Fixing a drowned bike

This is from the most recent Cape York Motorcycle Adventures newsletter…I’m copying it here so that I can find it quickly if I need it again.

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Copyright Roy Kunda 2007.

In the last issue we gave you part of a trail tips article that Roy wrote for TBAM. The first part De-drowning – the prevention and now here’s the cure.

The Cure
We’ve all done it, it’s as easy as loosing your footing on a slippery rock – Total submersion.

The quickest and easiest way to de-drown the bike without engine damage is to follow these steps EXACTLY, THERE IS NO SHORT CUT TO THIS SYSTEM!!!!

1. Once the bike has been submerged DO NOT TRY TO START THE BIKE (gears are like a blender and will mix the water with the oil immediately)

2. Open the air filter box take the air filter out. Squeeze the water out and leave it to dry.

3. Turn the fuel off and open the drain on the carbie and leave it open.

Water will have worked its way into the engine cases, if you haven’t started the bike the water will not have mixed with the oil, water is heavier than oil and will sink to the bottom.

4. To remove this water crack the oil drain plug and carefully unscrew it slowly until water starts to seep out (do not remove the plug or you will loose all your oil). Once the water is dribbling out let it go on until oil starts to seep through. Then you will know that most of the water has been removed. Do the oil drain plug back up.

5. Once you’ve removed the water from the engine cases the motor is safe to wind over so remove the spark plug and with the throttle wide open wind the motor over until all the water stops pumping out of the cylinder head. Replace the spark plug.

Now you’re right to start the bike safely. Do up the carbie drain, turn the fuel back on, replace the dry air filter and do up the box.

Again I stress that there is no short cut to this system if you push or tow the bike to start you will run a high risk of severe damage. Take the time to do it right and it will ensure that you can keep riding.

Copyright Roy Kunda 2007.

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