We were out on the weekend and a friend on a SP500 went through a big puddle which resulted in the motor running very poorly and sputtering under load. I've never worked on one before, but before long I had it apart and drained the water out of the airbox opened the carb drain which were both full of water. After this I looked and found that there is no drain on the belt housing. It is an older one so I guess they didn't have it. Anyways, we got it running again and limped it back to the truck. During the drive back the water eventually cleared out of the carb and it ran fine after that.

My question is what would you recommend doing after dunking the quad like that?

 

1) Check the oil. If it is at all 'milky' looking on the dipstick, change it IMMEDIATELY! It might not hurt to change the oil, anyway. 2 quarts of oil is a small price to pay compared to engine damage from contaminated oil.

2) Check all other fluids. In particular, the tranny oil, and front gearcase oil. The hubs are supposed to be sealed, but might not hurt to check them, as well. Again, the easiest way to tell contamination is discoloration, foam, or stuff that looks like sour cream or vanilla milkshake where there should only be clean oil. If the machine didn't acutally 'drown', this stuff should be OK, as long as your vent tubes aren't torn or disconnected.

Did the belt get wet? Did it seem to slip when you got going again? If not, probably no water got in there, or at least not enough to hurt anything. If it seemed to slip, or not shift like it always did for a while, chances are a little water got in there. Best is to take the belt cover off, and rinse out all the workings of the clutch with a garden hose. The grit in the mud can act like sandpaper in the clutch workings, and wear out stuff fairly quickly.

Lastly, give all the zerks a shot of grease, which is a good idea any time you go into deep enough water to cover them.

 

thanks for the advice farmr[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

What sort of regular maintenance do you do?

When it got wet I'm sure the belt got a bit wet. I read somewhere that if you put it in neutral and rev it up a bit it will help to get the belt dry sooner(I know it should be opened to clean it out but I mean when its out on the trail to get it back). Does this work for the SP500?

 

For regular maintanence, I change the hub oil about every 1000 miles, and the tranny oil every spring (I put about 2000-2500 miles a year on my Xplorer). Also, every spring, I take the belt cover off, and blow out the pulleys with an air hose(dust and gunk DOES find its way in there) and check the pulleys for looseness (try to wiggle one half of the pulley against the other). Since it is a 2 cycle, there is no oil to change. Every couple weeks, I check the air cleaner, and clean it whenever it looks dirty (I have a washable Uni Filter). I grease it every 500 miles of easy riding, but if I go through a lot of mud or heavy work, I up it to every 250.

Yes, revving in Neutral will help pump the water out of ANY Polaris that gets water in the belt. If the belt housing is way full of water, shut off the fuel, and have a buddy stand it up on the rear end for about 30 seconds or so. The exhaust vent is to the rear, and that will help pour out a lot of the water.

Farmr

 

The deepest that i have had mine is where my feey got wet on the racks. The only problem i had after winching it out was water in the clutch. Put it in N and reved it a while watched the black water pour out. Then away I went. Sure was glad to find out about that reving thing, beats pulling the clutch cover off on the trails.

 

Another area that is frequently overlooked is the recoil starter. The handle must be seated firmly in place (a little grease helps for waterproofing) otherwise water will flow in. Remove the drain plug to get the water out otherwise you will end up with a useless rusted one.

 

For the wet clutch, I just remove the two bottom screws for the clutch cover and with just finger strength, lightly pull the bottom outer half of the cover and the water will dribble out. About a ten minute fix if there is only a bit of water.