Too Wet !!!!

Hi, anyone help me ? Well I've got a nice big puddle for you but you'll have to be quick ! Leicestershire-off the A6 to Cossington,a veritable River crossing the road ! Went through it yesterday and dont know how the hell I came out the other side !! Water completely over the top of my helmet and I couldnt see where I was going when I was in the middle !! Was I going too fast ? it didnt seem like it !
Anyway,any advice on fording deepish water would be appreciated !

On to the question-On the way home to change my sodden gear the Oil light came on ! whoops !! Checked level at home and all seems ok,poss just water got in somewhere ?? anyone else had similar problem ?

Thanks lads (and lassies) onle me 2nd go at this and already think its a great site-weel done.

Oil light coming on after a ford? Standard...they all do that sir (very common on 1150's anyway)
Nothing to worry about, it'll dry itself off and stop glowing after an hour or two

As for how fast, it depends more on the depth....it starts getting critical if your bow wave comes over your cylinder heads.....watch the left hand side (where the air intake is) and if it goes over that, slow down quickly

You can fit a snorkel (vac cleaner tube + rubber joint onto intake nozzle, take end of hose up into cockpit behind screen)

If you do a 'proper' ford though and the engine dies after a bow wave like that, or you drop it (particularly on the left) and the engine dies....DO NOT attempt to restart engine....push it out, remove plugs, turn it over to expel water, dry plugs, replace, undo screw in bottom of airbox to drain water (LHS, lowest part of airbox, black plastic knob thing) then replace plugs and fire up.....ideally you should tip it up to get water out of 'zorst as well but if you're on your own, that ain't possible

If you try and start an engine with water in it, it'll 'hydraulock' and because the water isn't compressible, you'll either take teeth off the ring-gear, shag the starter flywheel or even shear the casing of the starter completely......I've seen all three and have had two happen to me


BTW, yes, if you couldn't see cos the water was over your head and you were on a public road, you were going too fast

A 1200's starter, sheared after hydraulocking at Sheepy Parva ford;

You should get some twat to test the depth first



Watch the bow wave and depth around the head.....here, it's shallow and he's being sensible........the water's not going up the air intake


You can see it better here.....big splash, but look at the bow wave well under the cyl head.......no risk



A bit deeper and you have to slow down more.......the water's very close to the intake here......



Another up your way...Church Langton



If it gets as deep as this though...be careful

I have been along a flooded B road fast enough to put water over the screen, a bit like riding through a car wash. The strange thing was, I did not think I was going particularly quick because of the very wet conditions, I guess it was just a bit deeper than I expected, It is a road I use every day so am used to the puddles.

amateurboxerman said:

Hi, anyone help me ? Well I've got a nice big puddle for you but you'll have to be quick ! Leicestershire-off the A6 to Cossington,a veritable River crossing the road ! Went through it yesterday and dont know how the hell I came out the other side !! Water completely over the top of my helmet and I couldnt see where I was going when I was in the middle !! Was I going too fast ? it didnt seem like it !
Anyway,any advice on fording deepish water would be appreciated !

On to the question-On the way home to change my sodden gear the Oil light came on ! whoops !! Checked level at home and all seems ok,poss just water got in somewhere ?? anyone else had similar problem ?

Thanks lads (and lassies) onle me 2nd go at this and already think its a great site-weel done.

Click to expand...

Is this road not the Sileby-Mountsorrel lane?(where the river bursts its banks all the time).

Fanum said:

If you do a 'proper' ford though and the engine dies after a bow wave like that, or you drop it (particularly on the left) and the engine dies....DO NOT attempt to restart engine....push it out, remove plugs, turn it over to expel water, dry plugs, replace, undo screw in bottom of airbox to drain water

Click to expand...

Except on a 1200, where to retarded crankcase breather allows all the water in the airbox to run straight into the engine. If you drown a 1200, best to drop the engine oil before starting the engine again, IMHO.

If you're planning on doing water often on a 1200, my advice would be, get a snorkle, and also extend that breather hose inside the airbox so water enters the inlet manifolds before the crankcase. At least then the engine will lock and stop, rather than continue running while pumping muddy water round the oil circuit.

Ah now look at what you've done Amateurboxerman. You've only just gone and started Fanum on fords and we will all be polluted with watery pics for days now.

Bugger.

amateurboxerman said:

Water completely over the top of my helmet

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That does sound a bit too deep, I'm suprised the engine didn't cut out

Think the best way forward would be to stop the water getting past the air filter.

The K&N air filter I believe is impregnated with oil would this help stop the water flooding in?

Ralph

It'd stop a tiny amount of water but if the intake was submerged the air filter would likely get sucked off its mountings, that's what happened to mine anyway! I think a snorkel is the safest option.

Water

Just reading this thread got me thinking about the effects of water:

A couple of years ago during the flooding in Cumbria i put my Saab into a flood at night. The car was written off due to a seized engine (Hydrostatic shock) i believe was the term used. From what i understand as water cannot be compressed it seizes the engine.

If fording through deep water, enough to fill the air box, can you do the same damage to a bike as i did to my car?

Stujw70 said:

A couple of years ago during the flooding in Cumbria i put my Saab into a flood at night. The car was written off due to a seized engine (Hydrostatic shock) i believe was the term used. From what i understand as water cannot be compressed it seizes the engine.

If fording through deep water, enough to fill the air box, can you do the same damage to a bike as i did to my car?

Click to expand...

The correct term would be "hydraulic lock", I think.

It's possible but less likely. Car engines have a large flywheel which carries a lot of momentum, when the engine stops suddenly due to the water, the flywheel keeps turning and bends the connecting rods. Bike engines have much lighter internal parts and generally no flywheel (or a much lighter one) so this is less likely to happen.

The main dangers are oil contamination due due to the design flaw I mentioned above, and if you try to restart a locked engine, you risk snapping teeth off the starter gear, or burning out the starter motor.

Mouse said:

The correct term would be "hydraulic lock", I think.

It's possible but less likely. Car engines have a large flywheel which carries a lot of momentum, when the engine stops suddenly due to the water, the flywheel keeps turning and bends the connecting rods. Bike engines have much lighter internal parts and generally no flywheel (or a much lighter one) so this is less likely to happen.

The main dangers are oil contamination due due to the design flaw I mentioned above, and if you try to restart a locked engine, you risk snapping teeth off the starter gear, or burning out the starter motor.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, was purely out of interest