Bike stalls at rivercrossing

[Tom250]

Hi Folks,
i have a strange thing going on with my EC300 ?13 ASII38.
Ive tried a few needles and what i noticed is with the standard N1EG the bike just stops running after a river crossing, around 20cm deep. My understanding of it is, the chamber gets cooled down from the water and this influences the flow in the pipe. Maybe its condensating? The N1EG is surely not the right needle for that bike, way to fat everywhere. After the bike stops, the electricstart cant fire it up again, i need to pull the choke, but then it awakes instantly and runs like before.
Strange is with the more leaner needle, the NECJ, this problem never showed up. Why does a leaner needle not cause that problem??? The bike definitly dont suck water through the airfilter.
The bike is complete standard. By the way, is it worth to do a head mod also on the newer bikes? Didnt measure the squish yet. What should the squish be, same as on the older bikes?

 

[shultzy]

Try routing 2 of the 4 carb breather tubes up towards the air box. I loop them around the frame by the upper shock mount. This lets the carb operate as normal when the bottom routed tubes are submerged . This should fix the stalling issue that you have. This is a old enduro trick that works, and I am surprised that they don't come like that right from the factory.

 

[Caravan Monster]

How do things look under the flywheel cover ? Don't know about the recent bikes, but the earlier ones had a mysterious drain from the flywheel housing to the underside of the centre cases which would let water in during deeper crossings and would cause the bike to stall and take a bit of kicking to start again. Can't imagine it would do the starter mechanism any good if that is what's happening. +1 on routing the carb breather tubes.

 

[Tom250]

the ignition cover is sealed and the electricstartmechanism filled with about 100ml oil, so this cant be the cause, also with the breather tubes from the carb. from my observing its a definitiv jetting problem, with the necj needle at the same river crossing i never had any trouble....

 

[andoman]

+1
To emphasize: Its the upper vent lines. Not the overflow.
I, too, am baffled that an off-road bike's vents wouldn't come come from the factory correctly routed to prevent said stalling. Simply mindless.

 

[Jakobi]

I'm also betting on the vent lines. When you removed the cap to change the jetting its very easy to accidently pull the uppers down (if they were routed up top). If they're hanging down low it only takes around 20cm of water to stop the breathers doing their job and snuff the engine.

 

[webmaster]

I always add vent tees and route additional lines up high.

Also cut all vent lines at a 45 degree angle - this increases surface area of the vent tube opening.

jeff

 

[Caravan Monster]

My understanding of it is, the chamber gets cooled down from the water and this influences the flow in the pipe. Maybe its condensating?

Which part of the world are you in ? Is it extreme conditions like high altitude or very cold ? I could almost envisage cold water spalsh having an effect along the lines of carb icing under some conditions, but that would make the mixture too rich, so the choke would make it worse. Not aware of suddenly cooling the expansion pipe having an effect on fuel mixture, but would be interesting to hear otherwise.

If it isn't the breather tubes, I would have my money on water temporarily causing a weak spark. The flywheel housing case drain is a 6mm hole in the engine case behind the flywheel. It would almost certainly not leak the 100ml oil, but it does let water in on deeper crossings. Hopefully GG have blocked off this drain on the newer bikes because it isn't the best design feature, probably responsible for many ignition side main bearing seal failures.

 

[sweeper]

As stated numerous times,breather tubes can cause this problem,and should be routed properly.Case venting wouldn't cause the problem.
Unless you have a huge hole,cracked cover or no gasket at all,water soaking the ignition isn't the problem..These ignitions work when there is mud and water inside the cover.I'm not saying its good,but I've seen it many times.They run.

The most common thing I've seen stall bikes on water crossings is a poorly fitting spark plug cover.Get one that's tight fighting.Some are deeper and have ridges or bands that seal very well.And use electrical grease on the connection.

 

[adddy]

Try routing 2 of the 4 carb breather tubes up towards the air box. I loop them around the frame by the upper shock mount. This lets the carb operate as normal when the bottom routed tubes are submerged . This should fix the stalling issue that you have. This is a old enduro trick that works, and I am surprised that they don't come like that right from the factory.

5 breather/draine hoses..on my GG 09 ec 250 2t, i cant find info to which is which eg up or down root to modify correctly ?????

 

[Jakobi]

5 breather/draine hoses..on my GG 09 ec 250 2t, i cant find info to which is which eg up or down root to modify correctly ?????

The two that come out facing upwards and loop over the top of the carb before heading back down into the bundle are the vents. Can either route them up or tee off them and route some up.