ok, so i went riding here in VA today (sunday) up in the mountains. I was on my ds, brother on my outlander 800, and my father on his practly new, less than 20 hrs 2005 traxter 650Xt. after about a nice 30 mile ride, we decided to head back to the truck(which was parked on a huge bed rocks beside a medium size river). As we reached the truck i decided to head up the packed clay entrance road to open the ds up a bit because i never really got out of 2nd or 3rd gear all day. Upon coming back down the road to the truck i noticed that my father was off his traxter standing next to it with water to his chest and the bike was floating with water up to the handle bars. i instantly jumped in with the winch cable from my 800 and yelled DONT TRY TO START IT. SO, i pulled it from the cold 45 degree water and started my inspection of its condition. i pulled the plug, tilted it up to drain the water from the CVT, airbox, and throttle tube. Then i cranked it for a bit to blow the water out of the spark pkug hole and out of the motor. Then i checked the oil. Which was all milky and nasty. i decided to get it on the trailer and bring it home. Once i got it home, i pulled off the CVT cover and drained about 5 gallons of water out, and then drained the oil and the filter. My plan is to let it sit and drain for the next day and do 3 oil changes to remove any sludge or remaing water with breif time for idleing in between changes. But here is my qusetion. What symptoms should i look for as i am cleaning the motor out for damage? hard starts, burning oil, anything? i wanna make sure its ok and nothing major is wrong.

the story behind my pops ending up in the water is that there was an area that is about 8-12 inches deep where you can cross and have no problems, but in the middle of him passing that area, he decided to trun around. In the process of doing so, he headed for the deep water (4-5 feet which drops off instantly) but, the sun was blasting in his eyes and he could not see the depth change. So, as he turned around he was overtaking a stump that happened to be on the edge where the depth changes and as he cleard the stump, the bike did a nose dive into the deep water.

 

It sounds like you have the bases covered. I don't think you'll have any damage, I've been in that situation several times myself without damage. Don't forget to drain the carb bowl, possibly your tank too. Good luck.

 

I've been there a few times too. My theory is run the bike and get it hot to get all the moisture out of the engine. Obviously I'd keep checking the oil. Hey, half the Ds's out there probably have anti- freeze leaking into the engine oil from the pump shaft seals and I haven't seen any problems reported.