Help! water in engine!

[yankeeboy]

I was on vacation, and had my Sn docked in the bay. It got rough and it filled up through the hole for the bilge i guess. I went to start it and it got hydrolocked. So we had to pull it on a shore for a night. The next day (saturday) we went and got most of the water out. Pulled the plugs, cranked it over, and could not get it started. We just tried again for about 1.5-2 hours and cannot get it started to heat up the engine. It wants to start but i guess theres a lil bit too much water still in there. How do we get it going again!? Help please...

 

[six5hooSX]

Yeah, that sucks that you got water in the engine. I use WD40. It displaces moisture and hopefully you can get it running again.

 

[yankeeboy]

Yea we used a whole lot of wd-40, inside and out of the engine but it just doesnt want to crank over fully. Any other tricks? We tried a vaccume to suck water out, and seemed to help a little, but we're out of ideas to get more water out.

 

[six5hooSX]

This isn't the smartest thing to do, but i've kept one running on starting fluid until the water eventually evaporated and the motor stayed running on its own. "Smoked the crank out of that ski the following year."

 

[Waste Land]

Are you flipping the ski completely upside down. It makes a diff.

If the ski sunk get some frsh gas in it.

Make sure your plugs arent fouled

 

[Jumper]

Remove the flame arrestors
Zip tie the throttle fully open
Remove the plugs
Turn the ski on its side and see if any more water runs out of the carbs and the plug holes
Crank the engine to blow out water
Install the rear plug and crank the engine
Remove the rear plug and install the front plug and crank
Keep alternating until the engine fires
Remove the zip tie from the throttle
When you switch plugs you can spray them with carb cleaner or WD 40 to displace the water.
Once the engine fires with one plug, put both plugs in and fire
Put everything back together and ride the ski for 15 to 20 min on the water to dry out the cases.

Good luck

 

[RideItLikeYouStoleIt]

Was this ni fresh water or salt? I wouldnt have let sit overnight unless i had to.

 

[yankeeboy]

It was salt water:banghead:. it started to fill through the bilge hole when the water got rough. Luckily it was tied up with like 5 ropes, so only the front showed signs of taking on water, but it was filled up to the hoodseal. We had to let it sit because we could not work on it in the bay in the dark. I think we may try the starter fluid, or probably jumpers idea since we tried those things, but not in that order. So thanks for the ideas, keep 'em comming and hopefully my dad and I can get it started!

 

[stanton]

why do people always dock there skis? i read this way too much.

if you crank it and the plugs come out wet you need to pull the plugs and crank it over more. you cant ignite water.

 

[yankeeboy]

why do people always dock there skis? i read this way too much.

if you crank it and the plugs come out wet you need to pull the plugs and crank it over more. you cant ignite water.

we were a bit worried on the docking thing, but it was the most convenient way. and if we pulled it out it had to sit in the back of a van that we were using.

The water is the whole problem, we cannot get enough out. We crank and crank, and vaccume and barely anything comes out, but it still shorts the plug, we dont know how to get any more out.

 

[Jumper]

If you do what I told you then it will eventually start. The only reason that it would not start is if you broke reeds or bent a crank when it hydrolocked. We have used this procedure many, many times. We did the exact same thing yesterday at the races in El Dorado, Ks. when one of the racers lost a hood and his ski sank.

 

[Jumper]

we were a bit worried on the docking thing, but it was the most convenient way. and if we pulled it out it had to sit in the back of a van that we were using.

The water is the whole problem, we cannot get enough out. We crank and crank, and vaccume and barely anything comes out, but it still shorts the plug, we dont know how to get any more out.

Did you roll the ski on its side? Roll it over farther, almost upside down and crank to let more water drain out. It can take a while to get the water out.

 

[stanton]

put your thumb over the hole with a lintfree rag, like a t-shirt.
flip your ski!

 

[keefer]

Put it between to tables or get 4 guys to hold it upside down. Crank it while upside down and then turn it back over. A little premix down the cyls will help displace the water also. This will make a mess but you must get that thing started. Hopefully the crank & rod bearings are not trashed. Leaving it overnight was a mistake especially in salt.

Anytime you drown one you must get it started ASAP. Like others have posted, stick your thumb each plug hole one at a time and crank. This will give the cyl some compression and help force the water out. Add a small amount of premix, I am talking .5 oz or so to one cyl and keep pulling the plug and cleaning it off until that cyl starts to fire. You will do this many times but eventually the engine will start running on one cyl. Then you can get the other cyl running by repeating the above process of adding premix, cranking, & cleaning the plug. Get it running and ride it while taking it easy on the engine and let it dry out for several minutes. Listen to the engine with the hood off and listen for any unusual knocking or roaring. If it sounds normal maybe you have not done too much damage. If it sounds bad then you probably have trashed the crank or rod bearings. Fog the engine with a good fogging oil when done riding and hope for the best.

 

[Jumper]

Yankeeboy, how is it going brother? This really isn't rocket science, we did it in about 15 minutes yesterday. Just follow the proecdure and hope your battery holds up.

 

[amemoryoncelost]

This happened when I crashed my SN a couple days ago. Luckily I had the factory tool kit, pulled the plugs, cranked it for a minute or two, let the plugs dry, sputtered a little bit, pulled plugs again and cranked. Had it running within twenty minutes or so...

 

[wydopen]

if that salt sits in there for more than a few hrs you are in big trouble...is the motor even turning over at this point?...

 

[Vumad]

drag the ski on shore completely out of the water. They are not very heavy so there's no reason no to.

 

[yankeeboy]

yes i know it was a big mistake not getting the water out immediately, but we couldnt do much at 9 pm on vacation in the bay ( this was friday night ) we got back yesterday from the beach. We havent done anything yet today, my dad went to pick up some starter fluid, and we'll try flipping it over. the motor still turns over after taking on water 2 days ago. it fires occasionally but doesnt want to stay running.

 

[wydopen]

make sure once it fires to run it hard on the water!!