So on Sunday, I load all four of my ATV's up (my 2008 BF in the rear of the truck) and the remaining three in my trailer and head out to the Five Mile Pass area.
Along for the ride are 1) my older brother Rob, 2) my sister Alex, 3) her husband Rich, 4) their new baby Isaac and 5) my niece Samantha.
It was decided that Alex and Rich would take turns riding while the other watches the baby.
It was sprinkling a bit upon arrival, but it was mostly dry with overcast skies. So far, so good.
We did a bit of exploratory riding (although I know that area very well) and my brother Rob finds the "bowl". An area that previously held a wrecked car (that has been towed out and now rests near hwy 73). The bowl is an area about 70' long by 50' wide and about 9' deep. At present, its full of rain water about 10" deep.
So, what to do? Ride through it of course. Everybody but me makes a pass through the water, gleefully spraying waves everywhere.
When my turn comes up, I plow into the massive puddle and about 15' into it, hear a pop noise followed by my machine conking out. At first, I thought I had blown the CVT belt, as the noise originated from that area. I couldn't start my machine though. It barely turned over and indeed sounded like the CVT or clutch had broken.
So, I step off the machine into the mid-calf deep water and connect my TigerTail tow strap to the Kawasaki 750 my brother is riding (my 2005 BF 750i to be exact) and he tows me to dry ground.
I crack open the CVT, inspect it and can see nothing wrong. I then decide to open up the air filter housing and to my dismay, I see standing water (mud) around the filter, on the filter and just about everywhere. I knew I had sucked water into the intake and the engine was turning due to too much compression.
I get towed back to the truck and allow everyone to continue riding around. Afterward, we head home and I start tearing into the machine.
The air filter was soaked and clearly mud and water had gone down into the intake and was resting on the valves. It was getting late, so I buttoned it back up and prepared for bed.
On Monday, I went to work as usual but over lunch came home and drained the oil. The oil was a milky thick concoction of fresh oil (I had just changed the oil last week) and water. I allowed the oil to continue draining until I returned from work that evening.
After arriving back home, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to wipe the intake and using my shop-vac, suck any crud out of the intake and air filter assembly. We then put a new oil filter on, poured in 1/2qt of fresh oil, removed the spark plugs and turned the machine over a few times to shoot any remaining crud out the spark plug holes. Moisture indeed came out.
Afterward, we drained the 1/2qt of oil, put fresh plugs in, added 2qts of fresh oil and started the machine up. After giving it a bit of gas, it fired up and idled on its own. Water was coming out of the exhaust, so we just gave it a bit more gas until all signs of water were gone and it sounded normal at high acceleration.
After this process, we again drained the oil, removed the filter and put 2.5qts of Kawi oil in and started the machine up. I test drove it up and down the street a few times and it looks like we've saved quite a repair bill.
Disaster averted!
Since my brother is in town for this last day, I took today off and we're going riding from Five Mile to Eureka and back. This will truly test the engine and determine how it will run. An update forthcoming, as well as photos from Sunday and today.
Along for the ride are 1) my older brother Rob, 2) my sister Alex, 3) her husband Rich, 4) their new baby Isaac and 5) my niece Samantha.
It was decided that Alex and Rich would take turns riding while the other watches the baby.
It was sprinkling a bit upon arrival, but it was mostly dry with overcast skies. So far, so good.
We did a bit of exploratory riding (although I know that area very well) and my brother Rob finds the "bowl". An area that previously held a wrecked car (that has been towed out and now rests near hwy 73). The bowl is an area about 70' long by 50' wide and about 9' deep. At present, its full of rain water about 10" deep.
So, what to do? Ride through it of course. Everybody but me makes a pass through the water, gleefully spraying waves everywhere.
When my turn comes up, I plow into the massive puddle and about 15' into it, hear a pop noise followed by my machine conking out. At first, I thought I had blown the CVT belt, as the noise originated from that area. I couldn't start my machine though. It barely turned over and indeed sounded like the CVT or clutch had broken.
So, I step off the machine into the mid-calf deep water and connect my TigerTail tow strap to the Kawasaki 750 my brother is riding (my 2005 BF 750i to be exact) and he tows me to dry ground.
I crack open the CVT, inspect it and can see nothing wrong. I then decide to open up the air filter housing and to my dismay, I see standing water (mud) around the filter, on the filter and just about everywhere. I knew I had sucked water into the intake and the engine was turning due to too much compression.
I get towed back to the truck and allow everyone to continue riding around. Afterward, we head home and I start tearing into the machine.
The air filter was soaked and clearly mud and water had gone down into the intake and was resting on the valves. It was getting late, so I buttoned it back up and prepared for bed.
On Monday, I went to work as usual but over lunch came home and drained the oil. The oil was a milky thick concoction of fresh oil (I had just changed the oil last week) and water. I allowed the oil to continue draining until I returned from work that evening.
After arriving back home, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to wipe the intake and using my shop-vac, suck any crud out of the intake and air filter assembly. We then put a new oil filter on, poured in 1/2qt of fresh oil, removed the spark plugs and turned the machine over a few times to shoot any remaining crud out the spark plug holes. Moisture indeed came out.
Afterward, we drained the 1/2qt of oil, put fresh plugs in, added 2qts of fresh oil and started the machine up. After giving it a bit of gas, it fired up and idled on its own. Water was coming out of the exhaust, so we just gave it a bit more gas until all signs of water were gone and it sounded normal at high acceleration.
After this process, we again drained the oil, removed the filter and put 2.5qts of Kawi oil in and started the machine up. I test drove it up and down the street a few times and it looks like we've saved quite a repair bill.
Disaster averted!
Since my brother is in town for this last day, I took today off and we're going riding from Five Mile to Eureka and back. This will truly test the engine and determine how it will run. An update forthcoming, as well as photos from Sunday and today.
