HELP! I tried to use my gasgas as a jet ski today!

[sammyj18]

Hey Guys,

So I had a bad day on the bike today. I was out riding and I slid off the edge of a trail into a giant puddle that turned out to be about 3 and a half feet deep. The engine quit immediately and the bike sat in the water for about 5 minutes before an ATV with a winch came by and was nice enough to haul me out.

Once it was out of the puddle I tried to start a few times no go....waited for a passing jeep with a tow strap to pull me to my truck...how embarassing The engine was totally under water for a few minutes and I tried my best to keep the exhaust out but it definitely went in when I first slid in and tipped the bike over.

I got it home here cleaned it off, removed the silencer and fatty pipe. The fatty was full of water, took the plug out it was fouled. I am wondering besides giving everything a few days apart to dry out totally...is there anything else I should be doing/worried about? I feel like kinda an idiot here

Thanks for the help,
Sam

 

[Skidad]

Ok, you need to flush that thing out really good and ASAP!!! Remove the carb and every jet and clean completely. Blow out with compressed air. Remove and clean the air filter and airbox. Remove the ignition cover and spray with a good electrical cleaner like CRC that wont harm wire or plastics. Drain the gearbox oil and flush with something cheap like ATF a few times. The top end and crank many people flush with kerosene. DO NOT LET THE WATER DRY IN THERE. I'm new to Gas Gas motors but I thought I read that the crankcase has a drain plug which would be really helpfull, maybe someone else will chime in and know. You need to fill up that lower and top end and flush it out ASAP a whole bunch of times. You should also probably pull the reed block or at least shine a light in there when the carb is off. (my KTM had dirt in there also besides the carb when I did this). If you don't let the water dry and rust to start you can be fine (my KTM survived ok and still runs fine but I got it up and running within 1.5 hrs.) Attend to the lower and top end right away, ignition, and gearbox. The carb and other stuff can wait. I'm sure I missed stuff but get to work....NOW

 

[PEB]

Ditto what Skidad said. Use the drain on the bottom of the bike. It should be the frontmost plug on the bottom. I ran a gallon of kerosene and then a gallon of permix through mine last winter when I did something similar. Your priority here is the lower end, drain and flush. Dump the fluids down the sparkplug hole or better yet get them flowing into a tube that you can insert into the exaust spigot and down into the lower end. Untill you do this your main bearings and crank are either underwater or worse yet partially wet and FORMING RUST as I type this. For the love a two stroke take care of it this afternoon.

Paul

 

[dave948]

Take it from a guy that worked on outboards for a living. You have to get it running right away (few hours at the most) or sink it again and leave it till you can.

You may think I'm joking but on a weekend when an outboard went under and we didn't want to flush and start it we would hang it upside down in the shop test tank (under water) till monday morning.

You have to start the engine today! Tomorrow you can worry about the cables, stem bearings, ect but the engine must run as soon as you can. You should have started it trail side.

 

[sammyj18]

Hey Thanks for the help guys!

I had no idea this would be a near death experience for my poor gasser. Here is what I did, drained tranny oil brown oily water came out...flushed it with ATF until it ran clean, pulled plug on the bottom for the crank and more water came out of there....ran premix through the spark plug hole until that ran clean. A few questions:

1. That drain hole at the bottom is that just for situations like this? Or should I be plugging it back up and refilling it with something?

2. I am new to 2 strokes where is the ignition cover exactly?

3. I am not thinking I should run it anytime soon....I need to clean the carb and being of the fuel injection generation that will take me a while, I want to take it slow and make sure I really get everything clean before I restart. Also I was thinking of redoing the top end this winter anyway, maybe I should just wait until then to dig more inside the engine before I start? or is getting it started soon the most important thing.

4. My air filter is a mudball I am just going to chuck and replace is there an easy parts crossover?

Thanks again,
Sam

 

[Skidad]

What your really trying to do here is save the crank bearings, lower and upper rod bearings which all = big money. Fill up that crank area and gently work the kick start to help flush the bearings out and just keep draining it and carefully examine whats coming out. Do it allot more times than you think is necessary. Same with the gearbox.

The ignition cover is on the front left side of the motor and black. Remove the screws and cover and liberally spray everything with that CRC electrical cleaner (auto stores and decent hardware stores carry this stuff). Just flood the whole area and try to get it behind the flywheel also.

The carb is really not rocket science. Have a good clean area to remove everything and just spread out all the parts carefully in a logical pattern and clean and reasemble. Clean everything with carb cleaner and blow out with compressed air if you have it available.

Air filter can be cleaned in some solvent, then washed repeatedly with warm soapy water, rinsed really well and thoroughly dried. Re-oil with a good air filter oil and of course clean out the airbox also before reinstallation.

The reed valve area fills up with mud and debris so it has to be cleaned also. Ask me how I know.

And yes, like dave948 mentioned the best thing is to get that motor running ASAP. Don't wait.

 

[jhendr3702]

did that to mine the second time i rode it...... no one seemed to understand why after a full day of riding, I did not stop working on the 300 until I got it running that day. I sunk mine up to the gas cap.....had to be drug back to the trailer. I was sitting on it waiting to get drug back and a guy stopped to see if he could help, he said woww.... is that a gasgas ???? those are bad ***. all good inputs. get that thing running. A good friend of mine that owns a bike shop told me that.... get it running... ASAP.
Mine shows no ill effects from that little incident. alot of oil changes.

 

[sammyj18]

ok guys still making progress here. I pulled the reed valves out and one of them is badly cracked almost all the way around. Im guessing this may explain the poor running at idle? Anyway is it ok to put that back in to get the bike running?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

If you need a quick red neck fix cut up a credit card to the same size and plug it in. Or just re-use the old one until you can replace it.

 

[Skidad]

If it's all you have then do it just to get the bike running and order a new set of reeds. That will make the bike run poorly for sure.

Keep us posted on operation get the Gas Gas running

 

[sammyj18]

Hey Guys,

Almost there but I ran into a new problem. I reinstalled the carb and was ready to try starting but.....when I turn on the gas it immediately starts flowing out the overflow tube on the carb. What did I do wrong when I put it back together?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Brian VT]

Your float isn't lifting the shutoff needle high enough.
You may have installed the tab thing upside down ? It's that little piece of sheet metal that the pin slides through.

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

The float is stuck allowing fule to flow freely. Try and tap the carb with a hammer or mallet lightly. If that does not free it up take it apart and make sure nothing it caught up.

 

[sammyj18]

WHEW ok I can't thank you guys enough! I took apart the carb again resprayed everything with carb cleaner and blew it all out with compressed air...reinstalled and it worked like it should, MAN that carb is a pain to shoehorn in and out of position. After that I confirmed the bike was getting a good spark, and it took about 5 kicks but it started! I just let it sit and idle and revved it for a while, ill put all the plastic back on and take it for a ride in the morning. Ran fine little rough im guessing from the blown reed valve. Thanks again guys you saved my bike from the scrap heap!

Sam

 

[Skidad]

AWESOME

Now wasn't that fun

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

Now you just stay away from still deep water and you will never have to go through that again, but sometimes its hard not to.

 

[jhendr3702]

glad to hear the good news....
i was absolutley sick to my stomach when my 300 went underwater and died..... first time I have ever done that. If it is a question at all now, I get off and walk the crossing first.

 

[vgstef]

water and bearing = bad

I just did the same thing last week , I try to flush the water by remouving the spark pluk and kick kick kick. Re-start the bike and after 1 minute the engine seize. The main roller bearing seize on the crank godd the engine was only at idles. Cost me a rebuilt the engine over , Two bearing, seal and gasket. look at the bearing

Next time I will make sure that all water in out of the crankcase.

Eric

 

[PEB]

Use the case drain!

 

[vgstef]

drain

Use the case drain!

I did not know about this drain until I rebuilt the engine