Help! Motorbike Fell To Rice Paddy

[vcpilot]

While sensibly avoiding a small puddle, i drove our one year old Yamaha Fino into

a rice paddy with water about knee deep. I think the exhaust pipe was not totally submerged, but still

the motorbike was struggling to keep running, and shortly shut itself down. I struggled

the bike up from the water and the mud, and after letting the water drip away, noticed

that it didn't start easily, so i decided to push it home.

After a while, i tried to start again, and it did start quite easily. When turned on, lots of oily water was

dripping from the gearbox and the exhaust pipe. I let it idle until the water stopped coming, and

then slowly drove back home, about two kilometers. I noticed that the bike seemed

quite powerless, so i drove very slowly. At home i washed the exterior of the bike.

What should i do now? Should i wait for it to dry or take it to a shop to get cleaned from inside?

The oil was changed just few days ago, should i get it changed again?

There's a Yamaha shop around 5 kilometers from here, Should it be reasonably safe to ride it there

without destroying the thing from inside?

[VocalNeal]

Tricky.

Safest thing to say is don't ride it. Find a local with a truck of stick it in the local songtow.

But depends on whether of not any mud got into the inlet. In which case the engine has grit in it which is not good. I think on a Fino the air inlet is on top of the left side engine casing quite low down. Could be of course that the air filter is soaked with water which is why it doesn't run very well.

Whatever the case it sounds like you got water into the transmission / belt cover so it needs a good rinse out.

[H2oDunc]

It all depends on how able you are to do a few basic things on it ? If you are not then your local Somchai mechanic, and they are to be found every few hundred metres most places, will sort it out for you.

To be safe drain the oil from it and change it for new. Also take off the air filter and dry out any water that is in there. The fact you say it started means there was no water in the cylinder. Maybe take off the carb and clean as well in case as it sounds like you may have some water in it as well. It doesn't sound bad though so don't worry

[Drag0nboy]

Agree 100% I rent bikes out and had a client leave a bike in a flood area where it fell over. Similar issues - they opened the engine and gearbox and removed about 4 litres of water! Cleaned the engine compartments, dried it off with compressed air and cleared the exhaust then replaced the oil etc and it runs like a dream.

Try not to drive it far as the engine will get damaged with the dirty gritty water, and it might cause teh cylinders to get scratched which if too bad will loose compression and cause oil leaks,

Good luck though

[H2oDunc]

If water has entered the cylinder and you try to start it you will damage the bike seriously. Water cannot be compressed. That is why hydraulics work and are so powerful.

The fact it started is good but water may have gotten into the oil do till this is changed avoid riding it too far

[Lickey]

Check the oil level, also if it has gone milky, change it,

[vcpilot]

Thank you all for the good advice.

I slowly drove the bike to the nearby mechanic. At first it seemed like the bike didn't have power,

but after a while it seemed to get better. I explained the situation to mechanic, who didn't really

have a clue, he checked that there was oil, but not much else..

After that we haven't packed many kilometers on it, but every time i rode it, the bike didn't feel

the same. We were planning to make a roadtrip tomorrow, so my girlfriend took the bike to a

better shop and they changed the air filter and the oil. Oil was milky and the filter dirty (filter had

never been cleaned, with 16k in the meter).

The improvement is amazing, whereas before it felt like old trembling hound dog with a pneumonia,

now it purrs like a kitten. It also used to be quite tricky to get to start in cold weather, i bet tomorrow

morning we'll see that it has gotten better as well. Actually, i think the spark plugs might be due to

be replaced as well, they must still be the original ones. The oil filter ? inside the gear compartment

was not yet cleaned today due to limited supplies, but that should be done later, so i'll ask them to

change the plugs at the same time. That ought to help with the ignition.