Yea I went swimming on my brand new, 2 week old Rincon. No snorkel of course.. It was Hydro Locked and about quart or more of water in my oil.. So I went home, cleaned everything up,,, Fresh oil, and drained the cylinder. (changed oil bout 102 times) After that it started right up and ran like new again..

My question is,, Is this motor a ticking time bomb now? Is the motor gonna take a **** in the near future after that mishap? Or start burning oil, smoke like a chimney! I only tried starting it once or twice when it was hydro locked. Didn't do anything else that could have caused some more damage. It went right on the trailer and home for some cleaning.

 

As long as you did not run it with the water in the oil you should be OK. I've seen Honda sunk many times with no adverse problems

 

You did the right thing and it will be fine.

 

might want to do another oil change just to make sure you get it through the bearings-

 

if it was running when you sunk it and reved it hard you would have bent a push rod or something similar. If you drained it and changed out the fluids and it runs fine you should be fine. My main concern would be any/all of the electric.
May want to disconnect everything dry it and apply lube since secondary corosion to the electric could cause major problems in the future but if the water didnt get over the seat you may not have these issues.
I deal with flood cars every year and electrical is the biggest issue we see besides engine replacement. If there are no knocks or smoke you are one lucky person.

 

I have sunk more Hondas and Yamahas than I would admit to. Hell i drove a big bear with more water than oil in it for like an hour home... It was all set not saying thats a good idea I'm just saying these things when built right are made for major abuse. I sunk my Rincon like 2 weeks in also good times.. as long as you flush it out good you'll be fine. Ive put 2000+ miles on it since and it's fine.

I just blasted all the elctrical i could get to without gettin too crazy with alot of WD40 to drive the water out.

Drowning your ATV is about the most stressful thing in the world.. when that engine stalls and the water fills up the exhaust and you jump off.. the machine floats a little bobbling left and right... god I HATE IT!!!! LOL

 

Question for you Unit6666 - In an auto when water gets into the cylinder head on the upstroke the water does not compress and explode like fuel causing the engine to fail "hydrolock". If water would get into an atv motor how does the piston/rings survive? I would think if you sucked the water in it would fail just like an auto. If you have any science/insight I would appreciate it.

While I try to avoid water those puddles are never crystal clear so you never know.

 

If the engine is at "idle" the water will stop the engine so fast usually it won't cause rod damage. Anything above idle and all bets are off.

For those of you that like to turn your ATV into a boat; if your going down the best thing to do is hit the kill switch on the bars. The worst thing to do is have the engine running when it goes under water.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I feel lil better now! Ha! Oh and good call doctor,, next time I'll be sure to do that! Lol

 

Thanks Doc and good tip on the kill switch.