(title should say "water in engine".) I bought my Suzuki ATV new. After putting about 40 miles on it, it started smoking. I took it to the dealer and there was water in the oil. A dealer found out that the oil cap dipstick was cross threaded. The next trip in, another dealer told me the oil cap casing was missing an o-ring. I never touched the cap before that, so I did not strip it. The dealer is telling me that he thinks water got in at the airbox snorkel (much higher up) which he says means I drove through deep water and misused the bike. I haven’t driven it through anything higher than about a foot of water, so he’s wrong. Now the dealer is telling me there’s no way that enough water could get into the oil filler cap to ruin the ATV because of the pressure from the engine and that I must have submerged it somewhere (I didn’t). Is there anyone else who has gotten water in the oil because of a bad seal at the oil filler cap?

 

Welcome to the forums.

Well first off, has the motor seized up? You could get lucky and just flush the motor with new oil and Seafoam. (filter change too)

Secondly, did the dealer say they were responsible for the cross thread? If so, I'd be saying I want a whole new case.

And did they say how much water was in the oil? Seems like if you washed it, you could have gotten water into the filler doing that.

 

Just because it is smoking doesn't necessarily mean that any damage has been done. I am surprised that you hadn't checked the oil often enough on a new quad that you couldn't pinpoint when the water got in the crankcase. If nothing else you will learn that you have to pay close attention to your quad and be aware of what it happening. I would have never returned the quad to the dealer with any signs of it ever being near water. I had a brand new Grizzly 600 and when it had only 5 miles on it, I had it in 12 feet of water for over 30 minutes before we were able to get it out. I spent about 3 days disassembling it and cleaning it to the point that it was showroom new again. I also had to change the oils numerous times and then took it back to the dealership explaining that the reason for the speedometer and all of the lights being full of moisture was just from taking it to the car wash. I received all new lights and speedometer. If the dealership had known that the engine and belt had been full of water I would have been on my own for any and all repairs.

 

Scooter is right about the water getting in the oil from washing it, it doesn't take that much water in the oil to turn it milky. Also was it smoke that you were seeing or was it steam?

 

The thing was smoking out of the tailpipe and making noise. When I bought the thing they said to bring it in at 150 miles for a first oil change and service and at that point some valves may need readjusting. I wasn't anywhere near 150 miles, but I figured that it was probably some valves that needed readjusting that was causing the problem.

I had no reason to think taht there was any water in the atv anywhere. Like I said I road it through some shallow water (not more than about a foot), but the manual actually says it's designed to be ridden through shallow water, so I didn't suspect water to be the problem when I brought it in. I did wash and wax it, but I didn't use a power sprayer or anything like that.

When I brought it in, the dealer said the problem was water in the oil and flushed it several times, cleaned it, and adjsuted the valves, but said it still wasn't running properly. They said there was sludge in the bottom end. They flushed out the bottom end and rebuilt the top end. It doesn't seem like I could have gotten enough water in it hosing it down with the engine off to cause that much damage.

The dealer didn't go so far as to say they are responsible for the stripped cap, but they did say they don't think I did it (if that makes any sense).

The it's still not working right. It runs really loud.

 

Nice to know there's someone out there screwing over the dealers for their own mistakes while the rest of us get denied legitimate claims.