Swamped T7 - Help!

[AnimalThrower]

Hey everyone, first time forum user here! I recently swamped my bike while off roading at a local OHV park. After the bike was in deep water, I shut it off. Water filled the exhaust. There's a chance the engine took on some water while it was still running as well, but it never "died." Some nice guys pulled me out; I got pulled into a rut and the intake completely filled with water at that point. We tipped the bike up and drained the water out of the exhaust. I tried starting the bike and it only cranked a few times and I'm pretty sure it got a little hydro-locked. (Yes, in hindsight I know this was a dumb idea... but I was nervous.) Anyways, I pulled the bike apart in the parking lot; I pulled the spark plugs, dried up the air box as well as I could, cycled the starter a few times to get the water out, and fogged the cylinders with fogging oil. I threw the bike in the back of my step-dad's pickup and went home. I then changed the oil and filter, ran the bike up to temp, then did another oil change (engine light came on and then went away after a few minutes of idling.) I just took it out for a spin and noticed the bike lost some engine braking and seems to be down a bit on horsepower. Not sure on the best way to proceed here, but here's what I'm thinking: I switched to a tusk foam filter (it's the only one I had on hand.) I thought that might be able to explain the poor engine performance, so I switched back to the pleated paper filter, but no change in bike behavior (maybe the filter is "matted" from being soaked and won't let air through as easily?) Maybe the cat/exhaust got a little plugged up with silt/clay - unlikely. Or perhaps I did some permanent damage to the motor. Maybe I'll do a compression check on both cylinders or call the dealer and see what they say. Looking forward to any guidance and advice. Thanks!

Edited May 14 by AnimalThrower

[random1781]

I'd drain your gas first. If you haven't addressed it, a lot of these tanks don't have the best seal, so you might have some contaminated fuel.

 

Make sure the whole thing is dried out. Moisture in a sensor or trapped in a connector shorting stuff out could cause some odd behavior.

 

Compression check next if you can...if nothing else you can feel better if it's fine.

 

The difference between a paper and foam filter shouldn't be that bad, unless you've grossly over saturated the filter with oil.

 

This won't address your power problem, but I'd personally cycle some more oil through...like a couple gallons of Rotella or something dirt cheap. When I submerged my old bike, oil was cycled 3-4 times and then once again ~500 miles later, so save the good stuff for later. Maybe that's paranoid, but it is the blood of the engine. You might want to hold off on that though until you figure out what your overarching problem is so you don't waste time and money.

 

And this is stupid, but are you sure it's actually worse off or are you just paranoid about it? I know occasionally I get it in my head that something is wrong when it isn't and I wind up gaslighting myself for a while.

 

Keep us updated!

[Hibobb]

You are not the first guy to drown a motorcycle... S**t happens. Doesn't sound like you wrecked anything. With no fault lights on and the oil changed twice, I would ride it a week or so and let your nerves settle down.

 

[AnimalThrower]

I appreciate the responses so far. I'm 85% sure the bike has lost some low down power - I commute and run errands on my bike daily, so I have a pretty good butt feel. The water never got up over the tank cap, but I'll probably still drain it just to be sure. I'll probably run another change of oil through it tomorrow just to be safe. I kept the old oil filter, maybe I'll cut it open to see if I can find sprinkles, lol!

[AZJW]

All good advice given above, but to add to that, do Not let it sit for long. Ride the heck out of it to get all the moisture out of all the spots that are difficult to get to.  As a teenager, I submerged a friend's 1975  Suzuki RM250 and we did all the steps,  oil, gas, air filter, etc.  We rode it for about an hour before parking it, when my friend promised to ride it everyday,  getting it up to operating temps to do a thorough rehab.

 

Well.... as kids do, he got distracted and didn't ride it and then went off to college. Years later his old man was busting my chops for ruining the bike.  His kid got a pass for neglecting to finish the job and all I got was a tongue lashing from his Dad.

[Hibobb]

I am impressed you got the plugs out in the parking lot!!  

 

PS, The WD in WD40 is "Water Displacement". You might want to spray everything down, then take a leaf blower (gentler than an air hose) and blow it into places you couldn't get to.

As @AZJW & @random1781 alluded to, water trapped for weeks in hard to get areas is bad....

Edited May 14 by Hibobb

[AnimalThrower]

Yea, rust is also a concern. I did fog the cylinders in the parking lot and did an oil change, temp cycle, oil change, temp cycle before letting my bike sit overnight. Hopefully that took care of most of it, but I'll be riding it all week to work and back to work out the rest. Lol! I somehow managed to keep track of most of the bolts and plastic clips as well! (most, lol) For some reason the T7 tool kit DOES NOT come with a spark plug socket!! Turns out a 9/16" deep well socket does the trick! I used the spark plug boots to extract the plugs from the holes. I was watching a video where two guys actually moved the radiator forward a bit to access the plug instead of removing those annoying cable/abs trays. Might be worth trying it that way at some point.

 

I'll have to tear into the bike a bit more and give it the "WD treatment." good stuff there.

Edited May 14 by AnimalThrower

[random1781]

28 minutes ago, AnimalThrower said:

Yea, rust is also a concern. I did fog the cylinders in the parking lot and did an oil change, temp cycle, oil change, temp cycle before letting my bike sit overnight. Hopefully that took care of most of it, but I'll be riding it all week to work and back to work out the rest. Lol! I somehow managed to keep track of most of the bolts and plastic clips as well! (most, lol) For some reason the T7 tool kit DOES NOT come with a spark plug socket!! Turns out a 9/16" deep well socket does the trick! I used the spark plug boots to extract the plugs from the holes. I was watching a video where two guys actually moved the radiator forward a bit to access the plug instead of removing those annoying cable/abs trays. Might be worth trying it that way at some point.

 

I'll have to tear into the bike a bit more and give it the "WD treatment." good stuff there.

There aren't that many electrical connections that matter I terms of weird stuff happening, I think. Service manual has excellent wiring diagrams and cable routes...

 

 

[BikeBrother]

I think you did good precedures to get out the water from engine etc.

Check your swingarm if there is water left. And take out the chain tensioners and grease them before putting back in. Otherwise they will corrode.

I experienced this cos i went "swimming" once with my ktm 950 adv S. My mates then told me the S stands for Submarine...

[zimm]

Another vote for a compression test.  Cranking the motor over with the plugs in it might have wrecked some stuff.

[Hollybrook]

Every time I take an electrical connector apart, I add some silicone grease before reconnecting. 

 

I meet my best riding buddy over 50 years ago when I swamped my Suzuki Duster 125.  When he showed up, I was sitting in a creek with only the handlebars showing. He helped me get the water out and the engine started again. We've been riding together ever since. 

[Windblown]

Good luck with the bike!

 

Just chiming to to suggest a leak down test might settle any concerns better (or in addition to) a compression test if it doesn't clean up and start running right.  The T700 is the only modern bike I've owned that has gotten a bit finicky about starting and running properly after I pressure washed it. (only happened oncethough). I never did get the issue chased down as it cleaned up pretty quick afterwards but it has made me go "Hmmmm... I wonder what got wet that tripped it up?"

[Fzrcraig]

Unhelpful comment du jour...my friend watered out his like-new KTM 500 EXC-F and was so concerned that he may have done damage that he sold it and bought a two stroke.

I'll assume the water was muddy, but what color was the oil on the first drain?

[Hibobb]

Hey @AnimalThrower, We need a report on the swamped bike. Hope all is well

[AnimalThrower]

@Hibobb So I took your advice and just rode the bike like normal for about a week. I commuted back and forth to work, took a few 20 min rides around the area, and changed the oil one more time (switched from cheap Lucas oil back to my normal Mutol oil.) My bike slowly got better and now feels normal! It was like it had a cold, or just woke up from a nap and needed a few temperature cycles! I never tore it down again to do a compression check, but I'll be sure to update if I ever do!

 

I'm probably just in my head at this point, but I may notice a little additional engine noise (ticking, possibly light clanking...) but I'm pretty sure I'm just paranoid. If I include my T7, I've owned 5 motorcycles; if you add my first 4 beater bikes together, I spent a TOTAL of $2,300 on the purchases! Easy to get worked up... breaking my T7 would be like breaking 24 beater bikes all at once!!

 

I found a picture I nabbed while on the side of the trail. Hmm... looks like someone turned my air box into a duck pond.

 

@Fzrcraig You can probably use the picture for a bit of a reference, but yea... the water was quite muddy. After the air box "air dried," I took some clean microfibers and cleaned out any dried mud that made it past the air filter.

 

 

Edited May 26 by AnimalThrower

[BikeBrother]

That ticking noise could be from a frog out of the swamp.... good to hear that the bike is ok!

[maddog123]

Compression check is not necessary at this point (my opinion), I have friends that hydro lock their quads every weekend ... I have hydro locked my quad a few times and one of my bike before, oil changes and filter changes are the important ones, and yes a few oil changes and bringing it up to temps is the way to go, also for next time (lol) filling the engine block with diesel (instead of oil and diesel not gas, diesel is oily so it won't crack your seal and gasket) to rinse it out the first time helps speeding up the process (don't start it just fill it shake it and dump it) ....  Paranoia fades with experience. Don't worry you got it, you bike is and will be fine.         

Edited May 26 by maddog123