Drowned EC250 - Opinions please.

[xchallenge]

Hi All
New to this forum, i have EC 250, 2008 approx 25 hours on engine and i drowned it this week in a very wet & deep sand pit.

I did the normal procedure:
1. Air filter out and squeeze dry
2. Carb off and cleaned out
3. Remove plug
4. Tip bike up and pump water & sand out
Put all back together and wd40’d everywhere and after a few downhill bump starts it fired back into life and ran as normal and in fact felt a bit quicker/ tighter.
Put about another hour on and then packed up and went home washed down and again wd40’d it and changed the air filter and the milky gear box oil.
Started it 2 days later 1st kick (never done that before) but immediately noticed a very strange noise at tick-over and above but dissipates as rev’s increased. Checked all fasteners to eliminate vibration and all ok, Pulled Carb & reed block off and they looked ok and visual into crankcase looked ok, i poked my hand in the port and noticed side play on the con rod.
My question: Connecting rod big-end play STD: 0.80 mm Limit: 1.00 mm would this be felt by hand by and if not then am i looking at an engine strip and rebuild piston/hone & bearing / seals etc.
Looking further into the crankcase it does look very clean, although i pulled the Pv cover of the left hand side and noted that a slight mix of burnt oil & silt but did not feel grainy.
What do you guys think have i totalled the engine.

 

[GMP]

If you had sandy water in the motor, and did not and least remove the top end and throughly flush everything out BEFORE restarting it, you already lost the game. I'd put money on it self destructing if you continue to run it. Might as well face it and tear it down.

 

[iajim]

Drowned 250

Don't hit the panic button just yet. Yes, you need to pull the top end, just for a look inside. If the water was exceptionally sandy and all that sand made its way in, you need a complete rebuild. One thing in your favor is that the water entered thru the carb/ air filter if I understand it correctly. I'm hoping the filter would have kept out the bigger granules, then the removal of the water would have left only the tiniest bits of sand. You can remove the cyl, head & piston, flush out the crankcase until you're certain there is no dirt, sand, filth of any kind, NONE AT ALL, then pull up and push down on the connecting rod, if there is any movement it needs a rebuild. No movement at all ( invite a few freinds over to feel it also ), then you probably are ok, you just took off a year of wear instead of just one afternoon. Pull the top end just for peace of mind. Jim

 

[widebear]

Just ride it, you might be suprised how long it will keep running before you need to tear it down. I dont think your going to damage anything that has not allready been damaged up to this point.

 

[GMP]

True, but maybe better to get things right before the nicer part of riding season, its early yet.

Also, when the filter get soaked, it seems the dirt tends to wash right through as the oil no longer has adhesive qualities. I've been down this road before, except I was near the truck and did not restart the bike, did not even try. I drowned a KTM300 in a relatively clean river crossing. The water that ran out of the pipe was clear. I pulled the motor from the frame, and the top end. The lower end was full of dirt that had to come from/through the filter.

The guys that restarted and thought they were good wound up rebuilding soon after. Shops sold a lot of parts after that enduro!

 

[iancp5]

Conversely. I drowned my EC300, drained the water and it was fine. Must be my superior filter oil - what are you guys using?










I know, I was just lucky.

 

[xchallenge]

Hi
thought i would let you know that after tearing down the top end and inspecting the crank & big end for any abnormal play all looks fine, rinsed out bottom end but no noticable contamination. Piston has very slight marks but barrel & head goods as new. i replaced piston/rings/small end whilst at it and checked and cleaned the power valve.
all running like new now and even better with the addition of an FMF Gnarly pipe and silencer.
Was really pleased how easy it was to do the work.
Will now try and avoid sand pits in future.
thanks to you all for your input.
Next job to fit the rekluse clutch i bought 3 months ago - any tips appreciated.
regards

 

[Cruiser]

True, but maybe better to get things right before the nicer part of riding season, its early yet.

Also, when the filter get soaked, it seems the dirt tends to wash right through as the oil no longer has adhesive qualities. I've been down this road before, except I was near the truck and did not restart the bike, did not even try. I drowned a KTM300 in a relatively clean river crossing. The water that ran out of the pipe was clear. I pulled the motor from the frame, and the top end. The lower end was full of dirt that had to come from/through the filter.

The guys that restarted and thought they were good wound up rebuilding soon after. Shops sold a lot of parts after that enduro!

I have to agree with GMP on that enduro,, that was the club I was with and I went thru that creek a lot that weekend.. at least 25-30 bikes got taken by the creek.. Its early and doing the bottom end isnt that bad,, early enough you wont miss more than one weekend,, maybe two.. better now than mid summer..

 

[sootysan]

Not sure if this has been done but in front of the oil drain plug you have a small allen bolt, this is to drain water and oil from the crank side of things.

I only fond this one after i drowned my 200 a week after i got it from new gutted. But been riding it for the last 3 years all OK. Touch wood!

 

[iancp5]

Next job to fit the rekluse clutch i bought 3 months ago - any tips appreciated.
regards

Yes, you may need to spend some time tuning it. Make sure you have plenty of Tungsten balls and a variety of springs. The C150's fit inside the C200's and the L1, L2, L3 refer to the height or how many "waves" they have. The problem is the GasGas erratic (at least on mine) idle and the fact 2 strokes stall easy from idle. It's very difficult to get the balance between stable idle both in gear and neutral and no slip under heavy load.

I'm running 15 Tungsten balls and 2 wave springs. It's better than standard but not perfect. I think a bit more testing with springs or spacers would get it spot on, well until the clutch plate gap increases.

Maybe the new "Pro" model is easier to live with but on the standard model which is all that is available for GG currently it's a real pain adjusting it. Takes a least an hour for each change juggling spring pressure and those tiny screws. Then to test and clean before re-adjusting takes a lot longer so you'd be lucky to make 2 adjustments in a day even if have land by your house. For me a change is a whole day at least. They could do with a preload adjuster that screws in and out. Even if it was inside the side casing but accessible from the outside would be brilliant. For the GG the clutch needs to disengage more at idle but the springs still be easily overcome when the revs climb. At the moment there seems too much overlap between spring and centrifugal action.

I plan on a bit more persistence before I go back to manual clutch. I like the low speed control on the flat but climbing isn't so good as you could do better manually.

If none of this makes sense it will do once you fit the Rekluse.