I drown my new 500 this afternoon,broke through some ice that I thought only had 1 foot of water under it.Boy was I wrong,chest deep and I am 6'1" man was it cold !My question for all of you is besides draining and replacing all of the fluids is there anything I should be concerned about relative to electrical ie:alternator and starter.
We were able to drag it out using my buddy's 98 AC 500 manual,I went home first to get rope and my drysuit as I was not going into that water again unprotected.I took some pictures and will post them as soon as I get them developed.
I am new to this site and when I purchased my new machine I looked long and hard at everything and purchased an AC based partly on the testimonials that I read here.I sure am glad I didn't buy a rubicon right now ,with all of its electronic components.

 

I think that after you drain the fluids and the the belt case if it's an auto, remove the spark plug and pour a little oil down the hole and crank it over a few times. This along with a complete fluid change should be about all you would need to do. I believe Cowboy can tell you what he had to do when he tried to drown his cat. I don't believe it was that much and didn't seem to hurt it any.

 

Boggit:
Hey, don't feel bad, I went completely under water in a river, over my head deep with my auto on accident not too long ago. You'll definately want to drain all your fluids for sure, including the gas tank. Replace with fresh gas, then I'd also put in about half a bottle of HEAT (I think it's about one bottle per 10 gallons), or some similar gas additive to remove water. Also, I'd pull the carb apart to get the water out of it as well. Oh, pull the spark plug and crank it over a time or two to blow out any water that may be inside the block. I'd replace the plug as well. If you do, you might want to try a CR8E, just for kicks. I found it runs better in my machine, as did a few others on the forum here. I think it depends though on the climate you're riding in the most. The come stock with a CR6E, which is a hotter plug, and the 8 seems to give it a bit more snap. Just a thought there.

You'll also want to make sure your air box is clean and dry, and definately clean the filter good. As for the transmission, there is a drain plug on the auto just in front of the right floor board, which I believe takes a 12mm wrench. Pull that out, and it will drain all the water from your housing. If you like, you can also pull the tranny cover to inspect the belt, and remove any mud or other debris that may be in there. I doubt you'll have anything other than water, but it's probably worth checking anyway, just for piece of mind.

As for water and the electrical department, just a visual check for any water around the battery of course, along with an inspection of the fuse box. A hair dryer works well, if need be. You may also want to check for water in your headlights and tail light as well, which could cause them to blow a bulb if filled with water.

Can't think of much else off the top of my head right now. Might be worth checking the cv boots to see that there is no water inside the boot itself, which could lead to rust inside the joint. With all the fluids changed, and a new oil filter, you should be just fine. Mine took a few minutes to blow all the water out the lines, but once it coughed it all up, she's been running better than ever since then. Oh, might pull the plug on the muffler, with the front end elevated slightly too, just to blow out any other water, mud, carbon buildup, etc. Do that with the engine running.

Anyway, hope that helps, and best of luck!

Mike

 

Thanks for the help fellas.I had already completed everything that you mentioned except for the muffler draining. I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed anything.
Also I am looking for a box for the front rack of my machine that I could load all of the essentials in for a days riding.No problem finding a soft bag but I am looking for something made of plastic so that I could cut out some grooves on the sides and line with foam to hold my bow or rifle and still close the lid,we've been making these out of plywood but they look kind of crappy especially on a new bike.Just wondering if anyone knows of a manufacturer that makes something similar.Approx dimensions 15 x 34 x 10.

 

Polaris sells a nice box at a reasonable price

 

boggit if you get a chance hop over to the fair grounds this week. The farm show is on and im sure they will have all kinds of ATV accessories that you can look over. There are many brands of hard plastic rack mount boxes ( front and back) that would be suitable for what you want.

 

You might want to spray your switches and hand controls with WD-40 or something like that just in case.