Water in Vaccum Port & Engine

[TBoneTom]

Ok - don't need to hear how f in stupid I am and all that crap.

I need help. I did a search and did not find anything so maybe I am the only dumb A on this forum or at least dumb enough to admit it.

 

I was adjusting my throttles, using a home made menometer (sp?) that the guy who sold me the bike gave me (First Dumb A move). Using water instead of brake fluid or something ( 2nd Dumb A move). Got everything just right and took one of the tube off the left side vaccum port before turing off the bike (3rd Dumb A move).

Bike immediatly sputtered and I realized the stupid thing I did.

 

So now what?

Am I basically screwed and need to have it trailered into the Dealer for a bill I will live to regret?

Or is there someting I can do myself?

 

I guess if you give me some good advise you can give me some crap, make fun of me or what ever else you want. For now I just need to know what to do. I am summosed to go to the Blue Ridge and RA Rally in three weeks and need to know if my plans have just been altered. and my bike a total mess.

 

Thanks is advance for the Help!

[Stan Walker]

Ok - don't need to hear how f in stupid I am and all that crap.

 

OK, but it takes all the fun out of it for us.......

 

I doubt that you hurt anything. I would.

 

Hook up the normal vacuum port stuff.

Pull plugs.

Crank engine for a few seconds to elim most water from cylinder.

Install plugs.

Start engine.

 

I've seen pictures of these engines after they were tipped over crossing a river where they pump real liquid water out the plug holes like a water fountain..... and then start back up and continue on.

 

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

 

Stan

[FREEBEE]

How much water did it inhale?

Is the tube merely 1/4-3/8in clear hose?

I doubt the device held enough water to damage/hydro-lock the pistons.

I would pull the spark plugs to be on the safe side,crank the unplugged engine for a few seconds to clear the combustion chambers. Install the plugs and fire it up, it may run poorly for a few minutes, it should be fine after that.

Replace the water in the device with trans fluid (Red) it looks cool and smokes blue when you feed it to the engine.

[TBoneTom]

Thanks - I feel better so now wyou can start with the hard time.

 

It was maybe a couple of onces.

 

Shold I pull both plugs on both side and crank it up> I have a twin spark. I did pull the plugs on the right side and they looked clean no moisture.

 

Thanks and feel free to start the bs on what a dumb move. And just to make me feel really bad, i just got done with my valve adjustments and throttle ajd and everything was perfect. Oh well wrench and learn.

 

Tom

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Couple of ounces, don't even worry about pulling the plugs, chances are, during the sputter, it all got pumped out of the cylinder anyway. You are more likely to hurt your ignition control due to a bad ground on the spark plugs than you are to hurt anything with that little bit of water anyway.

 

BTW, the only dumb thing you did was #3.

 

Put the vacuum plugs back on and start the bike up, any residual water will wind up in the tail pipe in short order. Whatever was in there probably flashed off to steam long ago.

[fatbob]

Tom: Definitely pull both plugs, since the bottom one will drain the water best. I'd love to help by saying that i've done that, but I can't!

 

Bob

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Why pull both plugs, he only sucked water into one cylinder.

[Stan Walker]

Why pull both plugs, he only sucked water into one cylinder.

 

It cranks faster with a plug pulled on each cylinder.

 

Stan

[ShovelStrokeEd]

And won't pump anything till you open the throttles which nobody mentioned yet.

 

First, unless the manometer was a lot longer than a couple of feet, I doubt it was as much as a few ounces of water. Second, the motor was more than likely well and truely up to temperature. Most of the water probably flashed off into steam and was long since gone. Third, if there was any damage to be done, its done already and precautions are way too late.

 

Much ado about nothing, in other words.

[Stan Walker]

Much ado about nothing, in other words.

 

True, but it will make him feel better......

 

Oh, good point about opening the throttles when using engine as water pump.

 

Stan

[brinkjm]

Why pull both plugs, he only sucked water into one cylinder.

 

He's got an '04 = Twin sparker, and stuff

[TBoneTom]

Thaks to everyone for the information and support. I took my baby out for a ride and it was great. I would have never known I was such a dumb a and sucked water into my engine.

 

I guess my lesson is to make sure the bike is OFF before I remove the hose and as a safty precaution use trans fluid (even though it is alot more of a hassel than water) this will prevent me from worring in case i forget the first lesson.

 

Thanks again,

 

Tom

[Stan Walker]

as a safty precaution use trans fluid

 

Why?

 

Oil doesn't compress any better than water so you are still at risk of having a badly damaged engine if you ingest excess quantities and try to compress it with your pistons.

 

It doesn't flash to steam in a hot engine, steam which does compress and could possibly save your engine should you do this again.

 

Finally, you are NEVER going to forget this little scare and you will NEVER do this again!!!

 

Stan

[MotoBoy]

Trans. fluid, being more viscous than water, will tend to dampen out any fluid level oscillations, but plain old water works just fine. Adding a little food coloring or such makes it easier to read the manometer.

 

BTW, it was alluded to in someone's reply above, but if you're gonna' crank the engine with one or more plugs out, the plugs have got to be grounded ... at least on older Motronics.

[tpfeffer]

Trans. fluid, being more viscous than water, will tend to dampen out any fluid level oscillations, but plain old water works just fine.

 

Best bet is to take a small C-clamp and tighten it at the bottom of the loop containing water. Tighten it enough that there is no oscillation and then slowly unscrew the clamp until the oscillations are dampened as much as needed to adjust the throttle bodies. If one throttle body is way out of adjustment, you will catch the water level rising on one side and be able to tighten the clamp to prevent sucking all the water out of the tube.

 

Relax about sucking the water through. I have done it and no problem. However, I would run the bike to get it to normal operating temperature to get any residual water out of the exhaust system.

[RTMark]

Hey T Bone,

As you crank it over have a cup ready to catch the water, If Ed is right and its only has a couple ounces have some Ice ready with some Jack Daniels, add the water from your bike! This will be a drink yuou won't forget

I know I am your brother and a real....... YOu know what i mean...