Sunken Big Red 250es

[Lantz]

My brother took his big red down to Hatfield and McCoy's and it ran great until the last day. One of his friends was riding it and he was leading. He hit a mud hole that was three or so foot deep, I think it was floating a little. We drained the water out of the air box and the engine, no water in the oil. It ran most of the way back to the trail head.

So, my question is what to do now? I figure the carb needs cleaned. Should the top end be tore apart and cleaned?

And for future reference what should one do if we swamp another bike?

[Flyingw]

Naw, don't tear the top end off. Stand it on it tail and drain the muffler. Change the oil in the motor and diff. Clean the airbox out. Pull the plug and shoot WD-40 in to the cylinder. Cycle the engine with the plug out. Fire it up!!! Don't ever try to start it not knowing if water is in the cylinder. Water does not compress like fuel does.

[Lantz]

Yea we pulled the plug and turned it over several times to get the water out. It idles but dies as soon as you put it in gear.

[DohcBikes]

There could be water making a connection in the neutral safety or elsewhere causing it to die when put in gear.

Does it REV ok when in neutral? If so ill guess its electrical.

Clear the cylinder as FlyingW suggests, but stay clear of the spark plug hole, if its full of water it will shoot out several feet sometimes.

[Gearheadtom]

Probably water in the carb, I'd drain the carb bowl.

[shortline10]

Just don't let the water sit in the carb to long or it will look like this lol .

[blue27]

If the tank was under water, drain it and put fresh in. Drain carb and petcock if it has a bowl on it.

[the great gazoo]

Good info everyone, the last time I sank an SX I was at Brapp's & we changed the oil 3 or 4 times with used oil before we put the new oil in(I. E. run a minute or two with used oil, drain, repeat), to be sure we got all the water out of the system.
Oh and RELAX, it's a Honda!

[Tas Wheeler]

Check the cdi.
I drowned one of my big reds once.
It also started shutting off when put in gear and I had another start doing the same thing out of the blue, both times turned out to be the cdi.