Sunk New Bike

[the artist formerly known as ish]

I was reading the Machanical forums on todo-trial, and see some poor lad submerged his new 4rt, barrel, exhaust, head, filter box, all full of muddy water.

Should make this a poll, what would you do ?

Kick the dog and

Rinse it out and sell it, low hours, wife forces sale

Go the whole hog and total rebuild replacing all bearings.

Insure it and report it stolen

[Guest gasgastxtpro]

The last one.

Villie

[johnnyboxer]

Cry.............uncontrollably

[Guest gasgastxtpro]

Actually kick the dig and cry and then do the insurance.

But in the middle i would probably have thought back to when some one was saying "i told you not to trust that kick stand you mended using selotape" or " i told you not to park it when the tide was out"

Villie

[munch]

should it be any different to any other 4 t

the ecu and throttle are well sealed ,it should just go in the bore so as long as nothing bends,empty it out and carry on

my mates wr 450 has swallowed plenty and is still going strong!

[the artist formerly known as ish]

Didn't mean for this to turn into a what if topic, fact is any bike submerged in muddy water will be knacked, yes you can drain them and carry on, this only adds to the damage, but in events like the ssdt you pays your money and keep going as long as you can, the lads bike was submerged long enough for the water to fill the exaust full, were the valves open ? he also says his barrel was full of muddy water, Mont, Sherco, BSA, doesn't matter without a rebuild it's toast.

Try putting some wet sand in an old wheel bearing and giving it a spin it

John, many fourstrokes have competed and done well in the SSDT, in fact I would say it's less likely to get water into the engine than a two stroke, but when it does get drowned like the one in the topic, turning it upside down and pumping it out won't get the dirt that does the real damge out.

[woody]

my mates wr 450 has swallowed plenty and is still going strong!

That's beause it's a Yam....

Seriously though, I've also seen a few 4 stroke enduro bikes play at submarines and if it is purely the affect of water on electrics that is the issue, they have had no problem because like Munch said, they are well sealed units. The problem is getting all of the water out of the airbox/engine/exhaust before it will start, no different from a 2 stroke in that respect really.

Don't forget 2 strokes have sealed electronics as well such as CDI unit and coil and they aren't affected by a good dunking - although Beta and Gassers don't need water to upset the electrics...... (and that isn't a dig against them as I'm very close to buying an 04 280 pro because I like my mates so much, it's a nice bike - If I do I'll just buy a spare CDI with it...)

[dfwilson]

My son drowned his KX250 in muddy water in the creek next to our neighborhood. Fortunately he didn't try to start it. He just pushed it home. We pulled the head and flushed the crank with soapy water then with clean water then and then with alcohol to get rid of the water. Once we were to that stage we sprayed WD40 into the oil holes above the bearings and gently rocked the crank back and forth. We used a vacuum pump to suck the WD40 from the bottom of the crank. The WD40 foamed nicely and washed out all of the sand. After using about 5 large cans of WD40 the crank case was clean. We fitted a new piston, pin, bearing, and rings and the engine was saved. I would hate to have seen what would have happen if my son had followed the recommendation of all three local bike shops which was to turn the bike upside down, drain the water, and then get it started as soon as possible. I am glad the bike is a 2 stroke. If it had been my 4 stroke Honda I am not sure how I would have tried to fix it.

Ciao

Doug Wilson

Edited January 8, 2005 by dfwilson