The other day I was speeding down a dirt road with xr80rampage, when we hit some DEEP water. My engine started cutting out, and backfiring and was hard to start after I shut it off. after a few seconds it fired up and everything went back to normal. I stopped a few min. later (after I got away from the water) to check everything over. THe oil was normal, My airbox had about half-an inch of water in it, and my sparkplug was a little wet. Too be safe, when I got home I changed the oil, and put dialetic grease on the plug. Their was no trace of water in the oil, so does anyone know what happend for sure. This was on a Honda Recon with K&N filter. Thanks for any help I get.

 

If you actually got in water above the bowl on the carb, water can get in the carb through the carb drain line. You need to plug that in deep water.

Greg

 

You should never plug those lines. The correct thing to do is to make them longer and route them to a place higher up or have them end in the airbox. Some one makes a kit for doing the airbox setup.

 

So I my advise is never questioned again, I will explain... (HA!)

The carb has to receive atmospheric pressure from somewhere. That is what the vent lines are for. The drain line serves two purposes
1) To allow you to drain the carb by means of the drain screw.
2) To allow the carb to drain itself if for some reason the float sticks and allows too much gas to the carb bowl. There is a needle that goes up from the bottom of the carb with a hole in the top. This leads to the same drain line off the bottom of the carb. There should be a backflow devise that keeps water from entering here but it is not functional 99% of the time.

Also 250rampage said to route the vent lines to the airbox. Wrong answer...

When the RPMs increase the carb sucks air from the air box forming a slight vacume. This will slightly effect perfomance on some bikes and will cause others to die completely.

If he was talking about the drain line, wrong answer again, unless you plan to turn off the fuel everytime you kill your motor.

The reason is that if the float was to stick, it will fill your airbox with gas. Then you try to crank your bike not knowing there is one gallon of gas in the airbox. Could be bad???? AND if that doesn't happen, you still have the same vacume effect, just from a differnt vent location.

If you choose to plug the drain line, you still have to turn off the gas or unplug the line before transporting. (The float sometimes bounces during transportation. If the drain line is plugged and the fuel is on, you run the chance of your airbox filling with gas)

Greg

 

Cool thanks for all the info

This happened to my recon about a month ago
so I tied the carb vent hose up along the side of the frame about a foot (maybe less) above the foot peg. Is this ok or should I buy one of those backflow things you are talking about.
PS Can you buy backflow things for the carb

 

If you replace the check valve, it will go bad again in no time. Just plug it before riding in deep water and unplug before you transport your bike.

Greg