Damn you GS owners.

[Psychopath]

So I had a bit of an adventure on Wednesday morning. I was headed home from a night shift at 6am. It was pouring out so I was taking it easy.

There was a good amount of water on the streets in Madison but nothing I haven't dealt with before. I came up to a fairly flooded section(1.5 ft deep) so I put it in first gear and slowly started making my way through it.

The bike stalled half way through the water so I pushed it the rest of the way and pulled off to the side of the road. I thought I simply stalled the bike out because I was going slow in first gear. So I tried to restart it.

HORRIBLE NOISES!

At this point I'm like "shhiiiiiiiiiitttt" Pulled the spark plugs and bottom plug from the air box. Water from both. Ugh.

Turn it over to blow the water out of the cylinders. (shouldn't have done that) It blew all of the water out but it still made the horrible noise. So I call my parents up and have them drive out with the trailer to get my bike.

As I'm standing there with my broken bike watching people go through the flooded part of the road I see a hexhead R12GS ride up, ford the river, and carry on like nothing ever happened!

Dropped my bike off and took my car home. Got about 4 hours of sleep, woke up, argued with my mortgage guys, and drove to my parents house. Pulled the valve covers and plugs. No water in cylinders, no visible damage to valve train. Put the bike in 6th gear and pushed it around the yard to turn the engine over at very low speeds and low force too. It didn't make any bad noises so I turned it over with the starter again. BAD NOISES.

Went through the trouble of pulling the two bolts holding the starter on..... (sorry the autofocus on my camera is wacky)



I guess trying to start the engine with uncompressible water will murder the F out of the starter.

Sprayed a touch of WD-40 into the cylinders. Replaced the plugs. Bump started the bike going down the hill on my parents driveway. Another mistake. It didn't make death noises so I parked it.

Drained the oil. (prolly should've replaced the oil BEFORE starting it)

Who wants a milkshake?




So now that is draining. I should probably do a compression test, replace starter, and change the oil/filter two times over or until it doesn't show tons of moisture it in.

As of now my fingers are crossed that I didn't wreck anything else and just cut about 50k miles off of it's life.

Any advice? Trans and FD fluid too?

[brentw1]

drive line housing just push the boots back

[twodear]

The air intake is more than 2 feet above the ground. Either a splash got you or the water was a bit deeper than you thought. There will be plenty of opinions bandied about concerning how much damage might have been done in the brief period you ran it but I wouldn't think very much if any.

Better check Transmission lube oil too.

Get it running and trade up for a proper bike like a GS!

[wswartzwel]

If you wheelie across those sections it not only prevents the wave of water created by the front wheel from entering the air intake, but also raises the air intake up a foot or two higher.

Sorry for the humor at a bad time. good luck with drying her out... hope it all goes well.

[signit98]

One oil change ought to be fine... you'll see whether there is water in it... sight glass will do the trick.

Looks like your weak spot was the starter... put a new one in, try to start her and if she doesn't give you a horrible knocking and/or vibration, chalk it off as "My bike can't dive"...

GS' rule!

[ckcarr]

My train had to slow down to around thirty mph through parts of Nebraska too because of heavy rain. I think it was getting in the diesel manifolds...

[twodear]

Diesels don't like water, even less than petrol motors. I worked a couple of times in Peru where they were using these large stand-alone gen-sets for electric submersible pumps. This one Caterpillar D398 powered generator had a gasket go out somewhere and one of the cylinders ingested about a litre of coolant - launched that massive cylinder head about 40 yards.

[geothepencil]

Speed Triples with low mounted turbos don't like venturing out in the rain either. Engine OK: turbo, not as lucky. Good luck with the repairs !

geo

[Psychopath]

Originally Posted by brentw1

drive line housing just push the boots back

Good idea. I'll do this today as I change out the oil. Thanks!

Originally Posted by twodear

The air intake is more than 2 feet above the ground. Either a splash got you or the water was a bit deeper than you thought. There will be plenty of opinions bandied about concerning how much damage might have been done in the brief period you ran it but I wouldn't think very much if any.

Better check Transmission lube oil too.

Get it running and trade up for a proper bike like a GS!

The water was flowing from left to right pretty fast so a good guess is it pushed up when it hit the front wheel, rotor, fender. That would send the water straight to the air intake. I'll be sure to check the trans and fd fluid for milkshakes too.

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

If you wheelie across those sections it not only prevents the wave of water created by the front wheel from entering the air intake, but also raises the air intake up a foot or two higher.

Sorry for the humor at a bad time. good luck with drying her out... hope it all goes well.

No prob on the humor. Wheelies were suggested on the other forum I post in. Sadly though I don't have the wheelie gene.

Originally Posted by signit98

One oil change ought to be fine... you'll see whether there is water in it... sight glass will do the trick.

Looks like your weak spot was the starter... put a new one in, try to start her and if she doesn't give you a horrible knocking and/or vibration, chalk it off as "My bike can't dive"...

GS' rule!

Well I already bump started it for a short bit to listen for knocks, clicks, clacks, quacks and hums. Didn't make any so my fingers are crossed that the starter sacrificed itself.


Things that scare me are the HG with that much pressure. Piston rings and bent valves that don't fully seat now. Gotta get a compression test done.


Thanks for the help guys!

[1100s nut]

The main concern is a bent connecting rod which probably did not happen. The valves should be fine as they are in their seats when compression is taking place. After changing oil do a long ride just to get out any trace moisture that might be there. It's a good thing the housing broke.

Be safe,
Lane

[RBMann]

What does the air filter look like?

[1100s nut]

It's this little square thing that has pleats and wire mesh! Haha sorry I had to say that.

[PFFOG]

Originally Posted by 1100s nut

The main concern is a bent connecting rod which probably did not happen. The valves should be fine as they are in their seats when compression is taking place. After changing oil do a long ride just to get out any trace moisture that might be there. It's a good thing the housing broke.

Be safe,
Lane

What he said, hydro lock would not hurt valves, generally just bends rods.

[Psychopath]

Couple questions.

When the starter shows up I will be checking compression. What psi should I be looking for?

The bike is currently sitting with a big gap where the starter used to be. Why wouldn't the blinkers or headlights work? The little city light in the headlight assembly works. Brights and low beams don't. Hazards and blinkers don't work.

Thanks!

[signit98]

Probably blew a fuse... not sure whether there is essential wiring going to the starter... been a while.

As for the compression, ideally anywhere above 135, but it is more important that you have the same or near the same reading on both cylinders... reading that is off by 20 PSI or more indicates issues.

Remember that you do the same amount of turns on each side, as it takes a few to reach maximum pressure.

[ckcarr]

Something in that range...

Compression test pressure
good above 10 (142) bar (psi)
normal 8.5...10 (121...142) bar (psi)
poor below 8.5 (121) bar (psi)

That came from the repair manual.

[Psychopath]

Thanks for the help guys.

The starter was supposed to be here today. :/ Maybe tomorrow. Now I have to look up the tq specs for the starter bolts.

Still trying to find out why my headlight(high/low) and blinkers/hazards won't work. Checked all of the fuses which were just fine. Even hooked the old starter up to see if those wires made a difference. No change.

Any ideas? Btw the white, yellow, and black relay boxes in the left side box just above the air intake. What do they do?

[sgoodwin]

Collect water.

[Psychopath]

Well I pulled the right relay box apart and found a few scorched pin connectors for the plugs. But no real damage. Cleaned em up and put it back together.

Headlight and blinkers still wouldn't work. That was the end of my options so I started over by putting the starter back on. Turns out you DO need the starter on the bike for the blinkers and headlight to work. The first time I put them back on I guess I didn't ground the starter out good enough to the block. This time I did and everything works just fine.

I just love spending hours chasing a problem when the first thing I tried didn't work just by chance.

Now I'm STILL waiting on the starter.

[Robert Au]

"I guess trying to start the engine with uncompressible water will murder the F out of the starter".

Feelin' you pain man. But your turn of phrase........

LMFAO>>>>>>>>>>>