Crossed some water and the truck stalled. Looked in the airbox its got a little spray in there but very little water. Fusebox is dry too.Tried to start the truck and it would just click hard, and not spin the motor. Negative connection on the battery is loose, but it should've been the same last time it started, and I can't crank it any tighter, bolt just spins. Battery is good gauges say I have lots of juice. Any ideas on what could be wrong other than the terminal?

 

Dude, I just had the same problem....think I bent a piston rod

 

Tighten the loose negative cable. Why in the world wouldn't you have done that immediately?

 

I would start by tightening that terminal then if it still doesnt crank i would try turning that motor with a breaker bar on the crankshaft.If it doesnt turn that way i would be pulling the spark plugs to see how much water u injested.A bud of mine years ago did a water crossing and sucked enough water it locked the motor and destroyed it.He was lucky he BSed Ford and they put another one in under warranty. Hopefully its just that loose terminal and not water locked cause nothing good can come from that

 

Sounds like hydro-lock to me. Good luck.

 

yea I dont know how you could get away with BSing Dodge about a hydrolocked engine, but there was an 07 Hemi w/32k miles, auto tranny, and rear end for $1,000 here the other day.

 

well it didn't suddenly stop the motor, it just kinda bogged out. Could something have shorted out? I pulled the dipstick and the oil is clean. I'll fix that terminal but what would have caused the motor to quit?

 

And another question, will a Hemi from a 2003 2500 bolt up to my transmission if it is indeed hydrolocked?

 

Why not also drop the starter and test it to see if it will spin? I second trying to spin the engine over by hand or breakerbar.

 

I'd hand crank the engine. If it isn't damaged already, cranking with the starter motor could damage it. Better yet pull the plugs to crank it.