Starting after a soaking

[Boris]

My XR400 was extremely tricky to get going again after dropping it in a river and I eventually got it going on full choke but it would die as soon as any throttle was applied. Leaving it ticking over for a few minutes and draining the float bowl again I was eventually able to rev it and it ran fine.

Well today I gave the bike a good gunking and hose down and I had exactly the same symptoms and once again I had to leave it ticking over on full choke for a while before it would rev. Once it revved enough to get the choke off it was fine.. I'd taped over the air intake before I started with the gunk to be on the safe side and I also drained the float bowl but it made no difference.

As I can't see water in the fuel being a problem this time my question is is there something else I'm missing here? What about the spark plug recess. Is there a drain hole to stop it filling up with water?

Any other advice in starting / restarting a soaked XR?

[Traveller]

Im not an expert but what about the exhaust system. You see rubber bungs for sale to blank the exhausts before washing down.

[Sage]

Hi.

Some thing happened to my XR600 simillar to what is happening to you, what it was with mine was the rubber spark plug cap, when I took it off there was two very small holes in the rubber spark plug cap and I think it was arking/shorting, go through a deep puddle fast it would splutter of possibly cut out.

[XR Mad]

Have you drained the carb using the drain screw only. If so you need to undo the big nut on the bottom of the float bowl and remove it try not to tip out whats in there before having a look you will be suprised whats in there
Another thing is drop the oil and filter put in new oil and new filter ride the bike and change the oil and filter again keep an eye on the oil level over the next few rides
I've drown my bike and didnt do what i said above and now it uses about 200cc of oil after every days ride it never used any oil before strange thing is it dont smoke at all so there was nothing visible to warn me its was using oil after the drowning hope its all ok for you
I take it youve washed and cleaned the air filter as well

[Boris]

Hi.

Some thing happened to my XR600 simillar to what is happening to you, what it was with mine was the rubber spark plug cap, when I took it off there was two very small holes in the rubber spark plug cap and I think it was arking/shorting, go through a deep puddle fast it would splutter of possibly cut out.

Thanks I must check that. The plug cap is yellow on my bike so I assume it's the standard one.

Have you drained the carb using the drain screw only. If so you need to undo the big nut on the bottom of the float bowl and remove it try not to tip out whats in the before having a look you will be suprised whats in there
Another thing is drop the oil and filter put in new oil and new filter ride the bike and change the oil and filter again keep an eye on the oil level over the next few rides
I've drown my bike and didnt do what i said above and now it uses about 200cc of oil after every days ride it never used any oil before strange thing is it dont smoke at all so there was nothing visible to warn me its was using oil after the drowning hope its all ok for you
I take it youve washed and cleaned the air filter as well

It went into the river a few weeks back and once restarted has run fine since. The oil was ok when I checked it last week. Air filter was wrung out at the time and has since been cleaned and reoiled.

I had the float bowl off the carb a day or so back for an unrelated reason and there was a little dirt in the bottom but no more than I've seen on other bikes and cars.

I do however think the problems are electrical as I can't see how I managed to get water into the carb just using a garden hose (no pressure washer) but I'm at a loss to see where. I was just thinking as the plug is recessed it may be collecting there. If it does it again I'll give it a good soaking in WD40.

I was just hoping someone else had similar experiences and has found a solution.

[Sage]

As my plug cap got worse over time I would wash the bike and as you said took it off choke and it would die and stop.

Also chech your kill switch, they can be little b*****s at times.

[Boris]

As my plug cap got worse over time I would wash the bike and as you said took it off choke and it would die and stop.

Also chech your kill switch, they can be little b*****s at times.

So can you change the plug cap on its own or is it moulded on to a larger assembly?

[XR Mad]

Mine was hard to start after a drowning (see my avatar) but didnt suffer from any starting problems once it got going try a spare or new spark plug i dont think water will hang around in the hole the plug goes in because once you started it the heat would soon boil it off
The only reason i mentioned the oil is because it caught me out the bike never used oil even with a 1000 mile intervals and when i drained it, it was almost as clean as it went in so i didnt check the oil as often as i should have because it never changed but after drowning it, it started using oil and the oil was as black as tar when it came out, and the first filter change it was full of carbon from the engine it weighed alot more than a filter just full of oil just keep an eye on the oil levels just in case

[XR Mad]

So can you change the plug cap on its own or is it moulded on to a larger assembly?

Yes you can change it theres a plastic ring where the cable goes in to seal the rubber cap around the cable. pull it back and unscrew the plug cap thats if its the original one The HT lead also screws into the coil so you could try scewing it in to see if its tight you may have distirbed it while pulling the plug cap off

[Sage]

Yes you can change it theres a plastic ring where the cable goes in to seal the rubber cap around the cable. pull it back and unscrew the plug cap thats if its the original one The HT lead also screws into the coil so you could try scewing it in to see if its tight you may have distirbed it while pulling the plug cap off

What XRMAD said