I went through a small hole and halfway through my four wheeler just died and wouldn't crank. Never happened been through lot more many times. Took off my air box lid filter clogged with mud and water. Took filter off crunk right up and ran fine. Looked at it when i got home found out that my air box plug had come off... explained the water and mud in the box. Ok cleaned air filter and box. I checked my oil and it checked out fine but my filter was completely stopped up so i know i had to suck some in. Had plans to change my oil but i was going out of town so i was going to change it when i got back. BUT while i was gone my dad decided to ride the hell out of it not knowing of what had happened. But i'm beginning to wonder the MILKY look does it look a lot like fresh oil because i had just changed my oil and it looked like fresh oil so just wondering. And also what damage could of have been done if water was in my oil.

 

Oil shouldn't be a milky color it should look more brown color with just a touch of yellow and transparent when the oil is new depending on what type oil you use synthetic or dino oil's , as it get's dirty it should look a little darker color to it as the mile's or hour's go up ; not a lighter color ! And if you had water in the oil and your dad gave it a good or in this case a bad " work out " with water in the oil , the damage has most likly already been done ; but i would deffiently change the oil and compare it with the oil that you drain out of the crankcase ! Water and oil with a touch dirt/sand make's a good grinding compound , and that's not good for bearing's , ring's , piston's , cylinder's ; you name the part and it's all bad ! Hopefully the filter kept the dirt from getting past it , but most Hi Flo airfilter's let more air get into the engine for better perforance ; but they can let tiny dirt particules get past the filter and into your engine ! That's what the outerware of the Uni Filters are for , to help keep those tiny dirt particules from getting into the engine by way of the air intake ; it's a trade off really when using the Hi Flo Filters without the outerware for that added perforance ! But no matter what type filter you use it's not good to get water in the oil , so i would change the oil and oil filter ; and clean the airfilter if it's possible depending on what type filter you're running ! I hope all is good and your engine is ok , i hate to see these thing's happen ; but sometime's it's beyond our control like your dad not knowing about water might be in the oil ! I'll keep my fingers crossed , and good luck to you with your quad ! ...........

 

I have already changed my oil just wondering what damage might have been done. But the day when the water got in I had just put a brand new freshly oiled honda air filter and brand new oil and filter and when i checked afterwards i really couldnt tell. But still rides fine nothing noticed so far maybe I was lucky, but what are some signs i should be looking for?

 

My guess would be look for smoke coming slowly out of the engine on the cylinder unless you got the oil problem straight because if you have water in your oil it may not lubricate as good and may start to cause friction and ive learned that the bad way when i ran my fourwheeler a little too long without oil and the cylinder turned red and it started to steam and smoke

 

The word milky did not come to mind when i checked my oil and I checked for bubbles several times and no bubbles so i figure if any got in it was very little. But thanks fellows i feel a lil at ease now.

 

Well since the water came in through the intake the topend is where the damage would begain , like Dillpick351 stated it would start in the top end ; how did the oil look comepared to what the new oil looled like ? And i should've told you to feel the oil by rubbing it between your finger's to check for grit in the oil as well as what color the oil looked like , and i would get some cheap oil to flush the engine crankcase a few times to make sure you get all the water out ; auto parts stores sell engine flush kit's ! But it's really just oil with kerosine mixed with oil to clean gunk from the crankcase , i sunk my cousin's 89' Suzuki riding double down a creek ; when on the way back up the creek i took the wrong side and the next thing i knew it water came up to my neck and at no time was the engine untill the flush job was done! I flushed the engine with kerosine to get all the water from the crankcase and top end , i drained the oil and took the oil filter out and put the cover back with out the filter untill i was through flushing the engine ; then i put the oil plug back in and took the sparkplug out then i poured kerosine in the oil filler hole untill the kerosine started to come out of the sparkplug hole i turned the engine over a few times with the pull rope with the kill swith in the off position ! Then i removed the oil plug and drained the kerosine , then i poured kerosine through the engine 2 or 3 more time's with the oil plug removed ; then with the oil plug back in i filled the crankcase with acetone and then i turned the engine over a few times with the pull rope with the kill switch in the off position ! Then after draining the acetone i filled the crankcase with oil and poured about a tablespoon full of oil in the sparkplug hole , then i put an old sparkplug in and again turned the engine over a few time's to lube the top end ; then i drained the oil refilled the crankcase with oil again and repeated the process again ! Then after all this i drained the oil again and insalled the new oil filter , refilled with the good oil removed the old sparkplug put a teaspoonfull of good oil turned the engine the engine over a few more time's for topend lube ; then i sprayed a little bit of gas or you could use starting fluid put a new sparkplug in and started the engine and rode it for a few mile's taking it easy untill the topend had time to be lubed good ! The engine will smoke for a few mintute's this is normal after this kind of fushing the engine like this , on the Suzuki the drowning happened in 1989 and it was still running good in the spring of this year 2007 when i serviced it completely and did a valve adjustment on it ; i did this extreme flushing of the Suzuki because it was completely submerged for a few second's before we could get it out of the creek ! But it worked on the Suzuki without any serious damage being done to the engine , and i had to remove the carb airbox and the gas tank on the Suzuki it had water in everything ; this was the worse case i ever had with any engine before and since then ! But i don't think you will have to go to such extreme of a flush job on your quad , but the carb should be pulled and taken apart and cleaned as well as the airbox and airfilter ; and i hope you get it cleaned out and no serious damage is done to your quad ! .........