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I changed the oil two days ago(atf). Went for a ride yesterday. Got stuck in water(deep enough to hit bottom of engine and splash a lot, didn't fall over though). When I got out of the water, checked things over, noticed pretty soon I had strawberry colored sight glass.
It's a new engine rebuild with less than 10 hrs. Really hoping I didn't ruin the water pump seal. Could this water have gotten in some other way?

Fun Wheel Drive

I should clarify that I don't know if it looked like this before I attempted the water crossing.

Fun Wheel Drive

How is your trans vent tube run? It is possible to suck water in that way.

You need to route your vent tube up to the airbox.

That will also let you run your transmission oil at the proper level.

Let that stuff you drained sit for a few days and see if the water/oil will separate. Then you will be able to tell if it's fresh water, or engine coolant (you are running anti-freeze, right?) It's going to take several oil changes to get it all cleaned out of your transmission.

Julien D wrote:How is your trans vent tube run? It is possible to suck water in that way.

I was hoping you would say that. I guess it's not a pcv setup, since the crank case is isolated from the tranny fluid (ideally). This sends very likely to be what happened.

Tedh98 wrote:You need to route your vent tube up to the airbox.

That will also let you run your transmission oil at the proper level.

By "proper level", you mean more than it's designed for? When I put in 800ml, it fills to the top of the sight glass. Is it really that strongly recommended to run full quart?

david wrote:Let that stuff you drained sit for a few days and see if the water/oil will separate. Then you will be able to tell if it's fresh water, or engine coolant (you are running anti-freeze, right?) It's going to take several oil changes to get it all cleaned out of your transmission.

Excellent idea. I already poured it into an old atf container, but I might pour it out and let it sit.
I can also check my rad fluid level. Yes, anti freeze.

Fun Wheel Drive

No PCV. The crankcase is sealed. The trans has a vent line which, as mentioned, should route up into the airbox. Running a full quart is optional, but it does seem to quieten them down quite a bit.

Friedom wrote:By "proper level", you mean more than it's designed for? When I put in 800ml, it fills to the top of the sight glass. Is it really that strongly recommended to run full quart?

I made that comment based on a post from you in another thread:

Friedom wrote:My buddy helped with my oil change last time, and ended up over filling it a little. Then every time I'd run it, it would drip oil out of the crank vent hose. Continued doing that until I finally removed the bolt and drained some myself until I could barely see the level on the sight glass. Brand new motor rebuild.

I would think that if you had to drop the fluid below the site glass, you weren't running the recommended level, or whatever the manual calls for.

As JulienD mentioned, running a full quart does quiet things down. And the other nice thing abut using a full quart is that you don't have the partial quart containers laying around.

I think if you re-route your vent line you'll be in good shape - hopefully it is something that simple.

Friedom wrote:

I changed the oil two days ago(atf). Went for a ride yesterday. Got stuck in water(deep enough to hit bottom of engine and splash a lot, didn't fall over though). When I got out of the water, checked things over, noticed pretty soon I had strawberry colored sight glass.
It's a new engine rebuild with less than 10 hrs. Really hoping I didn't ruin the water pump seal. Could this water have gotten in some other way?

Fun Wheel Drive

water can get in from the kickstarter seal, the clutch lever seal, or the vent line. if it got in through the shifter shaft, oil would leak out all the time. it's normal to submerge a bike and get water in the transmission, through those listed places.

remedy:
fill completely with oil, atf, or diesel, kick it a few times, dump it.
repeat 2-3 times.

fill with your choice of atf/oil and go ride. the remaining water should cook off through the vent line from the heat of operation. never let a watered down engine sit. it will rust.

ohgood wrote:

Friedom wrote:

I changed the oil two days ago(atf). Went for a ride yesterday. Got stuck in water(deep enough to hit bottom of engine and splash a lot, didn't fall over though). When I got out of the water, checked things over, noticed pretty soon I had strawberry colored sight glass.
It's a new engine rebuild with less than 10 hrs. Really hoping I didn't ruin the water pump seal. Could this water have gotten in some other way?

Fun Wheel Drive

water can get in from the kickstarter seal, the clutch lever seal, or the vent line. if it got in through the shifter shaft, oil would leak out all the time. it's normal to submerge a bike and get water in the transmission, through those listed places.

remedy:
fill completely with oil, atf, or diesel, kick it a few times, dump it.
repeat 2-3 times.

fill with your choice of atf/oil and go ride. the remaining water should cook off through the vent line from the heat of operation. never let a watered down engine sit. it will rust.

2-3 times eh? Did it once, was wondering beyond that.

I think I'll re route the breather line.

I would hope the other brand new seals wouldn't allow water in, but stranger things have happened.

Time to get more atf.

Fun Wheel Drive

Tedh98 wrote:

Friedom wrote:By "proper level", you mean more than it's designed for? When I put in 800ml, it fills to the top of the sight glass. Is it really that strongly recommended to run full quart?

I made that comment based on a post from you in another thread:

Friedom wrote:My buddy helped with my oil change last time, and ended up over filling it a little. Then every time I'd run it, it would drip oil out of the crank vent hose. Continued doing that until I finally removed the bolt and drained some myself until I could barely see the level on the sight glass. Brand new motor rebuild.

I would think that if you had to drop the fluid below the site glass, you weren't running the recommended level, or whatever the manual calls for.

I see. I wasn't clear in the other post - when I said "drained some myself until I could barely see the level on the sight glass" I meant the level was barely below the top, not the bottom, of the site glass.

Edit: Sorry if I got defensive up there.

Fun Wheel Drive

the reason i said 2-3 times is because of all the nooks and crannies in a transmission (or engine for that matter) case. i've seen 4 strokes that needed 3 changes to get rid of most of the water, afterwhich riding (heat) cooked off the rest.

Took it out for a good ride yesterday with a good quart of Rotella in there. Ran great. Clutch lever seal is leaking (even though it's new). My site glass has some foam or something stuck to it side the milkshake incident, so it's a little harder to read oil level. Hopefully that will wipe off next time I have the clutch cover off.

Fun Wheel Drive