I was running the length of a stream over the weekend when I hit a deep (and new) hole in the stream bed. I swamped the bike up to the gas cap. Got the bike out and towed it home, then did the following: Dried out the air box and air pipe that hooks to the carb and installed a new air filter; took the carb off, removed the bowl, cleaned out all water and removed both jets and sprayed them out, cleaned the choke, removed and cleaned the needle valve, and removed and cleaned both external adjuster screws and replaced the carb; removed the spark plug and sprayed the cylinder with engine start to displace any water and kicked it over several times to let the water spray out of the spark plug hole and carb mounting hole; drained and replaced the oil; inspected the coil and cleaned the contacts on it; removed the kill switch and cleaned it out to ensure no water in it; then, still no spark, so removed the engine cover on the shifter side of the motor. When I did that, a bunch of engine oil came out. The magneto assembly was soaked in oil. Is this normal? The guy that gave me the bike said he had accidentally overfilled the oil. Could that have caused the magneto to get soaked? Did I wrongly assume when I removed the cover that it should be totally dry on that side of the motor with no oil around the magneto assembly bay? Help!!

 

from my expirance with a 230 no oil should be on the magneto/flywheel side, that is the reason you are getting no spark, the second reason for the oil being there is either too much oil, and the pressure seeped through the crank seals, and/your crank seals are bad. and are leaking oil out to the magneto side.

v581

 

Thanks - is there any other way that the oil could have migrated to that side since it was over filled? I'm hoping so, since replacing the crank seal is probably too tough for me to tackle on my own.

 

if thats the reason hes gettin no spark, then why did it start before he swamped it when the oil was there in the first place?

 

oil can insulate it, 9 outta 10 the oil was under the flywheels diameter of spin. and when the water got there the water/oil mixture was over the bolt for the flywheel, or filled the case, and then no electricity will conduct.

you changed the oil thats good. just drive it for a little with the mag cover off, and make sure oil is not coming through the magneto side. if its not it was prolly caused by a excess of pressure inside the crank case and it had noware to go.

does your idle fluxuate? or not stay the same even tho you set it about 1000 times? that is a air leak, and caused by bad crank seals.

v581

 

Vinson - Once again, great info from the forum. Thanks guys. Chewbacca - The concern about the "pre-swamping" oil being in the case is a good one, but I do think that the level on the magneto side definitely got higher/deeper when the thing swamped. Some of the oil that spilled out from that side when I took the shifter-side cover off was definitely milky - like it had gotten wet during the swampfest. Great suggestion on running it carefully with the cover off and checking for leaks around the internal seals, but I don't think I can do that since the stationary part of the magneto is mounted on the inside of the cover and therefore will not provide spark when the cover is off. No problems with idling before - was always smooth and constant. The flywheel with the magnets was found to be SOAKED in oil, and both coils in the magneto assembly were too. I sprayed everything out with carb cleaner, figuring that would cut the oil. Now I'm hoping that the coils on the magneto assembly weren't damaged by the cleaner, the water, and/or the oil. Any suggestions on another solvent that I can use? Also, the last owner used red permatex/gasket maker (not gasket sealer) to seal the cover - is this ok, or should I really be using an actual paper-type gasket? If I use a traditional gasket, should I also use sealant?

 

i wasnt thinking when i said run it with the cover off, i remember now that it is mounted to the cover, i think i said that because i just had a mag cover off a blaster not to long ago.

you can use brake cleaner, or rubbing alcohol

hmmm.... red high temp sealant. take my advise on this one, get a real gasket it is worth the piece of mind for no air leaks, on a old bike espacially. on my 230 i used the red stuff, what a pain, it looked like cr@pola. and the gasket for the head blew.

sealant has its place but a gasket looks so much better in my eyes, espacially now that i got new bikes.

v581