I've got drowned Banshee that I'm trying to help out on. The airbox lid wasn't on or covered when they washed the bike and now the engine has water in it. Any words of wisdom for bringing this beast back from the dead? So far I've got the plugs out and cranked as much water as I could get out. I'll clean the carbs out with cleaner and clean/oil the filter. What else am I missing here?

 

Remember to change the oil a few times until you see no more water in it.

 

the banshee is a two stroke, samson, not a four stroke

 

Since you are taking the carbs off if you have a good (clean!) shop vac you might want to do this, take the reed cage off then move the atv until the piston is at the top then try to suck out anything that is left in there..? Anways worth a try if you think you can do it without messing anything up..

 

Disclaimer: I'm not a mechanic

That being said.. I have a '98 Seadoo XP Limited that everytime I let someone else ride, it comes towed back in waterlogged.

I take the plugs out, Turn it over a while to get as much water out as possible, spray this stuff called SeaDoo Lube in the cyl's and put in nice dry plugs. I make sure I can get the engine to fire to burn out and mosture left in the engine. Sometimes a little lube in the carbs helps. After it looks dry and starts/stops easy, I cleanup the outside of the motor and I'm good to go.

 

I would remove the reed cage and bring the piston up to top dead center. Then take compressed air and spray it down in the cylinder if possible. repeat for the other side. You could also remove the engine and flush the cylinders out with 2 stroke gas.

 

You can also use WD-40. As is Water Displacer, blend 40. Thats what it was made for.

 

For all you guyz that crank over a flooded motor. If your crankcase is full of water and you crank the motor you will damage alot of stuff. Water does not react the same as air does. It overstresses the piston, connecting rods, and crank when you use your piston to displace water from the crank. Not only that but water contains contaminants that will destroy bearings and seals if not correctly flushed out. I have used the run the motor till she stops sputtering idea, But if there is enough water injested to kill the motor then I will not run it unless I have to!

Plug the airfilter off, Wash the motor with hot soapy water or engine degreaser, Take the cyclinders off, clean with desired method, and useing compressed air blow dry the entire crank case area. Make sure you dont get any dirt into it. While you got the motor apart it is a good time to re-check everything. If there is not a slight oil film on the inside of the case, then you should probably replace the crank bearings and seals, or at least re-oil them. I would replace them anyways. For the cost of doing this you will save hundreds later from a thrashed case because a crank bearing went, Your connecting rod snapped, sawed a hole in the case, and left you in the middle of nowhere. Oh and if the filter was dirty your friend probably flushed alot of dirt into the motor, I would not recommend turning the motor over simply based on that.

I may just be a bit picky when it comes to working on stuff, This is just my opinion. Like I said I have successfully done the let it run until the water comes out, But I would not consider restarting a engine flooded with water. Just my 2 cents.

 

Thank you everyone for the advise. We ended up using a combination of suggestions. With the air filter off and the plugs out the bike was lifted on it's rear and let drain and dry. Carbs were cleaned out with Gunk. Liberal use of WD-40 was used. Then we hand cranked the bike slowly to get out the majority of the water that didn't drain. The bike then was towed very slowy in third gear about half a mile with the throttle wide open (spark plugs still out) to pump out anything else out. After another good cleaning, purging, and lubing we put a fresh set of plugs in and it fired up on the fifth kick. Everything seems ok now but we'll find out this weekend when we take it out the the desert. Again, thanks for the ideas and I'll post if it works as well as pre-drowning .

 

yamahagye,

I think Sampson probably knows that having a Banshee and all. You've got a total of 44 post and Samson has just over 300 more than you. That in itself doesn't mean that he knows more than you, but usually the guys that offer helpful suggestions stay around for a while and the ones looking to try and make someone else look ignorant end up moving on to the Britney Spears, Scooby Doo, or Rapmaster D forum instead.

You should know that the transmission in a Banshee is lubricated by oil although the problem stated above would be unlikely to affect it.