As I am slowly reviving my 03 sportsman 700 twin from its -30 degree winter beatings a curiosity has aroused. As I use my ATV mostly for work and hunting/ice fishing I rarley travel through water much deeper then say mid wheel.
The question is: For a stock ATV such as mine, what are the limits as far as deep water? You see pictures of people in water up to their 'you knows' and they're still going strong. Where are the weak points on the machine that one must worry about water getting into? The manual of course has some quick ideas such as reving the engine to remove water from the CVT, and draining the carb, but surley there has to be more to it then that? Water in the coolant recovery bottle etc? On my machine I've got open ended clear tubing hoses all over town, some going up, some going down. Surley some of them must be a hazard for water?
Sorry for the long post, and rather noobie question. Thx in advance

I guess i should add that i don't plan on going 'boating' much anytime soon so im not so much interested in aftermarket add-ons, just curious of the stock capabilities and dangers.
JR

 

if you looked at my pics. you will see im pretty much up to my seat in water and none got in anywhere. most of the tubes running up should be ending up arounf the handle bars. these are vents that are high and out of the way. if theres any going down they should have a one way check valve to stop water form coming in, unless it was the battery vent. the clutch and air box intakes are up close to the front of the seat so there fairly high as well. you should be able to go up to the fenders in water if everything is sealer and routed right.

 

Hey Thisoneguy, we've gone through headlight deep water/mudholes with no problem. This is a video of one ride that was a little more shallow than the deepest we've been through. Waterhole

 

I went through mud all the way to my seat on my Trailblazer 250 with no problems, just i know enough to wait like 3 minutes intill i started to ride again..

 

Here is a question for you guys who have a water/mudding experience. Why did my Sp500 die when I was only in water about as deep as stendori was when he had to be pulled out due to no bottom? I entered the pit nice and slow so I wouldn't have any water get into my intake and about 3/4 of the way through it, the bike acted like it was starving for air and just died. I had to be pulled out and then had to crank it over a few times before she finally fired again. When she did start water was blowing out of the exhaust. It seems to run fine still so I don;t think water got into anything. Oh and I know water wasn't in the airbox b/c we checked it and it was dry as a bone. Long story short, can someone tell me why it died?

 

did you let it die, by not enough revs or hit the kill switch or key?
the water in the exhaust is from it being off and water running into the pipe while under water.

 

I was going through the "pit" and like I said I was going good, then all of a suddun it acted like it wasn't getting enough air, and the RPMS kept getting lower and lower till she finally died. I was trying like hell not to let it die, but it did. I didn't think the water in the exhaust was going to hurt it, but I am still baffled to why it would have died like it did.

 

It's possible you were going too slow. It's always a good idea to keep a "bow wake" in front of the quad. It keeps water from getting up under the machine. If you go too slow you could also get water up the pipe if it is around an idle speed which could explain (not definite here) the stalling and the water in the pipe. Another thing you should do if you stall in water is take out the sparkplug and crank it over to shoot out any water that may me in the cylinder. Hydrolock can ruin your engine. Water does not compress like gas fumes. Also, you may want to loosen the nut on the bottom of the muffler to let water out. It couldn't hurt. Hope this helps.

 

cool thanks for the info. Can water still get into the cylinder through the exhaust. I know this may sound like a stupid question, but if the valves are closed, I wouldn't think water could get in.

 

But valves do open and if they were open on the exhaust when it died, then it could have let water in then.
If you have the quad running then I am sure that you did not hydrolock the engine because otherwise it would not start again.