did the head gasket look like when it came out? is there an oil drain near that cylinder?

[allencr]

Spark plug well from a leaking cam cover gasket.
No reason to believe anything else, even the stuff about #3 ex that probably has a bit of carbon on it that'll get pounded out next time you test it.

[andrew_mx83]

only if you took a plug out....

[Wedged'86]

Thanks a lot for the help so far guys.

I liked the idea of the rocker cover gasket leaking as there was oil in the valley there but I don't see how it could have leaked in past the spark plug.

When I took the plug out it was dripping in it.
I have not taken the head off yet so I'm not sure about the HG.

I Just talked to a head reconditioner and he told me that there is a port thing in that cylinder that has something to do with pollution gear. Told me that when the gasket wears out on them it leaks oil into that cylinder.
Does that sound right to you guys??

[oldcorollas]

i dunno, but it sounds odd

[jondee86]

I Just talked to a head reconditioner and he told me that there is a port thing in that cylinder that has something to do with pollution gear. Told me that when the gasket wears out on them it leaks oil into that cylinder.
Does that sound right to you guys??

I call BS !!!

How do you know the cylinder was full of oil ?? And how do you know it was not full of water with a bit of oil on top ??

Cheers... jondee86

[andrew_mx83]

Schrodinger's hydrolock?

How do you even know its a cylinder til you get the head off?

[allencr]

Schrodinger's hydrolock? How do you even know its a cylinder til you get the head off?

Did the engine come to a very sudden stop with a sound & shake like a sledge hammer hitting a railroad track, with damage to rings piston wrist/gudgeon pin rod rod bearing & maybe crank, or did So my car stalled due to a hydro lock situation developing in cylinder 4. happen more like a power cut to an electric fan?

[alexlegault]

do a compression test