My buddy was out fishing a few months back and came across a submerged 03 650, hooked a line to it, dragged it to shore, then to his house, called the cops, cops took it, called him a month later stating it was not stolen and that the owner denied ever owning it, (he must've had insurance) back to his garage, he got it running and sold it to me for $2200....now, it's in my garage and being renovated...had brand new Bear Claw tires on it, seems like this thing must have gotten caught up in the rapids as everything up top needs to be replaced- handle bar, seat, air box and most of it's components, steering shaft, speedo, brake levers, cables, etc., plus it's missing a few plastic pieces. Coolant system appears to have stayed sealed...nice bright green color to it and levels are where they should be, hydraulic brake system still intact,
I've drained and refilled the crankcase and diffs, twice now, think I finally got all the H2O out, have spent about 1500.00 in parts, still waiting for some parts on order. The good thing is, I'm learning this machine inside and out (bought the shop manual to assist)
Anybody have any ideas of what else I should check on it...no telling how long it was in the water, but judging from the muddy sludge I got out of the carb bowls and any other place you could possibly imagine, it must've been swimming at least a month.
Thanks!

 

if i was you id bring it back to your friend and get your money back..the machine either has to be stolen or involved in a insurance scam,either way somebody is going to be looking for that machine..you said your friend got it running at his garage,he didnt drain the water before running it?

 

As SCRAMBLER420... said, I'd make sure you can get a clear title on it, before dumping too much money in it...

Bright Green ??? does it have the team green plastic ??? I've never heard the stock dark green called "bright" before...

I would drain / change all the diff & trans fluids & blow out all the vent lines, including the gas tank vent...

beware, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is... good luck...

 

He got it for free then charged you for it! Wow what a friend [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

Wait I would do that to, good find but like everyone else says get a clear title or you will loose big in the long run.

 

If ATVs were submarines I would keep it... since their not I would expect more problems down the road.

 

Boy, nothing positive came out of that post.
As I said, the police were called the day he found it and I have a letter from the them stating that it was not stolen or involved in any sort of criminal activity; some inexperienced rider obviously lost it and dumped it in the river, probably hurt himself in the process and decided that ATV's weren't his thing or collect the insurance money and got a new bike. How do I get a clear title anyway?
It was completely drained of all fluids before it was ever started....it was driven into my garage under it's own power.
No, it's not bright green, the anti-freeze was bright green though. the plastic is the standard green.
All the fluids were drained, twice now, and will probably be done again.
So far, everything functions as it should, I'm still waiting on parts and keeping a positive attitude, even through all this negativity.
From what I can tell, these these machines are well built, well sealed machines.
I'll keep you all posted on the progress....this is a 7000.00 machine with brand new aftermarket tires which will end up costing me about 3700.00...

 

don't get too defensive, we just want to protect you & or it's former owner...

sorry, I read through the post too fast, & didn't pick up that the antifreeze was bright green[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

if you haven't already, make sure all the vent lines have been blown out, as listed above... I know several guys that ( seams like regularly ) submarine thier Prairies... if the fluids get changed, & the carbs gone though, there is usually no problems... good luck...

 

Ok, thank you, and sorry for being so defensive
The only thing that hasn't been done are the vent lines and I appreciate that tip.
I'd really like to find the original owner and find out what happened, the police said they traced the serial number to who they thought the owner was, and he denied every owning it...so I don't know what's up with that.
So I'm hoping everything will turn out ok...cause I wanna get out and play...snow storm headed our way, hope my parts come in soon.

 

Sounds like the insurance paid him off. If you go to title that bike, and they run the numbers, im sure the insurance company will get wind of that particular bike being titled and will then go after it as fraud. Some people decide they cant afford the payments and dump things just to get insurance for them. I do hope you can get a clear title for it, but with most cars you have to wait more than just a month to take legal possession of something, then you have to do adds in the newspaper looking for the owner, all kinds of hassle. I just went through that with an abandoned car. No fun. Good luck.

 

Interesting story. If this swimming Prairie was paid off by an insurance company it now belongs to them and I'm glad it is in your shop and not mine. Conspiracy and insurance fraud are serious business and that is what you and your buddy will be dealing with reguardless of any papers you have from your local cops. The smart way to have handled such a situation would have been to acquire clear title through a title search by your buddy as soon as the local cops gave up and before anything else took place. Now you're both in it together and stand to loose everything you have invested to date. These things aren't cheap enough for someone to have just thrown 1 away. When you register this thing or sell the thing (God forbid) and the next guy goes to register it, it's going to bite you.