I wanted to make a new thread for this in case someone misses it in the STS thread because this doesn't pertain just to STS systems but any system where the intake can get a decent amount of water into it.


My problem started when I tried to floor it in high boost (12psi) in a VERY heavy rainstorm and I imediately got shut down From that point on the truck acted funny and almost like it was missing really bad but it was intermitent. Like maybe one miss in a 5min span. Turns out I sucked up a tons of water which sat in my intercooler and kept spraying the MAF. If I tired to go WOT in low boost the truck would just act like it died till I let off. Sometimes it would start to rev up but then imediately go limp. One time it backfired really bad in high boost too. I scared the crap out of some landscaping guys so bad 1 of them dropped his shovel and almost tripped

I cleaned out all the water but I believe the damage was done. I had run a compression check a couple days before the flooding and they all checked out between 185-190psi. I did a compression check yesterday and I am at 185 on all but 2 cylinders which are at 160 and 140

I have not been racing and I even turned the meth up a little bit just to be safe with the cooler weather so I have a feeling I sucked up more water than was safe. I highly doubt I would have hurt anything had I not kept trying to floor it over the next couple days. I didn't know it was a water clogged intercooler that was causing the problem or I definately would not have tried to go WOT.

My point in this is that while most people have not had issues. There is a chance of it if you are stupid like me and run high boost in heavy rainfall. To keep this from happening buy the snorkel kit STS sells and run your sock in the really bad weather and you'll have zero issues as long as you dont try crossing rivers.

I'm not trying to scare any of you from the kit but I want you to know ANY dangers that exist. There are a few people with Prochargers and Vortechs that have had this problem and more than a couple who hydrolocked their motors so it's not just a rear mount issue.

Moral of the story,

#1 Dont floor it in heavy rainfall/puddles unles you have the filter tucked away and/or covered with a water condom :p

#2 If you do floor it and the truck revs up then falls flat on it's face DO NOT FLOOR IT AGAIN without checking the piping for water.

 

you gonna pull the head on those pistons to take alook?

 

I'm gonna build up a stock 6.0L with good pistons and such first. In the mean time I am gonn arace it tomorrow anyway and see if I can pull out a better time with all this cooler weather (race gas will be used as a cushion) or break something trying.

I really can't afford to pull the motor apart just to check to see what is causing it. My guess would be a ring land or maybe a valve if too much water came in at once.

Either way I had plans for a 6.0L before the end of the year so i am not upset by this really. Just annoyed that I had to screw something up because I was dumb and not because I was simply making to much HP. LOL

 

the procharger kit for fbody's has this same problem luckily the truck kits are safely tucked away under the hood....but for sts kits for the trucks id be very careful....

 

Yeah...rear mount turbo...heavy rain...let's floor it...good one buddy

 

Did you tell STS of the problem?

 

thats the only thing i dont like about the sts..............cant imagine putting it on my truck.........snow doesent sound good for it of course i guess you coul run the filter back up and under the hood if needed w/ some tubing

 

Check out your compressor veins also...water unlike air does not compress....doesn't sound like you got too much up into it. good luck with the 6.0

 

in my gm manual, the compression should be somewhere around 130 or so. + or - 15%

How are you getting 180 psi?

 

I've cleaned out all of the water now. I didn't check the compressor but I will today. I doub't I bent anything but we will see.

STS knows about it and found it rather odd but not inconcievavle. It's mostly due to the high boost. I've floored it many time in low boost and never really had much of a problem but sucking enough air to fill up my motor with 12psi did the trick.

As for my compression. It's just a stock 5.3L with 6.0L heads/gaskets so my static compression should be 8.5:1... Everytime I've done a compresison check I was in the 180-190range.

What's everyone else getting?


As for the STS kit being bad in this respect I don't feel it is if you simply either, run your sock in really bad weather. or buy a snorkel kit STS sells which relocates the filter into a pretected area of the bed. It's very simple. I wouldn't give up on a kit that has such great potential because of a simple filter placement issue. LOL


LM7, come up to Sac tonight. A ton of us are going racing tonight