I was mudding my dad's 2002 foreman 450s, it only has about 125 miles on it, it sat in a warehouse for 12 years until I got my hands on it, and I put a new carb from Honda, changed oil and air filter, and I chased cows with it the week before this happened and it ran like a dream. Long story short, I ran it into a creek and sucked water into the cylinder, got it pulled out in roughly 3-4 minutes, pulled the plug and cranked it over, put the plug back in and started it, emptied the muffler , let it idle, drained fuel and oil when I got home, cleaned air filter and carb and now it idles fine but when you give it gas it backfires and just runs terrible, hesitates, falls flat under acceleration, just bad all around. I'm very mechanically inclined but I can't figgure out what it is, I'm guessing internal engine from hydrolocking or electrical, but don't want to tear into it until I have an idea of what it could be.
Please help, sunk foreman
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Well, before I mention anything else, I recommend that you tear the motor down completely for cleaning. The reason is simple... when a motor gets sunk, suspended grit in the water enters the crankcase along with that water. An oil drain and change does not get all of this grit out. And to make matters worse, it sounds like you ran the motor before draining it? You'll most likely never get it all out of there until you split the cases and wash the parts clean in solvent. The result will be a smoking (possibly knocking) motor in a very short period of time and you'll have ruined it.
With that warning out of the way, try replacing the spark plug with an NGK and clean the water out of the spark plug boot and coil wire. After cleaning the sunk motor out right.
Hopefully you shut it down before it went under? If not, it may have hydrolocked causing internal (bent rod, busted piston etc.) damage.
Its a bummer but ya gotta play it safe. Do your thorough best and fix it right. Begin right away before rust destroys it.
Welcome to the forums!
EDIT: How long ago did this happen?
Have you told your dad about it?
With that warning out of the way, try replacing the spark plug with an NGK and clean the water out of the spark plug boot and coil wire. After cleaning the sunk motor out right.
Hopefully you shut it down before it went under? If not, it may have hydrolocked causing internal (bent rod, busted piston etc.) damage.
Its a bummer but ya gotta play it safe. Do your thorough best and fix it right. Begin right away before rust destroys it.
Welcome to the forums!
EDIT: How long ago did this happen?
Have you told your dad about it?
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12,712 Posts
if it ever happens to you again , if you have some people with you went it happens , don't try to start it , pull the bike out the water , check the engine oil for water , if you don't see any in the oil , stand the bike up on the back rack and pointing to the sky , pull the spark plug , open the air box , spin the engine over and pump any water out the cylinder , put the plug back in , put it back on it's wheels , check the oil again , if milky then pull it home with another bike , if not then start it up , after it runs for 30 seconds or so , kill it and check the oil again , if the oil is clean , carry on -----but I doubt it will be water free unless the bike is snorkeled with the crankcase vent hose ran up the snorkel , as the crank case vent is in the air box and if the air box floods and the engine kills it goes right into the crankcase
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8,309 Posts
I would also be of the mind set, if you got water in the motor, split the motor open and clean it right! and then stay out of the deep water, unless your willing to make the atv more water friendly and DON"T mind sinking it [email protected]
these are atv's and NOT boats, just cause you see it done on YOUTUBE, doesn't mean you should do it too! IMO
LOL
NOT tearing the moor apart is just asking for issues down the road
and a shame this was a pristine ATV that made it this long, fix right it will last another 16+ yrs, take short cuts and it could need major work in a few hours of running or less!
not tearing a motor down after a sinking is a GAMBLE, Feel LUCKY?
some win some loose here all the time!
these are atv's and NOT boats, just cause you see it done on YOUTUBE, doesn't mean you should do it too! IMO
LOL
NOT tearing the moor apart is just asking for issues down the road
and a shame this was a pristine ATV that made it this long, fix right it will last another 16+ yrs, take short cuts and it could need major work in a few hours of running or less!
not tearing a motor down after a sinking is a GAMBLE, Feel LUCKY?
some win some loose here all the time!
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1,759 Posts
I agree with FISH. I have sunk many things in my time. I don't remember dirt getting into the crankcase on any of them. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I am saying it doesn't happen every time. Now if it sat in a mud pit for a long time then I'd be worried. In my opinion do it the way Fish suggested to be safe. If there is grit in the bottom end then split the cases like the others said. An other thing, if you find some grit on top of the piston it doesn't mean it's in the bottom end. There are rings that prevent the mud from penetrating.......I know, I know everybody that it can enter the crankcase vent. LOL! I hope you get it repaired without serious damage.
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51 Posts
I dropped my old 300 4x4 through the ice one time. Pulled it out with a truck then put it in the garage where it was warm. Seven oil changes later it was finally free of water. Fill with oil ,start for a minute, drain oil....repeat.
Pretty sure I changed it a few more times shortly after just to be safe. Drained the fuel and cleaned the carb. Front and rear never took water iirc.
Pretty sure I changed it a few more times shortly after just to be safe. Drained the fuel and cleaned the carb. Front and rear never took water iirc.
I think it all depends on the type of soil around where you sink it.
In the bottoms here we have gumbo, which is mostly clay with fine silt. My buddy sank his Rincon 3-4 times over a couple of years before it started smoking.
I sank my 09 Foreman several years ago in South Arkansas where they have that red sandy dirt and it killed the motor, including the crank, in no time.
In the bottoms here we have gumbo, which is mostly clay with fine silt. My buddy sank his Rincon 3-4 times over a couple of years before it started smoking.
I sank my 09 Foreman several years ago in South Arkansas where they have that red sandy dirt and it killed the motor, including the crank, in no time.
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5,072 Posts
Sand is savage to any moving component. Old mate of mine used to ride the end of season beach race every year here then sell his bike after he’d ridden it and replace with the next years model. He always reckoned that no matter how well he cleaned or built it it was never as competitive as a new bike after riding a beach race, he did ride in expert class though, I just took his word for it.
Edit: This was MX not ATV.
Edit: This was MX not ATV.
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1,371 Posts
That sucks. Sounds like a low-hour machine so it's worth it fix it right.
Rob
Rob
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1,418 Posts
Opossum,
You mention being mechanically inclined and that's great. The information given above is sound and suggest jumping into the engine as described.
You mention being mechanically inclined and that's great. The information given above is sound and suggest jumping into the engine as described.
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195 Posts
Opossum, if you did end up suffering significant internal engine damage, we can help you here at nFLOW Remanufactured Engines. You can reach us at 812-402-8282 and ask for Corey. www.nflowmotorsports.com
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5,072 Posts
See picture, big tyres, snorkel, extended vent lines and waterproofed electrical connections.
Attachments
Is there a guide or how to on what mods you need to make?
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5,072 Posts
Not really, everybody makes their mods different. You can follow threads on here, mine ‘300 Fourtrax, ongoing project’ or fishfiles has several, blue 300, magenta 300, plus many more.
To save thread jacking if this is something your considering then start a thread, or feel free to continue this in my thread.
To save thread jacking if this is something your considering then start a thread, or feel free to continue this in my thread.
Okay guys, thanks for the help, finally got to it, luckily no rust at all. Tore motor down as far as I could without pulling the stator. I guess it's a good thing and a bad thing the motor was good looking inside, good because it is rebuild able but bad because I can't find an obvious issue. The head looked good, cylinder was good, pushrods weren't bent or out, valves were good, crank and connecting rods were blued but looking on the internet I think that is how they look. I have not split the motor yet, but as of now the only issues I see are the rod has a little side to side play on the crank and the Piston was a little hard to turn. Other than that and lots of milky oil, all bearings looked good and cylinder wall had no scoring, head gaskets looked good, I'm kind of stumped. Just to clarify, I was running across a murky creek and hit a deep hole, it was not a mud pit or bog, and I feel terrible as I really liked this quad, I was not being reckless just had a severe lack of judgement, lol, nothing I can do about it now but fix it.
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