Drowning a KDX

I submerged my '90 in a surprisingly deep creek.

Generally, modern bikes are pretty well water proofed as far as the ignition goes - you usually have to start sucking water into the carb to kill it. If you make a habit of super deep crossings (like front fender high), leave your airbox stock and snorkel on.

If you do drown out, haul the bike to shore somehow.

Pull the air cleaner off and wring it out to get the water off. Set the filter on a branch to dry. Pull the spark plug out.

Shut off the gas, pull the float bowl drain plug off and drain the carb. With the plug out, kick the engine over to expel the water. You might as well flip the bike upside down so any additional water can drain out the plug hole (push the kickstarter by hand).

Put the float bowl drain plug back in and install a new dry plug. Try starting the bike before you put the air filter back on, as if the filter is wet, the engine will suck the water off it and make starting hard. If you really went deep, you exhaust pipe will shoot out a stream of water when you get the bike started.

If you think you've sucked sand or silt in through your crankcase vent, change your oil ASAP. If you know you sucked in lots of sand and silt, sell the bike :p

Deep water is like riding with the brakes on and you don't want to stall, so keep a finger on the clutch and try to keep your forward momentum. If the water only briefly goes above the seat, you may get lucky and just have the engine cough if you pull in the clutch and gas it.

If you truly drown the bike, there is no such thing as a quick restart. If you are not carrying tools and a spare plug, it could ruin your day.

G'day Dazza,

I've got a note on my site about what happened to me when I got stuck in a big puddle and the engine stopped. The cold water chills the gearbox down, which contracts the air inside and sucks water in through the breather tube.

I haven't got around to it yet, but I reckon that routing the breather so that its opening is high in the airbox would be the go.

Just don't stop mid-river, that's all.

Hope Woods Point is a blast, water, mud, and all.

I found the self-draining plug at the bottom of my '91's airbox to be ineffective, the design on my '83 was superior for water crossing. Plugged it with RTV, now it forges fiords just fine. also did some re-routing of the upper carb vents to the airbox, too.

My riding buddy drownt his new kdx. Hard to tell how deep a 'puddle' is by looking at it 'eh?

Hauled it out. Followed dbd's list pretty much to the letter. Rode it for another couple years. Worked fine. Ran as well or better than my high-'n-dry bike (same year, same mods, same hours).

Wasn't at all clear water, either. Was a muckhole!

He did flush his crankcase with penetrating oil...ended up changing his oil after every ride over several outings.

i drowned mine real bad before. I rode threw a huge mud puddle and eventually came to a stop, the water was over the seat and filled up the airbox, once i got it out i started to kick it and it got a hydrolock, and wouldent even kick over. so we pulled the plug and started kicking. all that came out was dirt and water sprayin all over the place, for like 20 min then i discoverd the drain hole in the airbox was cloged and it was still totaly full of water and that i was just sucking it in. so i unpluged it and kicked for another hour and finally blew a ton of mud out of the pipe and it started right up. so i guess i was lucky

If you are sucking dirty muddy water from the airbox to the pipe - aren't you also geting that mud & grit on your lower crank bearings? :(

Kinda a poor substitute for the pre-mix to lube the bearings. How do you get rid of the dirt in this area?

Lessons in drowning a motorbike...

I drowned my 1997 KDX200. I it started coughing and spluttering, though I kept on going... until it stopped going. At that point I had to swim out of the rut. All I did was took the plug out, and kicked it over a few times... to my surprise very little water came out. I changed the plug and tried getting it to no avail... lucky for me I was at the crest of the mountain we'd been climbing for the past 2 hours... so I tried roll starting to the bottom... still no go! Ended up towing it about 10km (6¼ miles) back to camp with the 4wd. For most of this I was in gear and trying to start it... STILL no go! Changed the plug a few more times.. still no go... :bang:

Once again I was fortunate in a way that we'd finished our riding for the 4 days and it was Sunday afternoon... so we put the bike on the ute and packed up camp. Before we left, I took the plug out and put the piston at bottom dead centre to let any water evaporate. 4 hours later when we got a mates place... I cleaned the plugs with a wire brush and it started first kick. I didn't try riding it since it was still tied down. Once I got it home I tried starting it again, though it wouldn't start... so replaced the plug which was covered it oil... started first kick again though wouldn't run when I tried riding it. I thought it might have been the electrics or water in the magneto, though when I changed the plug again it started first kick AGAIN and would start to ride a little... ended up repeating this process about 1/2 a dozen times to clean out all the oil sitting in the bottom of the crank from all the push / pull starting I'd been trying. It finally started to run (all be it like ****) so I mixed the fuel at about 60:1 and gave it curry until all it stopped spitting oil out the pipe... that was a few hours ago now and it's still running like a charm. Very happy now... though was cursing when I'd drowned it. I was thinking of how to make a snorkel for it... if anyone knows of a "river kit" or something to that effect, I'd be more than interested!! Two things that really impressed me... was that the wiring and electrics were fine and didn't appear to be affected by the water... and that (much to my surprise) the gearbox oil was still fine... only thing I can put the oil being fine down to was that the bike was only about 5 hours old from a full top & bottom end rebuild with ALL seals renewed... guess it paid off.

I agree 100% with dirt bike dave's comments... if you don't carry the essential tools with you, you're an idiot!
There are three things I've learnt to carry...

1. Spare plug WITH a plug holder (plastic holder to put your plug is so it doesn't get damaged)
2. Small wire brush (about tooth brush size)
3. Cigarette lighter or waterproof matches (to heat the plug and burn off excess crap)

I've since learnt to remove the plug, remove the airbox, tip the bike upside and all the other "good things" to do after drowning. Any other tips you all have, or any ideas on how to make these bikes "river proof" would be great...

Hope my misadventure helps you all in your travels...

Cheers,
Tony

KDX or any "modern" motorcycle for that matter dies and gets water in it when it is forced to run with the air cleaner under water and thus forced to breathe water. Most know from above or experience how to get it out when it gets in, but prevention is worth a pound of cure. Silicone (winshield sealer is what I use now) everywhere a cable or wire goes into a casting. If you plan on doing a lot of deep water running reroute the carb vent lines to the air box. If you know the water is over the air cleaner, then stop, kill the engine and preferably with help, walk or drag the KDX through the water. The well oiled air cleaner will shed all the water and in a few minutes the surface will dry off so you can start and ride again with no problems.
Lets start a little discussion here! Cheers John

After removing the spark plug, lift bike onto rear wheel. This drains the pipe. Now rest bike on handle bars. Put into gear, 3rd is a good one. Rotate rear wheel as fast as possible for 5 minutes. Drain carb, dry filter, heat plug or new one. And off you go again.

Kaybeach007 said:

After removing the spark plug, lift bike onto rear wheel. This drains the pipe. Now rest bike on handle bars. Put into gear, 3rd is a good one. Rotate rear wheel as fast as possible for 5 minutes. Drain carb, dry filter, heat plug or new one. And off you go again.

Click to expand...

Yes---I agree. Done it more than once. Put it in gear and spin the tire?? absolutely. Easier than fiddling with the kickstarter! :laugh: