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Riding through Floods
Hello All,
I took a ride today on my new xt (03), it chucked it down with rain the whole ride, and was all going fine until I came round a bend to find several broken down cars next to a flooded road, the 4wheel drives were getting thru so I gave it a go - the depth was around 500mm (truthfully) maybe slightly more and halfway thru she cutout - dead. I turned the ignition off and pushed her out, 2 minutes later I pressed the start and Bingo we were off again ! If anyone has any idea exactly what the problem was then I'd really like to know. If it was electrical then I would of expected a lot of faffing around before a restart - but apart from the cutout midstream she ran fine all day. All help appreciated ( I'm hoping to go to Iceland next year and apparently the fords ther are really deeeeep!). Thanks in advance Mike |
wild guess
I'd say an electrical something that got splashed and the engine heat made it dry out quickly and there you go...
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For more of the same:- www.wetroads.co.uk |
Hi,
Thanks for your responses, my last "trailbike" was a yamaha ttr 250 and I regularly forded streams of this depth with no problems, is there anything I could do like use a different HT cap or grease the HT lead ? I think the ttr may of had a bit more ground clearance. Cheers Mike |
Hey Mike,
Maybe this could you, I used to get electricals problem too with water projections or rain. That the conclusion I found after 5 years under the rain I identified 4 main problems with the electrics with the XT, the fuse connection, spark plug and the ignition coil, AND THE STARTER RELAY. As the mud guard is very short all the water goes directlty onto the sparkplug and ignition coil if the wire linking the ignition coil and the sparkclub cap is not tight the slight amount of water causes problem, I would first check that. I myself covered the all area spark plug to ignition coil with a old bycicle tube, everyting is then dry at all time. I added an extension to the mudguard to reduce the water projections, you could also get those after market mudguard used on moutain bike and to be fixed on the frame. Same story for the main fuse should some water get into the fuse box , you will have faulty connection, I too covered this area with an old bicycle tube . Now the starter relay can get rusty two, when its gets tooo bad even if the outside looks ok you won't be able to start your bike.Now the trick would be to short cut directly the starter with the + of the Battery with a cable if you find yourself unable to oush start the bike with a heavy loads or just because the road is muddy. As per before . cover the starter relay with some kind of old bycicle tube... I'm pretty sure that if you do all of that you won't encounter any problem with water or at least have an idea on how to fix them... Cheers Gwel |
Hi Again,
If the problem comes from the main fuse you will see the neutral light going on and off as the bike rattle If the light stay on a solid green and you can't start the bike, or the bike rattle then it's the spark plug |
hi Gwel,
I reckon the mudguard extension idea of yours could make a lot of difference, the spark plug area was taking a lot of spray, I'll definitely get one of those, I think I'll also get a can of wd40 and see if it keeps the water out any more. thanks Mike |
Hi Gwel,
The bike just cut out midstream, all the lights were still showing, sounds like the spark plug shorting out, the good thing was that the bike started first press after just a couple of minutes so praps it did dry itself off ? Still I'm back out in the rain tomorrow so I'll see how she goes! Cheers Mike |
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The NGK spark plug cap has a rubber bit on the end which seals against the porcelain insulator of the plug and helps to stop the high tension voltage from tracking to earth in damp conditions. Worth getting one of those if you haven't one already. Probably still your spark plug that shorted - it is well recessed in the engine so it provides somewhere for the water to lie + it self-solved itself as the heat got in there after you stopped. |
Hi Dave,
the engine was hot when it cut out, It looked dry by the time I tried to start it again coz of the heat, the ht cap does have the rubber bit so it must have been the heat that cured it, at least there was no lasting harm done, i'll try to pick up a front mudguard extender and see if that helps. Cheers Mike |
how long were you riding through the water ??
Are you carb breathers hanging down near the rear shock ?? |
Boys Boys Boys.
None on you are even in the ballpark here...except Ted of course...who hit the answer dead center! |
That's a good description/reply Mollydog.
My TTR is sorted for that with an air filter fixed straight onto the carb replacing the breather tube to the carb diaphragm (the bit you describe for allowing atmospheric pressure to act on one side of said diaphragm). Hence, for my bike, it is the spark plug as the first likely "culprit". |
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the further responses, I did wonder if it was something other than electrical because of the suspiciously easy restart, I've had a cast around on the forums and found an old thread about putting two "t" pieces in the breather tubes from the carbs and raising them ( Just as you suggest Patrick ) so I've been up the local aquarium shop - I don't think I looked like a typical customer -and got some tube etc and now the mod is done, only problem is it's stopped raining, when the local fords are down to a couple of feet deep then I'm going out on submarine duties! I'll definitely let you know how I get on, hopefully this is going to be a real before and after story. Ted, the section of flooded road was a good 80metres long, and it was after 10-20 seconds in the deepest part that she conked out. Thanks again guys, I'll keep you posted. Cheers Mike |
Water in the electrics is a plus point for a diesel.. all you have to do is keep your air intake dry.
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Also thought about carb breathers immediately (knowing the problem from KLR's CVK 41)
Also good to have a look at the fix used by most KLR owners. It uses a T - connector and branches the breather into two, one running up to tail and one down to side stand. The remainder of the original tube on the carb must run slightly up (towards carb). Water entering from whereever will always drain out at the bottom and not run into the carb. If you search for KLR and T-mod you will probably find half a million pages with instructions :) |
Xt660r
Not sure if this is any help, but you reminded me of a problem with my XT660R that i had 3 years ago.
I bought the bike from new, and i thought that the XT legacy would live through it, and it did - untill it came to the end of summer and the rain came back! I started having problems with the temp light coming on at random times even when starting up from cold. Then error messages came up on the screen, and best of all the immobolizer started playing up. Due to it being an intermittent fault it was in and out of the garage several times before i was told that water had got into one of the plugs of the electrics. Sure, most other people aint had any problems, i guess i was just unlucky. Mike |
Hi Guys,
Hooraagh!! The aquarium tubing mod to the carb' works!!! No question at all. The Thames has burst it's banks in many places with all this heavy rainfall and whilst out this evening I saw a "Road Closed" sign shutting off a flooded back lane, so a quick manouvre round the sign and thru the water, it was deeper than I would have liked ,up to just below seat height and deep for at least 100yards, but the XT never missed a beat, fantastic bike. I was worried that water could have got into the airfilter coz it was so deep, so I took off the side cover of the air filter when I got home with no water inside -phew. Thanks everyone for your imput - I'll try to get a picture in the next week or so to show the tubing mod, and the bike in action. Thanks again Cheers Mike :thumbup1: PS: I'll also be using copious amounts of WD40 ( water repellent ) to hopefully fend off future dampness/corrosion problems - but hey what a bike ! |
If you use too much wd40 it will form a greasy residue and make matters worse .
It can cause tracking along the surface of HT leads and you will get a misfire or no spark at all . Use it by all means but no more than you have to ,there are other products that will dry out electrics and silicon grease can be used to waterproof bike electrical equipment. |
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Hi Mike, Glad to hear that you have things sorted and it would be good to see your pics - you have prompted me to try posting a pic; never done that up to now. As I mentioned, my TT600R has a small air filter in place of the carb breather tube - it can just about be seen in my pic if I have done things right with the pic, just behind the engine and under the plastics (I've been practicing editing pics which I don't do too often) The air box is cut away as well, just under the seat so that is the "tide mark" for riding this particular bike in water! Best wishes, |
Hi Guys,
The floods have receded in our area now and we finally have been out with the camera, when I last rode down this flooded lane the water line was up to my knee! This picture isn't so extreme but check it out all the same. ImageShack - Hosting :: xtwdesfloodvi2.jpg . Modification picture to follow. Cheers Mike |
Head light Carrier
Hi Mike,
I noticed you had a carrier just on top of the headlamp ,and I'm actually looking for one, where did you get it? Cheers Gwel |
Hi Gwel,
The headlightguard/front rack is from Rikycross ( Italy ), there's another thread about two weeks ago with their contact details, it cost about £60 ! but that did include delivery - from Italy. It was easy to put on and is rock solid with all the bolts/spacers included. cheers Mike |
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