Dropped the bike in big mud hole!

[svmtbman]

I was riding yesterday on my '03 200 and came to a long mud crossing I had made it through 3 times earlier in the day. Thanks to the morons on the ATVs the mud hole had become quite a bit deeper when I went across this time, so deep that caused me to stop and I fell over with the bike causing both of us to be totally submerged in the muddy water. (don't laugh even though most people standing around did) Anyway, after this I couldn't get the bike to start by kicking it over but I finally got it started by pushing it off. I avoided running the bike hard and putted back to the truck. My question is (other than cleaning the airfilter and airbox along with changing the plug) is there anything else I should do before running the bike (I have washed the bike very good but didn't have time to pull off the seat last night). The bike will start right up but I just want to make sure I won't damage it.

 

[wumember]

i'm not a reall expert, but if ur air box got mud in it, i would check the carb for mud or dirt... other than that i dont know

 

[canyncarvr]

If search worked (well, it hasn't been), I'd say do one.

...but I doubt it is.

On one end of the possiblities, don't worry much about it. Cuz...

If you already started and ran it, whatever damage was to be done has been done.

ROT (rule of thumb) for 'death by drowning' will generally include removing the air filter and the spark plug, turning the bike over and kicking it by hand to remove what you can. Obviously if you can get some service done to it without running it, you're better off.

That 'service' would include running some light/penetrating oil through the bike (at home, prolly..plug out as noted above), then pump the fluid with the kicker out the sparky hole. IF you had an airbox full of water, disassembling the carb for a good cleaning would be a good idea.

There is a well just behind the carb that commonly gets a puddle of oil in it. You would want to make sure that was cleaned up, too.

Cleaning the air filter I suppose is an obviosity (I made that up ;) )

Change the tranny oil. Run the bike till it's warmed up. Change it. Change it again after your next ride and any time thereafter if there is any moisture indication in the sight glass.

What was the state of your air filter? If it was in relatively decent shape, then you can rest eaiser cuz there is much less likely an permanent engine damage.

It's possible that the internals are just fine...the hard restart could have come from something else.

Just shows to go 'ya. You never assume a safe crossing. Funny how every puddle looks the same on top! (flat!). And just cuz you're close to an edge doesn't make it 'safe' either!

Stock S/A? If not, repack it. In any case, take the pipe and S/A off and make sure they're drained.

Hope it turns out ok! You might schedule a top-end a bit sooner than you would have otherwise.

Doing one now would be the other end of possibilities. Don't worry about that
'end' if you're air filter wasn't full of mud/water.

 

[svmtbman]

I'm assuming the hard starting was from the electrical system getting wet (sparkplug and wiring) because when I started the bike there wasn't hardly any water coming out of the pipe, just a little bit of spray I'm assuming was from what got in the silencer (yes it is stock) when the bike fell over. I'll know how the airbox, carb and filter look tonight when I get home. I'll keep you posted.

 

[XRDadKDXBeni]

welcome to the underwater club. my youngest son did the same thing with his TTR 125 in jumping what he thought was a mound, but was actually a leevee of a lake. Totally submerged for 10 minutes. We pulled it out drained the carb and removed the plug and cranked it over a few times. Decided not to run it and then drained the oil when we got home - the first quart that came out of the drain hole was water, the next was the oil/water emulsion. If your tranny has water in it, fill it up with diesel and slosh it around some (do not run the engine), the diesel will carry out the residual water from you clutch plates, etc. Fill it with oil, get it hot, then drain and do it again before you put the final oil change in and go riding. Our TTR is still going strong 2 years after its submariner episode. Good luck.

 

[fuzzy]

^ ATF will remove water also....

 

[svmtbman]

Well I finally got to take the seat and side panels off last night. The airbox and outside of the filter was covered in mudd (it was still wet and slimey after 2 days) I removed the air filter and to my surprize the inside looked perfect, not a speck of dirt or mud! I went ahead and removed the carb and airbox and cleaned them both and reinstalled. I pulled the plug and it was fouled out pretty bad but I'm sure this was from where the bike couldn't breathe from the muddy filter. I'm gonna drop the oil tonight and see if there is any water in there, I really don't see any through the sight glass but better to be safe than sorry!

 

[mudwalker]

I did just what you described last spring. My question to the nice people here was why is my engine louder now than before being submerged. Thet told me to repack my silencer (FMF not stock). When I removed the it it felt heavy. After 2 days the packing was still completely saturated. I'll never forget, someone here uses the signiture "shut-up and re-pack your silencer".
It was an easy repair and payed off for me because the bike worked better than before it was swamped. Thanks again just KDX!

 

[canyncarvr]

I'm hearing echoes again......

BTW..check :HERE

for some info (and general argument!) on repacking. ...IF it's not oem. I haven't seen a statement one way or the other.....