I might have killed the Brozz?? HELP NEEDED

[gwowzer]

Took the bike out on some local trails last night, was heading back to the road and I went through a large "puddle" that turned out to be a pond.
Bike was running when it got submerged , and died. Water was all the way up to the seat. Covered the entire engine, covered the carb, covered the air filter.
Got towed out by a quad, towed me about a 1/2 mile.
It was dark and in the woods, at least a couple times I accidentally bumped the shifter so the bike was being dragged with the rear tire locked up and the engine hydrolocked.
Not good.
When I got home, I took a shower and then headed out to the garage.
I drained the oil, nothing but water came out at first, then milky gross oil. I pulled the dipstick, pulled the spark plug, pulled the drain plug, pulled the oil screen plug.
Pulled the carb, took it apart. Cleaned the air filter. Drained the gas tank.
I sprayed Water Displacement 40 in the sparkplug hole, down the dipstick, and in the intake. Like a whole can.
I was planning on changing the oil like 4 times tonight and cleaning everything.
What are the chances I've killed the bike?
Is there anything else I should do that I'm missing?

[drstansbury@yahoo.]

if its not locked up it'll be fine. Just make sure you flush it out good and change the oil frequently to remove all the water

[TxTaoRider]

I've never had it happen to me (yet) but I've been riding with guys that discovered "All terrain vehicles" isnt the same as a "Submersible vehicle". Weve pulled the spark plug(s) and sat them on their rears and let the water out of the exhaust pipe and airbox. Spun the engine to get the water out of the cylinder(s). Checked the oil, started them up and kept riding.

I installed a check valve in my crankcase vent on my tbr7 as well as my atvs just incase I ever take them swimming by accident. Lol

[Boatguy]

The big wildcard here is if you got valve system damage when you put into gear while hydrolocked.

I recently destroyed a Honda generator like that. Tipped it the wrong way to fix something on the electrical side. Cylinder filled with oil and became hydrolocked. I tried to pull start it and nearly lost an arm. The one pull destroyed the valves. So watch out for that.

All you can do is get the water out and see if it’ll run.

Most of the time it will.

[Badluck]

Spin it by hand or kickstarter slowly after you have liquids removed from upper cylinder and make sure it spins well and has compression.

I wouldn't get super worried about changing the oil a bunch. If you can run the engine and it gets up to temp for a while it will boil any water out. Change oil afterwards just for silt that came in with the water.

If it happens with anything again, first thing should be to remove the spark plug.

[herbie]

Many years ago I had a cousin come get me for help. He said he was trail riding and crashed his bike into a creek. I said oh no where is the bike now, he said still in the creek. When I got there it was completely submerged in the water for like 2 hours. It took a while to clean everything up and dry it out but I finally got it running and all was good after that. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things, you may get her back running in no time. Good luck

[stewbrash]

Also...make sure you squirt some oil down the sparkplug hole and get those rings lubricated pronto...steel rings on steel sleeves will rust in no time and could damage your cylinder.

[duck9191]

A bent rod is likely if it was running when it went under. throw oil in it and see how well rolls over. if nothing is funky put the plug in it and try to start it. if it runs a few heat cycles and an oil change and you should be good.

[Megadan]

Duck has touched on the biggest issue with submerging an engine. If the engine was at a high enough RPM when it ingested water into the cylinder, the force of the hydrolock could have bent the connecting rod. In mild cases it can result in a loss in compression, and in more severe cases, mechanical failure/lockup. The latter would be very obvious very early as the engine would sound/feel off.

All of that being said, you are likely ok other than getting the water and silt out of the motor. As you and others have said, a few oil changes will definitely be a good idea to clean it out. If you just can't seem to get it working then I would say pull the head and cylinder and give it a mechanical check. At worst it costs you a cheap gasket set and a couple hours of time.

[gwowzer]

I did everything I listed above, cleaned the carb really thoroughly, new gas, another can of WD 40 through the motor, and drained the exhaust. Put a quart of fresh oil in.
Hit the starter and she fired within 2 seconds. Steamed a lot, but the engine sounds totally fine. Didn't notice any change in power or anything slow cruising around the neighborhood.
Gonna run a couple more heat cycles and change the oil a couple times. Everything seems to be ok!!!

[duck9191]

sounds like you got lucky, should be good to go.

[Wisemanimal]

Had to do this once with an old Triumph Tiger 650 Flat tracker. Hit a berm to fast at an impromptu track next to an irrigation resevoir. I managed to hit the killswitch before hitting the water. It sank in 10' of water. Had to swim down and attach a winch cable to get it out, then spent the next 4 hours flipping it upside down to drain gas & oil tanks, removed rocker covers, spark plugs, magneto cover etc.. Spun it over with the kick starter many times to clear it.

Flipped it back over, refilled and attached everything and it wouldn't start...Until I remembered to reset the killswitch. Steamed a little out of the exhaust for about a minute, then all was right with that tough ol' brit bike!

Ever since, I've been very cautious during off road water crossings. I don't ever wanna' do that again. (Pic's not my old bike, but damn close!)

[Magician16]

I've cleaned the water out of a snowmobile before. I think 2 strokes are easier to drain everything out.

[Wisemanimal]

No doubt. None of that pesky valvetrain to deal with, although clearing the crank case can be a bitch, since most don't have drain plugs. I'd guess the most thorough method to be removing the head and cylinder and invert.

[duck9191]

most sleds have crank drains. come in handy when a float sticks lol.