Anyone have problems with their 500's stalling when the exhaust gets under water.

The reason I ask is last year after a quick but deep water crossing my back end was under water and the bike slowly lost power and stalled as I was trying to get up the bank. I am unsure if it was steam from the hot engine going under then back out or if it was the backpressure or lack of because the exhaust was under.

We had lots of rain here on the weekend and I went for a ride by myself just to see how deep some of the holes were getting. Once It got deep enough that I could hear the exhaust bubbling I would chicken out and stop playing in the hole.

Just wondering what you guys think. I have always heard that POPOs were great water machines. I just don't want to get deep and stall and possibly have water back up the exhaust into the engine.

 

My 05 500HO would always bog down and stall with the exhaust submerged. The 850 does not suffer from the problem though.

 

I had a 220 kawasaki bayou that you go under and just keep on thicking I wonder why yours does that

 

I never had this problem on the 500...It can idle under water but my 400HO does the same thing as your 500 which im also scared that it will loose power at the wrong time....

 

funny you bring this up, cuz I noticed the same thing from my 550 XP this last weekend! I am a little bit frustrated

 

Never had issues with either of my popo's in deep water. But you should remember their sold as ATV's not boats. LOL. I'm always leary about getting that deep unless I have to. I don't like risking high dollar electrical components even though their supposed to be sealed and water tight.

 

I agree they aren't boats and I am more afraid of deep water then anything else when it comes to my quad.
With some of the trails around here there is no choice. If you want to keep going on the trail then a deep hole will need to be crossed once in a while. Most have an out or go around but eventually those get mighty deep as well.

 

I've just always tried to keep the rpm's up so I wouldn't stall.....

 

I had this issue twice with my 700 this year. Deep water is sooo much fun, but really isn't the intended use as mentioned before. Regardless of that fact, some people can do it with no problems and others of us have issues. I think it would be reasonable to assume that the difference is mechanical and can be fixed.

When this happened to me a few weeks ago, my airbox was dry. Is their another opening that could allow water to enter the motor?

 

it is best to idle up the engine prior to getting into deep water, this will prevent it from stalling, in fact it is typical practice for some to just turn the idle screw slightly to raise the rpms.