Remember it's not a boat!

[power2learn]

If you are tempted to do a bit of fording / wading in the floodwaters, give it a second thought.

I went to go through a flooded road yesterday and ended up with a flooded GS. The bike stopped quickly, in water well below the cylinder heads, but it must have splashed up into the air intake.

I pushed the bike to dry land, called the RAC who took out the sparks and air filter, turned the bike over (spitting out all the water) and re-assembled. Bike started first time and sounded fine.

We left the bike running to dry out, and a while later I noticed that an oil/water mix was dripping from the engine. RAC suggested oil change / filter should sort. Local dealer agreed and reckoned £60-£70 should see it right.

Then it turned out a bolt had been forced out of the engine front plate, which was rethreaded & refitted. Copious oil changes and nearly £400 later I was back on the road at the end of the day.

Until the bike started pouring oil from the front engine plate all over the exhaust on the way home. (Suspect same bolt has failed again).

It could be just the bolt needs fixing; it could be more serious, possibly requiring an engine rebuild. Apparently these cost £5-£6k, which would write my high mileage 12GS off

So, if you are thinking of a little fording, even in relatively shallow water, I'd think twice. 9 out of 10 times, you may be just fine. But the 1 in 10 times it's a problem, it could see you in real trouble.

 

[John Armstrong]

Best you don't read this thread then: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87666&highlight=flooded

 

[Fanum]

Unfortunately it's not an uncommon thing to happen with the 12's...the water goes straight from the airbox, down the breather and into the cylinders.

If you don't hydro-lock the engine initially (sheering starter motor casing, splines, ring gear or valves) then there's still a good chance of emulsifying the oil.

I suspect you were unlucky with the bolt on the engine plate (it's not something I've heard of before )

The only proper and easy solution is either don't do it, or stick a snorkel on and seal the airbox properly

BTW Anyone drowning a 12 would be wise to get several beefy chaps to help up-end it and drain the 'zorst- even after the cyls have been drained via the plugs-out method, the airbox by undoing the circlips on the breather-to crank casing pipe and the bike is ready to run, the water in the 'zorst can get sucked straight back in and wreck the engine

 

[power2learn]

Best you don't read this thread then: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87666&highlight=flooded

Ohhhhhh deary me.

That's not happy reading.

 

[Mav]

Unfortunately it's not an uncommon thing to happen with the 12's...the water goes straight from the airbox, down the breather and into the cylinders.

If you don't hydro-lock the engine initially (sheering starter motor casing, splines, ring gear or valves) then there's still a good chance of emulsifying the oil.

I suspect you were unlucky with the bolt on the engine plate (it's not something I've heard of before )

The only proper and easy solution is either don't do it, or stick a snorkel on and seal the airbox properly

BTW Anyone drowning a 12 would be wise to get several beefy chaps to help up-end it and drain the 'zorst- even after the cyls have been drained via the plugs-out method, the airbox by undoing the circlips on the breather-to crank casing pipe and the bike is ready to run, the water in the 'zorst can get sucked straight back in and wreck the engine

I'm assuming that my HP2 is prone to the same issues... I already have a snorkel fitted but do you mean by sealing the airbox?

Thanks for helping out a n00b

 

[Fanum]

I'm assuming that my HP2 is prone to the same issues... I already have a snorkel fitted but do you mean by sealing the airbox?

Thanks for helping out a n00b

I haven't seen any HP2's flooded yet, but then I've only seen one HP2 going through water and it wasn't that deep...I'm not familiar enough with them to know how vulnerable they are I'm afraid......

Generally though, if you fit a snorkel (a hoover pipe with a rubber bung with good interference fit is the kiddy ) then the next most likely place to take on the wet stuff is into the airbox (air filter housing) itself- they're pretty well sealed anyway but if I knew i was going to be doing some deep-ish water, Id make sure the box was as watertight as possible- something easy to remove for servicing the filter but that stops water getting in....maybe a cycle inner tube made to fit like a big bandage or something

 

[Phil Clarke]

Is there a drain on the airbox? If not then given the apparently poor design of the crancase breather outlet in the box even a small amount of water in there will end up in the sump. And given the location of the air intake water is going to get in the box from rain, road spray etc. which means water is always going to get in the sump, albeit in fairly small quantities.

I'm going to suss out at least raising the height of the crankcase breather as well as snorkel mods.

 

[Packer]

I haven't seen any HP2's flooded yet, but then I've only seen one HP2 going through water and it wasn't that deep...I'm not familiar enough with them to know how vulnerable they are I'm afraid......

Generally though, if you fit a snorkel (a hoover pipe with a rubber bung with good interference fit is the kiddy ) then the next most likely place to take on the wet stuff is into the airbox (air filter housing) itself- they're pretty well sealed anyway but if I knew i was going to be doing some deep-ish water, Id make sure the box was as watertight as possible- something easy to remove for servicing the filter but that stops water getting in....maybe a cycle inner tube made to fit like a big bandage or something

With a swept volume of 1173cc(?) and a compression ratio of around 11:1 that would give a compression chamber volume of around 106cc or getting on for a 5th of a pint. If we assume that the engine could deal with a tenth of that without a problem the airbox would have to be pretty leaky for water to get in fast enough to create a problem if the air supply is clean and uninterrupted courtesy of a snorkel.

At 2,000rpm it would need to leak 0.7 litres per second to achieve the 1/10th threshhold. As long as the water access was slow it may actually increase the power, water injection being a recognised means of boosting output

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I'm assuming that my HP2 is prone to the same issues... I already have a snorkel fitted but do you mean by sealing the airbox?

Thanks for helping out a n00b

Yep, airbox is exactly the same as a stock 1200GS, AFAIK

Water goes into the airbox and straight down the crankcase breather into the sump

Not nice in a supposed dirt bike

 

[Fanum]

With a swept volume of 1173cc(?) and a compression ratio of around 11:1 that would give a compression chamber volume of around 106cc or getting on for a 5th of a pint. If we assume that the engine could deal with a tenth of that without a problem the airbox would have to be pretty leaky for water to get in fast enough to create a problem if the air supply is clean and uninterrupted courtesy of a snorkel.

At 2,000rpm it would need to leak 0.7 litres per second to achieve the 1/10th threshhold. As long as the water access was slow it may actually increase the power, water injection being a recognised means of boosting output

.i.

 

[camel_landy]

In my experience, it's down to how you take the water...

I've been through plenty of water that has been well over the height of the cylinders and have not had any noticeable problems. I just take the same approach as I would in a car. i.e. drive in gently and then build up speed slowly until you've got a nicely balanced bow wave going.

HTH

M

 

[Sparky GS'r]

Bloody Hell I'm lucky. ..... I'm off to get some hoover pipe and gaffer tape. I love diving into rivers/fords & bloody large puddles whenever I'm off-road.

I did waterproof the fuel pump after some advice, but never thought to put a snorkel on, I always thought the intake was high enough.

Stu
Ride Safe & Rock Hard.

 

[sss]

im still surprised touratech and wunderlich have not got onto this with a farkle snorkel add on

 

[luckylucian]

When you've finished snorkling, you may want to take off the black cover and shovel out the crap behind it, remember the belt has drawn water up into the alternator too

 

[Sparky GS'r]

When you've finished snorkling, you may want to take off the black cover and shovel out the crap behind it, remember the belt has drawn water up into the alternator too

That's it, I'm trading in for a JETSKI!

 

[deaninkl]

Sorry can't find the link, but one of the first road tests I read on the GS (it was on the net by an American mag probabley in late 2006) drawned a new GS in less the a foot of water 20 minutes into a test with 4 other "big adventure trailies", lucky for them, that although they were in the middle of nowhere the had a pick-up close at hand carrying camping and camera gear.

The bike obviously was a laoner from BMW but needed a new engine.

Dind't get a very good write up for the water section.....

Boats they appear not to be.

 

[Twotter]

If you are tempted to do a bit of fording / wading in the floodwaters, give it a second thought.

Sorry to hear about your problem & I hope it gets sorted quickly / cheaply!

Preaching mode on.

I know there are a lot of ford riders and off road riders on here, and some really good ones as well if the pics & film clips are anything to go by.

Flood water is a very different situation to the fords you're used to, and as it's my day job, I would suggest avoiding riding / driving into flood waters unless you have no other choice.

Flood water can contain some pretty nasty stuff including sewage, chemicals and debris. It can also totally change your view of the road and obscure obstacles, not to mention lift manhole covers etc...

Flowing water needs to be 6 inches deep to knock an adult off their feet. 2 feet of water will float a car. A stalled bike in flowing flood water could easily be knocked over and the rider could be faced with a life threatening situation.


Preaching mode off - enjoy your riding

 

[power2learn]

Sorry to hear about your problem & I hope it gets sorted quickly / cheaply!

Thanks; picked the bike up yesterday - apparently the second time round, there was a problem with the engine front plate - some of the dowels had been deformed, allowing the whirly spinning things behind it to wobble (why - beats me?).

I'm delighted to have the bike back, but in total it came to around £500, so I'm feeling b* stupid for causing such a self-inflicted wallet hit in the first place.

I think that is the last time I intentionally drive my GS into anything damper than morning dew or a spring shower, which is a shame, as I used to think it was very competent at fording, and had happily taken it through quite deepish water on many a trail ride. But it now seems like Russian roulette - sure it may be perfectly safe most times , but...

Thanks for all the support / advice.

T>