Bangkok Flood 2011 By Bike

[BigBikeBKK]

Managed to drown the Versys yesterday!

[jchfriis]

I guess the underneath exhaust doesn't help

[BigBikeBKK]

Happy to see that the "Worst Case Scenario" that some have forecast hasn't come true.

Central Bangkok remains bone dry. Areas that were predicted to flood, such as Lad Phrao, Chatujak, Mor Chit, etc are still dry.

And the water is already receding in many areas- when I crossed the Rattanatibet bridge last Saturday the road (302) was impassable to the west of the bridge.

The Chao Phraya has flooded its banks here on both sides. Views from the bridge-

On the 23rd you couldn't go west of the bridge. It looked like this:

Yesterday it was dry until the junction with Bang Kruai Sai Noi Road (3215).

Bang Keuai Sai Noi road is still flooded, but vehicles can get through-

The water got deeper as I continued west on the 302 / Rattanatibet. I was trying to reach the Western Outer Ring Road (Kanchanapisek)(Highway9).

Well, I made it (on foot)

Looking south:

Looking north:

Looking east:

Bike wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. Exhaust full of water, and water in the engine.

Just as I was thinking I'd have to leave the bike there and take an army truck out some super friendly Thai guys offered me a lift back to Kaerai in their pickup :jap: Khob khun maak maak!

Crappy pic taken while sitting on the bike in the back of the pickup

Once out of the flood zone we were able to bump start the bike and I made it home without any further drama

Today need to change oil and filter and open up the airbox to see if it took in any water. Will pull the wheels too to re-grease the bearings as no doubt they are full of water.

Ride On!

Tony

Edited October 28, 2011 by BigBikeBKK

[alexpoker]

Nice pictorial man. Glad you got your bike out.

[masteritrit]

Great video and updates on the flood, I hope there was no damage, did it just stall out? You may just be able to pull the spark plugs turn it over to get any water out and get her going again. If you need tools or anything or need help getting it back home message me, I've got a snorkel on the land rover and could probably figure out a way to help. I've also got a Ninja 250R so would love to get out of the city with it sometime once all this is over.

Edit; Oh just read the rest, looks like your sorted, glad it worked out.

Edited October 28, 2011 by masteritrit

[wantan]

Good story. Very interesting to know that even a Versys cant drive under water. Didnt you know that before?

From what i hear from people in North Bangkok the water still keeps rising there, not receeding. Maybe you mean the overflow of Chao Praya that is receeding quickly after high tide?

[BigBikeBKK]

Wow- she sure ate a lot of water!

I've never drowned a vehicle before, so not 100% sure what the proper course of action is. I did ride her back from Kaearai to Wang Thong Lang last night- a distance of about ~20km. She ran fine, but I wonder if riding with that much water in the engine could cause any damage?

Site Glass:

Filter:

I expect most of the water got in via the airbox so will open her up and pull the spark plugs and blast away with compressed air, then change oil and filter, take her for a spin, change oil and filter again and see how the oil looks after that.

Anything else I should do?

Hoping to ride up to the Roi Et Bike Week this weekend but don't want her to blow up on the way!

Ride On!

Tony

Edited October 28, 2011 by BigBikeBKK

[karlos]

Nice pics Tony and i'm glad to see there's another biker that isn't scared to get their bike dirty.

The road of which you took photos of the Klongs near my house last week has been turned into a 3M high wall of sand bags, the whole stretch of road had thousands of people working away down there on Tuesday night (it was quite a sight) i wish i had my camera at the time.

• As for your engine, the boiling water within you engine's oil is going to rise up, so i would take off the engines cam covers and clean those as they will be gunked up.

• I'd also pull off any oil breather hoses as those too will likely be coated in white guu

• A new air filter would be required to, as you said most of that water would have found it's way into the engine via this route

• Also consider taking the stator cover off and dry everything in there, moisture in there would cause all kinds of charging faults if left wet.

By some cheap engine oil or engine flush, i'd be tempted to flush the engine 2-3 times with a new oil filter each time.

First engine flush i would do on it's padock stand.

Second engine flush i would take her out for some light action and see what condition the oil is in after draining it then.

A third change would should rid the bike of any remaining moisture

It's going to be hard to rid your engine of all the residue without stripping it down.

I would have added a little more info but my girlfriend is nagging me to go out and have lunch............

[rizla]

Wow- she sure ate a lot of water!

I've never drowned a vehicle before, so not 100% sure what the proper course of action is. I did ride her back from Kaearai to Wang Thong Lang last night- a distance of about ~20km. She ran fine, but I wonder if riding with that much water in the engine could cause any damage?

Site Glass:

Filter:

I expect most of the water got in via the airbox so will open her up and pull the spark plugs and blast away with compressed air, then change oil and filter, take her for a spin, change oil and filter again and see how the oil looks after that.

Anything else I should do?

Hoping to ride up to the Roi Et Bike Week this weekend but don't want her to blow up on the way!

Ride On!

Tony

Oh dear, not good at all...

After doing all suggested, i would get a hold of a compression tester and test all the pots..that water will have been full of grit/sand and may well have scored your barrels to <deleted> with the piston oil rings..crank shaft shells could also be in a mess...things in the engine will have expanded more than normal and would have been running very hot without proper lubrication.....clean it up and sell it, and delete your under water video`s of the event..good luck

P.S your catalyst could well be goosed (if you still had it on), the internals of the cats crack/shatter when they are in contact with water...O2 sensor (didn`t you get an engine fault up ?) they hate water too..

Oh i just noticed on the pics, aftermarket can fitted, but check out your O2 sensor..

Edited October 28, 2011 by rizla

[Travelmate]

Fack it, it'll be fine!

Coupla engine oil changes and she'll be good to go.

[BigBikeBKK]

Wow- she sure ate a lot of water!

I've never drowned a vehicle before, so not 100% sure what the proper course of action is. I did ride her back from Kaearai to Wang Thong Lang last night- a distance of about ~20km. She ran fine, but I wonder if riding with that much water in the engine could cause any damage?

Site Glass:

Filter:

I expect most of the water got in via the airbox so will open her up and pull the spark plugs and blast away with compressed air, then change oil and filter, take her for a spin, change oil and filter again and see how the oil looks after that.

Anything else I should do?

Hoping to ride up to the Roi Et Bike Week this weekend but don't want her to blow up on the way!

Ride On!

Tony

Oh dear, not good at all...

After doing all suggested, i would get a hold of a compression tester and test all the pots (Dude, there's only TWO ) ..that water will have been full of grit/sand and may well have scored your barrels to <deleted> with the piston oil rings..crank shaft shells could also be in a mess...things in the engine will have expanded more than normal and would have been running very hot without proper lubrication.....clean it up and sell it, and delete your under water video`s of the event..good luck

P.S your catalyst could well be goosed (if you still had it on), the internals of the cats crack/shatter when they are in contact with water...O2 sensor (didn`t you get an engine fault up ?) they hate water too..

Oh i just noticed on the pics, aftermarket can fitted, but check out your O2 sensor..

Talked to some of my friends who ride dirt bikes and dump them in rivers all the time.

Sounds like it's really not that big a deal.

The 20km home with water in the oil shouldn't have done any damage.

Was happy to see that the coil seals did their job and kept water out of the plug holes. Pulled the plugs and they look fine.

Flushed once with oil this morning and new filter. Ran my fingers through the oil and didn't feel any grit which is a good sign. Filled her to the top and flushed again with transmission fluid as it should remove many/most deposits plus another new filter, then flushed and new filter one more time to get rid of the tranny juice, and one final oil and filter change and then ride her like I stole her

She seems to run just fine. I'll wring her neck this weekend and see if she blows up. These Kwackers are tough as nails. I beat the crap out of all of 'em and they just come back for more.

Worst case scenario it blows up and I'll just need to have the engine rebuilt. Cheap as chips since it's a locally built Kwacker

Let the Good Times ROLL!

Tony

[Garry]

Happy to see that the "Worst Case Scenario" that some have forecast hasn't come true.

Once out of the flood zone we were able to bump start the bike and I made it home without any further drama

Today need to change oil and filter and open up the airbox to see if it took in any water. Will pull the wheels too to re-grease the bearings as no doubt they are full of water.

Ride On!

Tony

Nice picture expose & report Tomy. Thanks for going to the trouble :-)

Edited October 28, 2011 by Garry

[masteritrit]

Happy to see that the "Worst Case Scenario" that some have forecast hasn't come true.

Once out of the flood zone we were able to bump start the bike and I made it home without any further drama

Today need to change oil and filter and open up the airbox to see if it took in any water. Will pull the wheels too to re-grease the bearings as no doubt they are full of water.

Ride On!

Tony

Nice picture expose & report Tomy. Thanks for going to the trouble :-)

You should be ok, the way water destroys an engine is because it does not compress and if it gets in the cylander while running it can crack the head, or blow out the head gasket. Since you were able to ride it, it is almost certain this did not happen. I suspect that the water did not go through the intakes into the oil but found another route. The white goo you got it classic oil mixed with water residue. If you no longer have that in the oil you should be fine.

[ib1b4]

Happy to see that the "Worst Case Scenario" that some have forecast hasn't come true.

Once out of the flood zone we were able to bump start the bike and I made it home without any further drama

Today need to change oil and filter and open up the airbox to see if it took in any water. Will pull the wheels too to re-grease the bearings as no doubt they are full of water.

Ride On!

Tony

Nice picture expose & report Tomy. Thanks for going to the trouble :-)

You should be ok, the way water destroys an engine is because it does not compress and if it gets in the cylander while running it can crack the head, or blow out the head gasket. Since you were able to ride it, it is almost certain this did not happen. I suspect that the water did not go through the intakes into the oil but found another route. The white goo you got it classic oil mixed with water residue. If you no longer have that in the oil you should be fine.

I think you are spot on master it only takes a very small amount of water to make the oil go milky. Flushing the enging a couple of times and there should be no problems! the fact that the engine cranked over is a very good sign. Edited October 28, 2011 by ib1b4

[ib1b4]

Can I give you a little tip Tony?;;;; borrow one of Scuba buddys snorkel before you try that again. 5555

[nikster]

Interesting - I am pretty sure I rode her through water higher than that when CM was flooded recently. The villagers were like noooooooo waving at me to stop, the hapless farang just ambled on into the waters which was about 40 - 50 cm at its deepest. I remembered some TV post where somebody said that all that matters is that the intakes don't go under, and they're pretty high up. Looking at the car tires in your video, same or higher than there.

But then I don't know how long you'd been going already. Also I was going slow but I kept the revs up like crazy. Figured more air coming out = less water getting in... maybe that worked?! Or maybe the cat in the stock exhaust perhaps makes it harder for water to get in, compared to an aftermarket pipe.

Anyway thanks for the updates, and good to hear the bike is OK

Edited October 28, 2011 by nikster

[SumetCycle]

Wow, looks like you stalled just past my house. It's been a mess there for the past couple of weeks. We've had the same thing happen to a few of our customers. A good engine flush and the bikes were fine. Best of luck.

[bbradsby]

Water might have found its way into the crankcase via a case breather vent, or trickled down inside the airbox since there's often a hose connecting the bottom of airboxes to the crankcase.

Not sure about your bike's emissions recirc/control system, if any. But check your gas tank for water and any small diameter tubes/hoses between the crank case and underside of gas tank, as well as any check valves in-line. They'll look like opaque, in-line fuel filters.

The stall may have been the result of an electrical short from water in the connections. spend an hour with some WD40 or equal, and squirt it in all electrical junctions to drive out moisture and protect from corrosion. Same for misc bolts & nuts everywhere.

[BigBikeBKK]

Ridden over 1000km in the last couple of days, caning her up and down the mountains in Petchabun, Nam Nao, Khao Kho, Dan Sai and Loei and the Versys is running fine.

Thanks for all the helpful advice guys :jap:

[BigBikeBKK]

Water might have found its way into the crankcase via a case breather vent, or trickled down inside the airbox since there's often a hose connecting the bottom of airboxes to the crankcase.

Not sure about your bike's emissions recirc/control system, if any. But check your gas tank for water and any small diameter tubes/hoses between the crank case and underside of gas tank, as well as any check valves in-line. They'll look like opaque, in-line fuel filters.

The stall may have been the result of an electrical short from water in the connections. spend an hour with some WD40 or equal, and squirt it in all electrical junctions to drive out moisture and protect from corrosion. Same for misc bolts & nuts everywhere.

FWIW when I opened the airbox it was wet and the air filter was soaked, so I reckon the water got in via the airbox and then drained into the engine via the crankcase breather hose that connect the airbox to the crankcase.

[nikster]

Ridden over 1000km in the last couple of days, caning her up and down the mountains in Petchabun, Nam Nao, Khao Kho, Dan Sai and Loei and the Versys is running fine.

Thanks for all the helpful advice guys :jap:

+1 Awesome!

Good news also that water came in the air box... so river crossings should still be OK right. The air intakes being pretty high up and all. Maybe you hit a wave? Or was it just that deep?

[bbradsby]

cool. hey maybe put a snorkel on it, gel-seal all the electrical connections and take it fully submersible. that'd be youtube-worthy!

[BSJ]

I've never seen a maroon coloured submarine before!

[ib1b4]

Ridden over 1000km in the last couple of days, caning her up and down the mountains in Petchabun, Nam Nao, Khao Kho, Dan Sai and Loei and the Versys is running fine.

Thanks for all the helpful advice guys :jap:

+1 Awesome!

Good news also that water came in the air box... so river crossings should still be OK right. The air intakes being pretty high up and all. Maybe you hit a wave? Or was it just that deep?

I have it from a reliable source the versy was also spotted in Roiet district.

[BigBikeBKK]

Bangkok Flood 2011 - rescuing my Kawasaki Versys

Thanks again to these super-helpful Thai guys who rescued me and the bike! :jap:

[rizla]

I take it you were out on urgent business when your bike got swamped...surely you were not just out riding for the sake of it, knowing what was out there.

[chunkylover53]

I would say you need a full engine check - pull all the cases apart & have it looked at before you keep riding it.

Engine damage can take a bit of time to show and you don't want it blowing up down the line - better safe than sorry.:jap:

Apart from that, it looked like a lot of fun. Are you using a GoPro?

[BigBikeBKK]

I take it you were out on urgent business when your bike got swamped...surely you were not just out riding for the sake of it, knowing what was out there.

I ride my bikes for fun. Usually drive the car if on business.

Adventure- ever try some?

[BigBikeBKK]

I would say you need a full engine check - pull all the cases apart & have it looked at before you keep riding it.

Engine damage can take a bit of time to show and you don't want it blowing up down the line - better safe than sorry.:jap:

Apart from that, it looked like a lot of fun. Are you using a GoPro?

Cheers- thanks for your concern.

The service guys at Kawasaki don't seem too concerned about it, and I've spoken to friends who drown their dirtbikes regularly, and it really don't sound like that big of a deal.

Still a year left on the warranty and I'll keep wringing her neck. If I manage to blow her up I'll make a claim, but based on my experience with my other Kawasaki's I'm not anticipating any big problems.

Yes- using a GoPro HD- great little camera, though I'm thinking to try a ContourHD next.

Happy Trails!

Tony