'94 Chry. van -> Water in a cylinder? gah...

[brtb]

Simple question which I'm 99% sure I know the answer to... how can water get into a cylinder?

Only way I know of is the head gasket. Compression seems to check out across all 4 (130-ish +/- 15psi), but seems to be leaking water into the #1 cylinder... spark plug was wet when I removed it, and what can only be water inside (too thick to be oil, not that it would be any better).

The rest of the story: Sister overheated her engine going to/from work yesterday, dad diagnosed and replaced the stuck thermostat last night and supposedly filled the system back to max. Tonight she comes home complaining of engine roughness and overheating again. Acts like it's missing a cylinder and blows a plume of white smoke out the exhaust after you let it sit a few minutes, not to mention a conspicuous loss of about 1gal or so of coolant.

I told her not to start it, and stole the coil wire just in case... anything else I need to do so it's safe before I somehow haul it over to the mechanic? That little bit of water sitting in the cylinder can't be good for it, but I don't have a clue how to get it out.

 

[natep1]

If you really want to get the water out, pull the plug(s) and turn it over. I reccommend putting a towel over the plug hole so you don't get hit with the spray.

If you really want to play it safe and make sure none of her friends try to help, take the starter relay out. (Parents used to do it to my sister when she was grounded).
Good luck

 

[dyna]

If it was that bad you might wanna drain the oil, it might be full of water also, which in turned pumped thru the engine. If it sits a long time it could damage bearings and rings and cylinder walls.

 

[nate]

Sounds like a head gasket, though it I can't see how it's making good compression. Weird.