sunk my wheeler

[Ryan_V]

I sunk my wheeler today on the spider lake trail!!! let me tell you that makes a great day go south in a hurry!! anyway, dropped it off at a cat dealer on the way home, when I get it back, is there anything I need to watch for, or be careful of??? I hope I didn't wreck it. I pulled it out within a few minutes of it sucking in water and killing, towed it to the truck and got it to the dealer!!

anyway, that trail is a blast, I'd recommend it to anyone, I'm going back to redeem myself when I get the machine back!

[Roofer]

Cat's don't like water.

I hope the dealer knows what they are doing and I hope they don't charge you too much. I'm not sure how much warranty you will have now that they know what you did.

I would just see how the oil looks and see how well it runs when you get it back. Alot of people have good luck, but I never have. Every machine I have sank, hasn't been the same since. How did you find a hole that deep on a legal trail?

[BobT]

Two weeks ago I was riding near Kinney, MN follwing a trail along a road ditch. With over 16" of rain the previous two weeks we had plenty of water on the trails. We were following along the ditch in about a foot of murky water when unknown to me the county had done some ditching near a culvert and I suddenly found myself standing on my fuel tank in 5' of water with a dead engine. After my buddy finally quit laughing and taking pictures he came around to the front to throw me his winch. Yeah, try to catch a turn buckle thrown from 25' away! After nearly tipping it over a number of times I finally managed to get it hooked to my brush guard and he towed me out. We spent the next couple hours pumping the water out of the cylinder and draining the carburator, and drying the air filter. Fortunately it was a sunny day. It didn't appear that there was water in the crank case or if there was it wasn't much so we eventually got it started. After running for a while we discovered that the engine oil was a little milky and since we were only about a mile from our vehicles and appropriate tools we went back to replace the motor oil and filter. Once we finished that we made sure to run it long enough to get things well warmed up so it could dry out good. Aside from that I had to drain and replace my differential gear case oils when I got home. The wheeler is no worse for wear.

Since you took it to a dealer I'm sure they will check all lubricants and joints. If in doubt, check them yourself and if the oils are milky in color, replace them. Note that if there is water contamination in your gear cases, it will take a few replacements before you rid yourself of some milky color. It doesn't take much water to show in the oil.

Bob

[SnoManX]

Yep, we found that "hole" up at Spider Lake back in June and I'm sure with the recent rain, it's quite a bit deeper. Actually, we got lucky and the group ahead of us found it - all we saw of his PoPo was the top of the gas tank and handle bars. Hopefully we remember where it is again in two weeks because we all made comments after the ride that it could've been any of us.

Don't feel bad Ryan, I think that hole eats a couple wheelers a weekend.

[Ryan_V]

If you don't remember where it is, it's on the southernmost loop. the crappy part is we had gone around others that looked much worse, this one didn't look that bad!!! we been going through holes that looked like that all weekend!! anyway, just waiting to hear from the dealer as to what happened. when I dropped it off, he said that I probably didn't do any damage to it, this will be a VERY expensive oil change, it was due anyway!!!

[JacobMHD]

Any pics of the outing??

[Ryan_V]

we were very ill prepared for this trip!!! I wish I had my camera, but with the rain we were having, didn't want to take a chance getting it wet!! Even left the phone in the truck, good thing too, after I got sunk, I was wet from the waist down.

on a good note, I called the dealer, they said they dropped the oil as soon as I dropped it off, and put in fresh oil and she started right up, good compression, no problems!! so my brand new wheeler should be back in my garage in no time!!!

[Ryan_V]

got her back yesterday.........she runs great. they changed the oil twice, I ran it hard today for a while and the oil it already milky. going to the dealer to get another couple oil changes worth to do next week. glad to have it back!!

[the squirrel]

Mine was in the drink last year for about 2 hours.. It took 4 or 5 oil changes to get all the moisture out.. Used cheap oil until the last one... Not to forget I had to drain the gas twice.. The differential was done once.. I don't think any water made it in there but wanted to be on the safe side.. It took about a half a year for my seat to dry.. Ran good all summer though I didn't put a bunch of miles on it.. When it gets warmed up I do smell something that smells like steam or boiling water that concerns me but can't figure out where that could be coming from.

[the squirrel]

Quote:

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got her back yesterday.........she runs great. they changed the oil twice, I ran it hard today for a while and the oil it already milky. going to the dealer to get another couple oil changes worth to do next week. glad to have it back!!

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If I may ask what did the dealer bill you for ball park figure??

[Ryan_V]

WITH EVERYTHING THEY DID, i DROPPED ALMOST 7 HONDO ON IT. THIS THING WAS ONLY A MONTH OLD WHEN I SUNK IT, SO I HAD THEM DO EVERYTHING, 2 OIL CHANGES, F AND R DIFF, BELT, AND TAKE ALL THE CONNECTIONS APART, BLOW THEM OUT AND PUT DIELECTRIC GREASE THEM TO KEEP THEM FROM CORRODING. I JUST WENT TO MY LOCAL DEALER AND DROPPED ANOTHER 50 ON 2 MORE OIL CHANGES TO DO MYSELF. IF THIS WAS MY OLD MACHINE, I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD EVERYTHING DONE, BUT SINCE I JUST PICKED IT UP AND IT ONLY HAD LIKE 150 MILES ON IT, I WANTED TO MAKE SURE SHE WAS AS GOOD AS NEW!!

[jtm]

I went through the ice with mine last winter. and I am still getting milky oil 1000 miles later. any tips on how to get the rest out? My next try is the air compressor. Any tips would be appreciated,thanks.

[BobT]

It doesn't take very much moisture to turn your oil milky. Even just a few drops of condensation will do this which is partly why auto manufacturers tend to recommend 3,000 mile oil changes for vehicles used regularly for short trips. It can take a long time to remove all the moisture. I imagine the process can be more efficient to make sure your system is fully warmed up when you change the oil. This will help it drain better.

Bob

[jtm]

I do change it when it is warmed up and I'm on my 5th oil change. it is a honda and the way the filters are on them you can never get it all out. will the air compressor hurt anything? I will change it once more and if it is still milky I'm going to leave it as I change oil every 5-600 miles anyway. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

[Roofer]

It's a honda...It'll be fine.

[Ryan_V]

I've been told that 5 seems to be the magic number for oil changes to get the majority of the moisture out. I did #3 last night, and it looks pretty good today. I was also told to run it hard, this will get the temp up and help dissipate the moisture. before I changed mine last night I rode her hard, about 55 mph for about 7-8 miles of gravel, seemed to work well, except tends to get a little warm on the hand when you drain the oil

[BobT]

The question then comes to mind. Why bother changing it any differently than normal? If the little bit of moisture doesn't hurt it driving it that hard for that long is it going to hurt it any more to just consider it business as usual? Whatever damage there will be is probably already done don't you think?

Bob

[Scott K]

Water and metal dont mix well together! The biggest problem is when it is sitting, rust builds up. The best thing to do is just ride it hard for a day, I dont mean drive it at 50 up and down the road, I mean ride it like you stole it! For a minimum of 4 hours, work it, pull a disc, a plow. Then go home and change it, do this for about 3-5 oil changes. Do it all in within a week. This should take care of the milky oil, just check it regularly after that. I am unsure what you had planned with the air compressor, but it doenst sound good to me for 2 reasons if you are blowing compressed air into the engine you will have a good possibility of blowing out a seal! Also unless you have a drier atatched to the air line, compressed air has alot of water in it!

[Kodiak]

run some seafoam through that badboy that will get all the moisture out...otherwise do about 15 oil changes.

[SnoManX]

Had a Great day at Spider Lake today! We got to the parking lot a little after 9 this morning and could barely find a spot to park - easily over 40 trucks and trailers! "The Hole" ate a Grizz and another PoPo, least those were the only two we saw but with as many wheelers that were there today I'm sure there were a few others, too. We had a couple of close calls - one rolled over on its side when one of the girls found a huge hole in the middle of a puddle and we had two of them stuck with water up to their seats but luckily all 3 stayed running. Man, it was a great day to ride!!

[Ryan_V]

I saw you guys were going up, wish I would have been able to make it.........darned job!!!! I want to get up there again to redeem myself before the trails close for the winter!!! if you guys go again, make sure and let me know, how many riders did you have???

[SomethingFishy*]

We rode Spider on Saturday. There were 15 of us, it was a great day for riding. We are going to try to get some riding in this coming sunday (28th) weather permitting.

[SnoManX]

Yeah, we kept running into your group out there, didn't see that many else on the trails but I think we crossed paths with you guys 5 or 6 times. We were the group of 6, - 4 PoPo's, a Kawi and I was on the Can Am in the back. You guys were just loading up the same time we were leaving.

Ryan, that was our last ride this year. I've got too much hunting to do!