Oil for Engine Flushing After Water Intake

[byggd]

While riding yesterday I attempted a creek crossing and it was deeper and faster then it looked. I had the bike swept out from under me, resulting in stalling and water intake. My buddy and I did the recovery ritual and got it running again and I was able to ride it back to the truck, which was a good thing because we were miles from nowhere. Of course the oil looks milky and needs to be flushed.

My question is, I run Rotella T full synthetic. Rather than waste good oil can a just use a cheap oil to do the flushes and then go back to the synthetic? ?

[Numskull]

Sounds like a plan, I think I would run some valvoline or quakersate 10w40 for 5 minutes, drain and put your liquid gold in. ?

[PBDBLUE]

Regular Rotella T is pretty cheap at Wally World. Clutch friendly, quality oil. I think it's like $7 + change for a gallon.

[byggd]

My wally world only carries 5w40 @ $13 a gal which is what I run. Maybe I should just stick with it, buy a couple gallons and call it a day ?

[GCannon]

Sounds like you may have a lot more work to do than just a couple of oil changes. Maybe you should consider draining the fuel tank and carb bowl . and put some fresh grease in the bearings like the steering head and suspension linkage. quick look at the fork oil might make you feel better.

[1BLUEsky]

I fell over in a mud bog yesterday and couldnt pick up the bike fast enough before water went down th pipe into the cylinder. I got it to idle but it dies at even the slightest throttle. Oil is a little milky.Any tips would be appreciated. A guy told me to use diesel fuel to flush the case because it absorbes water and doesnt leave your bearings bone dry when you put in good oil for the actual start up. What do you guys think?

[grayracer513]

ATF (automatic transmission fluid) both absorbs water and lubricates better than diesel fuel, and is a far better choice as a flush additive. If you had water in it, change the filter before the flush. Mix it up 50/50 with any good motor oil and take the bike for a short, easy ride, or run it at a high idle for 15 minutes with a good fan running on the radiator. Drain and refill with motor oil, run it, drain, change the filter, and refill with your usual flavor.

[Bosco83]

How do you know what oil to get that won't harm your clutch? I would like to buy mine from the gallon and not from the dealer wich is kinda far away and expensive.

[Matty05]

How do you know what oil to get that won't harm your clutch? I would like to buy mine from the gallon and not from the dealer wich is kinda far away and expensive.

Do a search, this has been covered in just about every forum here.

You have a wealth of info at your fingertips, alot more than I could tell you. ?

You can use automotive oils as long as they are not "energy conserving".

A lot of people use Shell rotella T for starters, there are many more.

[byggd]

Sounds like you may have a lot more work to do than just a couple of oil changes. Maybe you should consider draining the fuel tank and carb bowl . and put some fresh grease in the bearings like the steering head and suspension linkage. quick look at the fork oil might make you feel better.

I should have said I plan to pull the carb and give it a once over and check a few other things out as well. Thanks for the reminder on the fork oil though, good advise ?

[byggd]

ATF (automatic transmission fluid) both absorbs water and lubricates better than diesel fuel, and is a far better choice as a flush additive. If you had water in it, change the filter before the flush. Mix it up 50/50 with any good motor oil and take the bike for a short, easy ride, or run it at a high idle for 15 minutes with a good fan running on the radiator. Drain and refill with motor oil, run it, drain, change the filter, and refill with your usual flavor.

Will ATF cause problems with anything internal, like the clutch discs? ?

[SJMC_DON]

The cheapest oil that is non-friction modified.

I did exactly what you did, I went to Schucks and bought a case of cheaper oil. Went home and proceeded to do 10 oil changes. The clutch took forever to start working right again, the clutch discs were'nt "throwing out" in the basket. I just run the Yamaha 4R Semi-Syn now. I'm going to try that Rotella at Wally world though, it sopunds a lot cheaper ?

[byggd]

The cheapest oil that is non-friction modified.

I did exactly what you did, I went to Schucks and bought a case of cheaper oil. Went home and proceeded to do 10 oil changes. The clutch took forever to start working right again, the clutch discs were'nt "throwing out" in the basket. I just run the Yamaha 4R Semi-Syn now. I'm going to try that Rotella at Wally world though, it sopunds a lot cheaper ?

I think I'll do the same thing. I'm a little leery of putting ATF in the engine being it's a wet clutch. I had no choice but to ride it back to the truck and it was about 14 miles but the bike ran and shifted fine and even the Rekluse seemed to be engaging properly. I was short shifting when possible to keep the RPMs down. The only problem I had was the dork who installed the grips didn't use any glue so when it got wet the throttle grip was slipping so I had to keep a death grip on it especially on a couple hill climbs on the way back. I guess my silver lining is I brought the right tools along to get it going again. ?

[snakesausage]

My bike ingested some water a few months back after not making it across a deep crossing and I just changed the oil about 5 times in quick succession (after a trip around the block between each change) with cheep oil and I haven't had any problems since.

I had another incident at a riding park where some dillhole with a tractor decided to make some small mounds using the dirt from the upside of an incline, which made a very deep blind mud-hole on the other side. I jumped into the middle of it and I didn't make it out. My float bowl was submerged and filled with water. I drained it and got it running again but by the end of the day my ACV got clogged and I ended up fouling a plug. If your bike starts running rich at idle please read my thread clogged ACV. I would take your carb apart paying special attention to the accelerator pump for water hanging around in there and take the cover off of the ACV and blow it out well.

[1BLUEsky]

Thanks grayracer513.Guess we know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

[1BLUEsky]

I think I'll do the same thing. I'm a little leery of putting ATF in the engine being it's a wet clutch. I had no choice but to ride it back to the truck and it was about 14 miles but the bike ran and shifted fine and even the Rekluse seemed to be engaging properly. I was short shifting when possible to keep the RPMs down. The only problem I had was the dork who installed the grips didn't use any glue so when it got wet the throttle grip was slipping ? so I had to keep a death grip on it especially on a couple hill climbs on the way back. I guess my silver lining is I brought the right tools along to get it going again. ?

I believe automatic trannys function the same as the shift bands are a friction material also.

[Geoffsta]

Recently I drowned my bike and the oil was milky.

It took 10 oil changes with running the engine for about 2 minutes between each one to clean the oil.

I just used cheap engine oil untill the last 2 changes, hasnt been a problem since.

[old man dan]

Automatic transmissions are full of wet clutches, the ATF idea is perfectly safe for the trans and clutch but I wouldn't run the engine at anything more than light throttle because ATF is not a great lube for the rod and cam bearings. I used to run ATF through my 2 strokes as a flush quite regularly, it's a very high detergent lube.

[byggd]

Well 8 quarts worth of flushing seemed to do the trick and so far everything else has checked out fine. I haven't pulled the carb yet and it runs great but I'll probably give it a once over anyway just for piece of mind plus I want to install a smaller slow jet anyway. Than all I need to do is install my new front tire and it's back to ? Thanks everyone!

[1BLUEsky]

Well I drained the milky oil, put in mostly ATF with an old filter I had laying around and drained it.I then ran mostly cheap oil through it and drained it acordining to the book before putting in a brand new filter and high quality motorcycle oil.Went for a test ride today in the hills at various speeds with absolutely no problems. ATF worked for me although for the oil changes I could only idle the bike due to crud still being in my carb.