Hey everyone. I just had a question. My husband was riding his ATV over a frozen pond and well ... the ice broke and he went in with his ATV. The front of it was in the water and the end was out. We managed to pull it out but it did not start. I am guessing because it was in the water for a good couple of hours. I am not sure where the owner's manual is to see if there is a drain plug that can be pulled to let some of the water out. Does anyone have any advice as to what we can do to make sure that it is okay? We have not tried to start it since, we figured it may need to dry out. Thank you in advance for your suggestions, ideas, and advice.

 

I would start by going to the cvt drain plug and opening it to drain the cvt unit, drain plug is located right next to ur right peg. you are going to have to really pull hard to open it, only water will come out. iI suggest if alot of water comes out you should take the cover off and pressure air blown through the clutches. then take out the spark plug and then finally crank the motor while the spark plug is out. by trying to start the motor with the plug in you could cause more damage. its called aqua lock you dont want that. then reinstall the plug and start motor. hopefully everything will be ok.

 

Yhea there is a drain plug on the bottom of the motor, drain the oilt and flush it out a couple of times. Change the filter also.
I would recommend changing the diff fluids as well.

Clean and reoil the air filter.
Pull the spark plug and shoot any water in the cylinder out by cranking the motor over with the electric starter(after you have changed the oil).

One more thing is pull the train for the drive belt housing and let any other water out of there.

 

Pull off the seat. Check the air box. Is there water in it? If so, how much? You said it didn't get in the exhaust. If there isn't a sign of water in the airbox, then I'd say the engine was good. Just for good measure, perform the following steps.

1. check the cvt drain plug by the right foot peg. If there is water in it, lift the quad at an angle to help get it all out.
2. check the airbox. If there's water in it, pull the plug at the bottom of it.
3. If there was any water in the air box at all, turn off your gas and turn the screw on the carb to drain the gas from the carb. once that is empty, tighten the screw and turn gas back on.
4. pump the throttle a few times and try to start the quad. Let run for a few minutes, then turn it off.
5. check the oil. Does it look milky/frothy/light in color? If so, you have water in it and it needs to be changed. If you don't notice anything, take it for a quick 10 min. ride or so and check it again. If nothing, take for a longer ride, then check.
6. If the oil needs to be changed, buy cheap oil. Leave the filter in. Change the oil once. Run the bike for 5 min. Check the oil. Look for milky/frothy symptoms. If there are no symptoms, ride for 20 min. Check again.
7. If still none, change oil and filter once more (using good oil). Otherwise repeat step 6.