WATER IN MOTOR

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junker
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WATER IN MOTOR

#1

Post by junker »

Just went through the flood here.Magaed to get most stuff out but my bike was standing in a foot of water for a day.some say rebuild some say run diesel through it.any help would be great.I did drain it pretty nasty.
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#2

Post by Sir_Rat »

Ok here's my 2 and half cents on it.....If it were me what I did would depend on what I got. If its old Iron with original hard to find parts......I would consider rebuilding. Otherwise I would just change all the fluids, dis-conect the return line n with the plugs out kick her over till you got clean oil coming out, re-conenct the line then run her a few miles n maybe change the fluids again. A foot isin't alot ...did ur hubs get submerged? Did the carb get submerged? Re-pack ur wheel bearings if needed and drain ur float bowl if you can ..if not dissassemble the carb n blow it out...if it got submerged that is. Get some kinda corrosion inhibitive protector electrical spray n spray the shit out of all ur electrics. Probably the hardest part would be to get any water in the gearbox....try the turkey baster with a piece of hose. I'm sure others will have some different opinions on this but what ever you do you wanna do it fast otherwise a teardown will be ur only option. Good luck

Aloha ...Mike
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#3

Post by partshunt »

If I remeber correctly the name, we used Tecktall to flush salt water from marine engines and the marine gear units that sunk in storms or watever. We could Google it, see if its still available, I believe it should be good on fresh water as well..May be worth a try......Joe
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#4

Post by Cotten »

Or maybe just good old Water Dispersant #40? (WD-40)

....Cotten
junker
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#5

Post by junker »

Local Harley shop told me that I should replace the motor and tranny starter anything thats electric.gave me a estimate of over 12,000.they said they cant get the parts from Harley anymore.go figure that out.
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#6

Post by RUBONE »

The best thing you could have done is drain it, fill with new oil, fire it up and run it. Making sure it got to full operating temperature. Virtually all the moisture will dissipate. Change the oil, do it again. letting it sit while you decide what to do will kill it. The moisture needs to come out now, not later. Don't wait, if it has been a week or more you are likely looking at a complete rebuild! Initially everything is still coated with oil, over time the water gets to every surface. Normal operation of an internal combustion engine produces WATER. That is the reason for always running a bike (or car!) at temperature. Short trips kill engines. I once had a shovel that was submerged in a lake for several hours. Drained everything possible, refilled, rode it, drained and refilled again, rode it again, drained and refilled and rode it for 60,000 miles with no problems. The biggest issue was wheel bearings, don't forget to drain and re-pack those!
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#7

Post by junker »

ist thing I did was drain the tranny and motor filled with diesel fluid and pulled plugs out kicked it through several times. drained and filled with good oil did the same again.have not stated it yet
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Re: WATER IN MOTOR

#8

Post by partshunt »

Robbie is dead on. Run it, cook off the darn water right away. You can make cold static oil changes till your blue in the face, the water will still be in the small nooks and crannys like between the rollers and races. Water sitting there creates an electrolitic action and etches the steel . Have you ever seen an etched bearing race? it will have roller prints were it sat and contacted the race in the form or tracks of etched steel. The water will totally disapear at 212 degrees only by running the engiene, take it out for good hour at least and then change oil. Do that a coupla times anyway. Anti freeze is worse because there the water will also totally evaporate but the glycol will stay in the motor damaging bearings. Are we talkin fresh water or salt water which is worse...Joe
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