Help!!! Did I kill my bike?

[HamBonE_23]

Here's my question for all you thumpin' gear heads:

I went trail riding this weekend. I saw a long puddle (which turned into a pond 5 feet upon entering it) and sank the bike to the headlight. I had the bike running (I did not do the mod for the breather re-routed into the air-box yet) and as I hit the drop off in the pond was when the bike stalled on it's own. I'm pretty sure it sucked up water. I put my head to the water so I could reach the shifter and put it in neutral. As I was pushing the bike from the front it fell over in the water and totally submerged.

I have totally disassembled the bike, cleaned every damn part with a tooth brush and put it back together one piece at a time. I had the carb soaking in cleaner solution for 24 hours, shot WD40 into the valves and in the top of the cylinder where the breather hose is. I don't know if it sucked up any dirt, more than likely it did but I just don't know how much.

WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW!!! ?

I'm supposed to take the family riding this weekend and don't want to disassemble the whole engine. Do I need to flush it out or something? I've already drained the oil and will be adding new tonight. Any help would be grateful! ?

01 WR426

[clark4131]

The ONLY way to be safe is to tear it apart completely. You'll probably be okay not splitting the cases, but you need to take the head off and inspect it all. An oil change won't get the crap out of the valves, combustion chamber, etc. It sucks, but you're really running a risk of grenading the whole thing if you don't. Besides, you've got a few days until the weekend and you can use it as an excuse for hiding out in the garage, right? BTW, Yamaha has a great product for water crossings...the SuperJet! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Good luck bud...SC

[endurodog]

I was with a guy a few years ago that dropped his in a stream crossing. We pulled the plug, turned it upside down, worked the kick starter a bunch, wrung out his air filter. Put it all back together and rode it about 30 miles, changed the oil and rode 4 more days. He still has the bike today.

While the WD40 you sprayed will displace the water it will also displace the oil so I would go very easy until you have had a few minutes of idle time to get the parts all coated again.

[Matty05]

I was with a guy a few years ago that dropped his in a stream crossing. We pulled the plug, turned it upside down, worked the kick starter a bunch, wrung out his air filter. Put it all back together and rode it about 30 miles, changed the oil and rode 4 more days. He still has the bike today.

This is correct!

[HamBonE_23]

Ok, i pulled the valve cover off and swabbed the inside of it with a Q-Tip. It's full of MUD! I have the engine sitting on the work bech and will be "attempting" to break it down a little to clean it.

Should I continue this thread regarding some specific engine questions or should I start a new thread with engine specific questions and post in another forum?

[endurodog]

If you got mud in the engine I would tear the whole thing down, lower end too. I would get out the calipers and spec everything out and reassmble from the base up.

[Hurricane]

Boy I think tearing down the engine is a LITTLE over kill. I sunk my 98 WR400 while it was running in huge puddle also. I pushed it back to the truck, took out the plug, flipped it upside down and kept turning over with kickstarter until there was no more water coming out. Change the oil, let it run a bit and then drain it. Do that a couple of times until you don't see any water in the oil. I did that about 3 years ago and the bike still runs perfect to this day. Good luck.

[turboparton]

Since it appears he sucked up mud and not just water, it might be good to do a light disassembly to clean that out. I probably wouldn't tear it completely down and rebuild though....

[Stonie426]

Sorry to say.... but from an experienced engine builder, if you've sucked in mud, you DEFINITELY need to do a full strip-down and rebuild.

SORRY....

Stonie426

[endurodog]

Boy I think tearing down the engine is a LITTLE over kill. .

I think you missed the part about mud being "inside" the engine. Mud has sand like particles in it. If that is inside the engine it means your running sand paper on all your smooth surfaces. Very bad.

[tagger]

tear it down - similar thread (w/another thread inside)

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240921&highlight=submerged

[Matty05]

It may be a good time to send your motor away and get some porting done or something.

[Hurricane]

I think you missed the part about mud being "inside" the engine. Mud has sand like particles in it. If that is inside the engine it means your running sand paper on all your smooth surfaces. Very bad.

Yes the mud in the engine was posted after me, forget my method ? . Listen to the mechanics!!

[HamBonE_23]

? As you have all suggested I've torn down the bike. Not being an engine guy it's like performing brain surgery to me. I pulled the engine out, tore down the top end, removed the top of the piston and ran it through my parts washer for about an hour.

Next question:

I did flush the $h!+ out of it and put it all back together. Should it be ok? My plan was to start it, let it run 10 minutes, change the oil and do this process 2 more times before riding it. ?

Oh yeah, when my friend and I redid this we learned what happens when you put everything back together and don't have the piston @ TDC. It tends to shoot air OUT of the airbox instead of sucking it in! I'm getting better at tearing it down than I am riding the damn thing.