R1150GS Wading Depth

CKarg

Guest
Does someone know the maximum safe wading depth for an R1150GS? I just went through a ford, but the engine cut out a few yards after I re-emerged. The depth was indicated as 1ft, but given that I had water splashing over the top of the cylinders despite going slow, it must have been at least double that. I waited a couple of minutes, and got the engine to restart, but it refused to rev beyond ~4000 for the next 15mins. It appears I didn't do any lasting damage, 'cause everything seems alright again....

Christian
 
The 1100/1150 GS aren't good at deep water - due to the air intake nozzle for airbox , located just above l/hand cylinder head ,next to frame rail .When a bow wave occurs , when going through deep water ie 1-2 feet , this can go over the cylinder and up the air intake and into airbox and then via fuel injectors and cause 'Hydraulic Lock' ie water and oil don't mix. If this happens then engine damage occurs ie bent conrod or damaged bore.Best thing is to stop engine immediately and drain ie take out drain plug at bottom of airbox ,near rear nearside footrest hanger and take out spark plugs and turn engine over on the button to see plumes of water eject from cylinder.Then drain oil and get out all milky white emulsified oil.
A friend broke his starter ring gear after fording deep water on an 1100 GS , when he fired up the bike and the engine locked solid , but luckily didn't do any engine damage ,due to engine stalling - a close shave . It's always touch and go if water enters engine - best thing is to kill the engine - get your feet wet and push the bike out and drain it as above.Wet feet are better than a new engine.
Motto - don't go in deep water on a 1150GS - do it on a proper enduro bike - my XR250 Honda has a seat height of 35" and you can ford water up to seat height (as air intake is up top).Johnny
 
Not to my knowledge
I think HPN or Touratech probably do a new airbox with the intake under seat - but will probably have alter everything and is it worth it ?
JohnnyBoxer
 
These pic's I found on a site where someone describes his adventures at BMW Enduropark in Hechtlingen....
Seems quite deep water to me!
 

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That Air/Water intake looks pretty wet to me....

If these guys came out OK, I think your motor should be safe Christian
 
Be very careful! The bikes in the pictures must have some sort of mod, coz my boss gave my bike a hydraulic lock last year. Luckily there was no damage. (he got further than a lot of 'proper' dirt bikes, and he was 2 up).

I'm planning to make a bloody great snorkel before the Bracken Rally in April, as much for fun as practicality. It's not easy to route it because it's got to flow plenty of air to keep performance up.:cool:
 
Edit: Whoops seem to have jumped a few pages back in time on the Ipad anyway here is my solution.


A length of flexible hose like a vacuum cleaner hose up to the handle bars will extend the air intake. To join to the existing pipe a short length of bicycle inner tube and cable ties should seal it up. You could permanently fix the hose and just attach it to the intake when needed.

Adrian
 
charlie batty said:
Shurely some firm out there must do some sort of modification kit to enable the air intake to be channeled higher?

Anyone got any info?
Click to expand...


Duct tape and a piece of hoover tube ?

Someone beat me to it :)
 
... time/space slip ....

...bloody hell! .... this must be some kind of record for a gap in response! :0)

...actually still have my Adv ... 86k now

....welll...err....thanks:D
 
It's surprising how deep you can go, fairly safely, as long as you go at the right speed to create (and follow in) a bow-wave.

You can see that fairly clearly here.....BrianO at an East Midlands 'do' a good few years back....he's built (forced) a nice bow wave and his feet are several inches below the level of the water in front of him, but still OUT of the water.

PIC_0090-XL.jpg


Another example....Charlie Batty (eyup Charlie.....haven't seen you post for a while ! :kissy2) on Dartmoor way back when.......look at the difference in depth between front wheel and feet :clap
In fact, he's got a good foot of gap between water and air intake here!)

IMG_6948-XL.jpg







Whatever you do though, ALWAYS undo the FD fill plug and check the colour of your bevel box oil afterwards.......I've honestly lost count of the number of times mine has looked this colour :blast:


IMG_8437-XL.jpg



Fekk.....a decade old thread!! :D
 
The hechlingen bikes had expanding foam in their air intakes to stop the water going in. They then had holes drilled into the top of the airfilter housing under the tank to compensate for the reduced airflow. Didn't seem to harm then but most of what we did there was slow speed stuff so I guess if you went out onto the autbahn with this set up the bike would not perform very well.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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