How to Deal With HYDROLOCKING Your Motorcycle and the Story Behind the Lesson
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- Опубліковано 1 кві 2023
- #hydrolock #howto #Advrider
︾ Hey Adventure Riders,
Welcome to another video in our Motorcycle Training Series. Today we are talking about a time when Eric was out in Patagonia and his buddy went swimming with his motorcycle. As they were alone and in a very remote territory, they had to figure out how to drain the bike and get it back on the road so they could make it back to civilization before nightfall.
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I used to follow a Russian team called "Off road people" and they had a whole series of such deep water dives. One of their solutions is to stand the motorcycle up on the rear wheel and allow the water to free fall out (as much as possible). Then they would immediately take the motor oil outside into a metal can or pot (it's a big crew) and *boil* the oil until the moisture evaporates. Then they put the same oil back into the engine and continued driving without problems. Of course, they had plenty of time and all the necessary tools with them, a large team prepared for multi-day rides in the wilderness.
Greetings to all adventurers!
That would have been an excellent option, boiling the oil! Wish we had had the idea, tools, and cauldron to do so : ) But yes, we did some tipping back, and rolling onto it's side/top a bit which got some water out for sure. I feel like even back then, I knew the oil was obviously crushing past the rings and would create what eventually happened, but it was worth trying. -- Thanks for watching.
Yes, russians. They are used to it
First thing I’m going to do now is buy a spark plug socket and put it in my trail pack with my other tools. I always thought it wasn’t required because I didn’t think I would ever change my spark plug on the side of the trail, haha. Thanks for the story, it helped me out.
Glad if it helps someday, and yea, I think most OEM tool kits still come with a spark plug tool, so you may already have it. -- Thanks for watching.
MAD TV has a great video of an insane trip through flooded areas in Australia. They were dewatering bikes several times a day and much can be learned from their group leader's methods. The bikes were much smaller but the concept is the same.
Great story and experience!
I was snow machining in Alaska with a (crazy) friend who drove his 800cc ski doo into a creek to try and drive up the creek on top of the water! I saw him go in and thought "Oh no, I'm going to have to rescue him from drowning"! When I got there, he was standing in water arm pit deep , smiling, and his entire machine was underwater. We wrestled it out onto the bank, and I was prepping to pull him to the truck which was about 4 miles away (and +5 degrees F so it was cold!). He said no, he would get it started. He pulled the spark plugs out, then we tipped the sled on its side and pulled it over a bunch. Put a bic lighter under the spark plugs to dry them out, and I think we put a few drops of gas in the cylinders- and he drove back to the truck! He changed the oil 2 or 3 times and seemingly, no damage to the engine. It was a 2-stroke, which would be different than a 4-stroke- the engine was fuel injected and I don't think there was any oil sump to worry about. Big difference.
Nice rescue! And good situation for a 2-stroke to prevail. The only thing that stopped us from riding 100 km's or whatever, was that oil/milkshake forming within the engine. --- Thanks for watching and sharing.
I have gotten a KTM 500 EXC running after being totally submerged. We had no tools. Stand the bike on its back wheel to drain the exhaust. Removed the air filter and clean out the air box. Put bike in 3rd or 4th gear and pull in clutch and push bike BACKWARDS”! Note - it would not turn over forward on the starter. Get the bike rolling back wards and let out the clutch. Had to do this about 5 times. Finally it pushed the water back out into the air box. This happens because of something called “valve overlap” where for a very brief amount of time both valves are a slightly open. Once we had the engine rolling we got it started. Oil in sightglass looked like chocolate milk. Rode it maybe 2-3 klm to nearest road and then trailered it. Change oil 4-5 times and good to go.
Interesting, meaning, you did push the button and it wouldn’t turn over ? My guess in that case is: The piston was probably at Top Dead Center or close, and the chamber was so full of water, that even the starter could not force it over. By not getting its momentum, it wasn’t enough to fold the connecting rod then. Good deal in that case :)
You missed one step. After starting, turn the bike off and let it sit for 1/2 hour or so. The water should settle to the bottom of the crankcase. After letting it sit, pull the drain plug to drain the water. Once you see straight oil coming out quickly re-install the drain plug.
I always carry an extra 2 quarts of oil. Could come in handy some day.
Excellent idea! If only we had even the tool to get the drain plug out. Or the clear conscience that would allow some oil to ultimately spew into Patagonia:) But great idea for those in the right situation, so thanks for sharing.
@@RIDEAdventures well, man, you are actually riding a fume-exhausting bike making a hell of a noise through a forest. Your concern about the oil is legitimate and appreciated, but somehow a tad ironic…
I dropped my 2015 Suzuki Vstrom 650 at a remote river crossing in the Northern Territory of Australia...the bike was lying on its side completely submerged for several minutes before my companions could get to me and help me get it out (note the river is inhabited by salt water crocodiles)...fortunately the Vstrom has 2 spark plugs per cylinder and there is one reasonably accessible plug in each so wasn’t too hard to clear the water. The tank also had to come off to get to the airbox which was full of water. Bike ran fine afterwards and for the 250 km to the next roadhouse on sandy, badly corrugated road in very hot conditions. Another day and 200 km later I also discovered that I had water in the engine oil ...that was 10,000 km ago now and the bike is apparently none the worse for wear !!! The experience has made think how difficult it would be to dewater something like a KTM 890 or even a T7 on a river bank because of their complicated spark plug access 😮
Another nod in the favor of the VStrom. What a great bike, as we have noted in other videos. Glad it worked out!
Oil will float on water so you can just wait a few hours and pull the drain plug, drain the water and then put it back once water stops coming out and oil starts flowing. IDK if you could've cracked the plug w/o tools though.
Great idea! And yea, if only we had more than I think a Leatherman with us at the moment. Guy ahead of us with the tools, once he got to Chilean Customs, couldn’t just double-back to check on us. Oops! Thanks for sharing though, great idea.
I’ve done it once in 1996, but I was able to remove the plugs first. I saved the top end, but the bottom end had about 2-3 litres of additional water in it. In the end, I made my destination safely with no permanent damage.
Wow, how far did you ride it with water in there? (And who did you eventually sell the bike to ? :) ---- Thanks for sharing.
Great video on humility. Even the best of us run into things we’re not prepared for. In addition to my tool roll that I keep outside the bike, I always carry a couple tire irons that can also take off the wheels, spark plug socket, and battery cables and some minor tools under my seat just in case I don’t have my tool roll with me. Luckily, I haven’t yet had to get to those under my seat.
Glad you're planning and packing ahead, we've done other videos on this. So many variables make the adventure. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for sharing
My pleasure, fun to revisit the situation.
Thanks, some usefull information, greatfully recieved. (From Scotland)
Glad if you enjoyed it, thanks for watching
Great story, thanks for sharing it! Certainly the basic tool kit the bike comes with would have been huge in this situation, but for what it's worth my T7 didn't come with even a cheap plug wrench! Shame on Yamaha for that, but you can be sure it's got one now!! Cheers!
Yea, it seems OEM kits are getting slimmer and slimmer. Simple spark plug wrench, and access to those plugs would have led to a different outcome, but probably still a milky mixture of oil. Thanks for watching.
The best thing to do is push the bike up a slip in neutral then roll it backwards in 5 or 6 gear , after tipping the bike up on the back wheel th drain it.
Drowned the bike in Iceland. Put the bike upright with the help of a friend to remove water from the exhaust. Then pushed the button twice and of course hydrolock (i was hoping only the exhaust). Then we removed the plugs, removed the water in the cylinder and then the bike started. I changed the oil 3 times and good to go.
Spoke to a mechanic about being afraid of bending the rod. He laughed at me cause he said there is no way you can bend a rod with just the power of the starter. However if you go full throttle over shallow water and drowned the bike at speed then yes but you will never bend a connecting rod with the starter by pression on the start button. there you go 👍
Great story, thanks for sharing, and I'm quite sure rods have been bent by starters. Never had it happen personally, but I bet someone out there can help us confirm?
@@RIDEAdventures he is the mechanics of the tour company called Ride With Locals in Iceland. They drowned bikes daily and he fixes them. All KTM Husky & Gasgas
Takes courage to show a mistake. Thank you,, based upon your experience and a couple of comments, I’ll be adjusting my tool kit. Stay Safe and Enjoy Everything *
got lucky when i rode my tw200 on a beach when a wave splashed on my bike and engine stalled. Panicked and kept trying to start the bike for 15-30 seconds which was probably a bad idea. Engine came back to life and it's been fine
This gave me flashbacks lol. Glad you got lucky but a splash should be alright. Hopefully you gave it a good clean when you got home to wash off the salt.
When I Was a kid, I put a water hose in my minibike muffler while I was washing my bike. Could not kickover, it was hydrolocked. Stood it up in wheelie position to let water drain back out. I can't remember if I moved the knick starter in the air. Eventually started and ran for years.
Great video. How would you do the log leverage movement, if you had spoked wheels?
Good question! If we’d had a strap with us, wrapping that around somehow and tying it to a root or something could have turned the wheel I guess. Pushing the bike. No other ideas come to mind though. Got one?
great story, but yes, if you're doing deep crossings then you need to be able to take out the spark plug. ive gotten my ktm 300 really wet, but its always managed to get me home/to the truck where I would have to change the oil several times to get all the water out. It sucks. the main takeaway should be DONT get water in the engine in the first place lol and if you do then there are no shortcuts
Another way to cross a river like this is just hit it 100 mph doing wheelie. BTW kick starter would be handy :)
Yes, or 120 mph just to be safe! :) Yea, would have loved a kickstarter for sure, although yikes, tough to move either way. Thanks for watching and sharing.
Yes it happened to me on a BMW F850 GSA when I fell over in a river. I had help to push the bike out. It's a big job getting at the spark plugs so I wrapped my tow strap around the back wheel and attached it to a branch from the bush and rotated the engine through several compressions to convince me that I did not have a hydraulic lock. Then I started the engine and a lot of water sprayed out of the exhaust and I thought I was going to be ok. I don't know what made me check the oil but I did and it was lovely and creamy. Fortunately I could get some new oil and after many flushes I could continue. If there was water in the combustion chamber how did it get into the sump? On the compression stroke both valves are closed so it can't go out the exhaust or back into the airbox. Did it leak past the piston rings?, I did have a bit of trouble rotating the engine at first. Or did it come in through the crankcase breather which I believe vents into the airbox. If it happens again I will drain the oil into a plastic bag which I carry for that purpose after I have rotated the engine and if there is water it will be evident at the bottom of the bag. I can drain that out by making a small hole in the bag and then I can return the good oil back into the bike and add some more oil from a small bottle I carry. Then do an oil change as soon as possible. Or I could avoid water crossings.
Good move with the strap, and yea, it sure is a mystery in the moment, when we’re not sure if/how water got into where. Transparent Aluminum engine block should help in the distant future (Star Trek reference.) Thanks for watching and sharing.
On radial aircraft engines you HAVE to remove the lower spark plugs to stop hydraulic lock because the engine's oil will seep into these lower cylinders. These engines have dry sumps but all the oil dripping off the connecting rods, bearings, engine case will accumulate when sitting for a while.
It is surprising how just a little amount of fluid (a few ounces) in the cylinder chamber and the geometry position of the crank to the cylinder and you will bend the connecting rods quite easily.
The only thing I have ever been told was to remove the spark plugs and remove the fluid by tipping the engine or cranking it over.
Then check the engine's crankcase. If in doubt, drain the oil into anything and if stuck reuse the contaminated oil but stop before you get to the water. If equipped, take an empty water bottle that has a cap, cut the bottom off, pour the contaminated oil into the bottle, open the cap just enough to allow the water to drain out, then re-pour that oil into the engine.
Yea, that being one of the questions, how much water in the combustion chamber would be enough to fold a connecting rod. Guess that would depend largely on the initial compression ratio. - Hope we don’t ever find out the hard way. Thanks for watching and sharing.
@@RIDEAdventures All you need to tweak that rod is a very small fraction of an once more than the combustion chamber's capacity when the piston is at TDC as we know fluids are incomprehensible.
A sudden dive into water will cool off everything immediately, and because of physics, it will then create some slight under-pressure, sucking in water automatically. Through the tiny little vent of your brake fluid reservoirs, petrol tank vent, engine vent, etc...
DO NOT start or ride your bike after immersion... get to a garage or do this onsite; first open cylinder head, then change ALL the oils. PS brake oil is hydrophilic!
Excellent reminders, and about the brakes and such. Thanks for sharing.
How would water enter through the exhaust unless the engine stalls? You took for grant the depth of water at an unknown crossing by looking at it? It was careless by not getting your feet wet and checking the depth and bottom condition before you rode through it. You were lucky, always removed the spark plugs, the air filter, etc. and it will easy to turn the wheel without compression removing the water and risk of damaging the motor. In addition, I'm sure there a little water that entered the crankcase from the ventilation line.
I don’t understand is why you can’t just take the spark plugs out and turn the engine over with the starter. You no longer have compression and the water should squirt out like a hose with each cycle of the engine. Whatever pressure, the water might make with a diameter of the spark plug hole shouldn’t be strong enough to bend anything.
Check again, maybe you missed that we were without any tools but maybe a Leatherman we used to open the air box. But you’re right otherwise.
It is a funny scene. But it almost in 90 percent of cases if your airbox gets water you will have water in the engine casing.
The reason is, when your engine is running there is a positive pressure inside because of gasses escaping from the compression chamber into engine casing and they recycle into airbox by a hose from the top of the engine, usually from valve cover to somewhere close to air filter. But when you get in water and your engine stops, there is no positive pressure any longer and also because water had cooled the engine casing, you have negative pressure, and that vacume will suck water into your engine from the same hose you purge gases in the airbox.
So if you get water in the airbox you have to change the oil or at least check it to see if it's good enough to get you somewhere to change the oil.
A Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin is the answer.
You'll probably drown before any water gets through the airbox, given it's location.
Ha! Will have to look for that arrangement. Sounds tight.
Have not had that experience yet... But a field fix question; after or while pumping the water out of the cylinders; could you have drained the oil into a pot (or other metal container) and boiled off the water enough that the remaining could vent?
This is a great idea as well! We had absolutely no tools, containers, or options to do this with, but others also mentioned that….just letting the blend sit in the engine a few hours would separate the oil and water. With water in the bottom then, pull the drain plug for a couple of seconds until oil comes out. Probably not as thorough as a full removal and boil-off, but pretty good. - Thanks for sharing though!
@@RIDEAdventures Just trying to think a little outside the box; still very new to adventure style riding. Thank you. Really liking your channel for all the information!
I'm on a Tenere 700 and getting to the spark plugs is ridiculously involved. Has me wondering what I would do.
Yea, the “let it sit a few hours and drop the water out the bottom” trick mentioned by others below would probably be best. That is, if the water has fully left the combustion chambers, which of course is hard to confirm. Thanks for watching.
why dont you disconnect spark connector and crank with electric motor？
Mentioned in the video was that we had basically no tools, other than a Leatherman. Otherwise, yes, you're right, that would be best/first.
Did the guys in front go the same route through the river? I don’t understand how they could have gone through and not waited.
Good question, but correct, they did not go through it. I was up on the little bypass trail that they also took, because I wanted to get a side shot of Andres instead of head-on. Looked quickly, and said "yea, no problem, 1-foot max" to myself. And then waved Andres through.
Thanks for the response. Glad everything worked out and thanks for the tips. It’s always nice to learn new tricks.
One person stays with the bike and the other rides to go get tools and more help. 🤷🏻♀️
I am not aware of a motorcycle brand that doesn't come with a crappy tiny tool kit. And they always have a cheap plug socket/wrench thing.
It is one of those things you should leave in the bike, even when trying to shed weight or combine tool kits or improve a tool kit.
Also, if only one person has the tools, that one person has to ride sweep.
I hope i never have to do this. .....but
But it was fun. (The first time : )
Who doesn't carry tools, plugs and a plug wrench? I guess you ride a BMW you can afford to fly in a mech. lol