Please help. =(

[elpash]

After jet washing my bike I thought I'd got water into the air filter, I took it off and there's no water in it, my bike was running badly after the jet wash and kept dying at low revs, or when I put too much choke on.

I tried running it tonight and after five mins of warming up the bike stalled and now won't start again, and I've now nearly killed off the battery.

I'm going to drain my carb float which I'm guessing is the screw next to this pipe?

 

And try it again in the morning.

When I was trying to jump it it was turning over but wouldn't jump into life.

What else could I of messed up?

Currently on my way to Halfords to buy a spark plug remover

It's a 2004 Yamaha XVS125 2500 miles, no mods

[Grumpy Old Git]

Water in cable connections - especially around the coil area?

Disconnect plug caps and ensure they are dry. Also any cable connectors you can get to. NB. You could use a hairdryer to help dry any damp bits.

[elpash]

Cheers Grumpy I'll give that a go in the morning.

[elpash]

I had just been to buy a spark plug socket to test if the spark is coming through

it's my first bike and if a car has broke down then I've felt annoyed about it, but this weirdly I almost feel sorry for the bike, and I'm itching to get back on it.

[Snod Blatter]

Is the air filter on show? How do you think water got in there? Also, if you jet washed the tank you may have forced water into the fuel as well, so you might have to drain that too.. The spark plug and particularly its cap is a good place to start though.

PROTIP: Don't jet wash a bike. All its guts are on show, it's like jet washing the engine bay of a car and then climbing in and giving the dashboard a good blast. You'll force water into the chain, the wheel bearings, the electrics, maybe the fuel system.. Really not good.

[fastbob]

After jet washing my bike I thought I'd got water into the air filter, I took it off and there's no water in it, my bike was running badly after the jet wash and kept dying at low revs, or when I put too much choke on.

I tried running it tonight and after five mins of warming up the bike stalled and now won't start again, and I've now nearly killed off the battery.

I'm going to drain my carb float which I'm guessing is the screw next to this pipe?

IMG_5154.JPG

And try it again in the morning.

When I was trying to jump it it was turning over but wouldn't jump into life.

What else could I of messed up?

Currently on my way to Halfords to buy a spark plug remover

It's a 2004 Yamaha XVS125 2500 miles, no mods

 

Yes that's the screw but it looks chewed up to f**k to use an engineers term . I'm thinking you're going to have to take the whole bowl off.

[fastbob]

I had just been to buy a spark plug socket to test if the spark is coming through

it's my first bike and if a car has broke down then I've felt annoyed about it, but this weirdly I almost feel sorry for the bike, and I'm itching to get back on it.

 

I know that feeling very well, I can't bear to see one of my bikes poorly. If I've started a job I can't rest until its all back together again sometimes I lose track of time and forget to have my dinner. Mind you just about every job on my GSXR involves taking the whole damn bike apart to get at anything.

[SlowBusa]

Mind you just about every job on my GSXR involves taking the whole damn bike apart to get at anything.

 

A+ to that

[elpash]

Today I had on of the spark plugs out and it was black and wet, a quick wipe with a cloth and it cleaned up, both sides leads were sparking fine, just charging the battery up and need to break off the clip on the clutch wire as it gets in the way of the spark plug with my stupidly long socket I got from Halfords as they had no other 16mm.

 

 

Then I will dry off that plug and try again.

Then if it starts and bogs down I know I have air, I have a spark, I've drained the carb so only thing left is a fuel problem.

[elpash]

Battery charged, spark plugs dried off, bike started up again, had to play with the throttle to keep it alive, put the choke on...... it died and wouldn't start again.

I decided to take the air filter off to check see if it started with more air going in, as I undid this jubilee clip....

 

 

And it was wet and stunk of petrol

[Snod Blatter]

So.. Let it all dry out?

[elpash]

I wasn't able to work on my bike all week so left work early today and took the plugs out, dried them, turned over the bike to spit out petrol left in there.

Then put the battery on charge.

Took the air filter off so I could give the carb a few light taps thinking it could be a stuck float...... air filter was full of liquid (I only rarely have a sense of smell due to bad polyps so couldn't sniff to see if it was petrol).

I put the battery back in and sprayed connection cleaner on all the points.

I decided to turn the bike over with the air filter off and see what happened........ it started!

I turned the choke on, it started warming up then I heared a gushing sound, looked down to where my air filter once was.....

[fastbob]

Yes ? And ? .... That looks like an emulsion of oil and water. Probably been there all the time since the jet wash. Does your airbox have a drain tube underneath ? If it does it's either blocked up with crap or it has a bung in the end that you are supposed to remove every now and then to drain any moisture that has collected. Anyway, looks like you've found the cause of the problem.

[elpash]

Yeah looks like it's definitely the cause, not seen a drain off the air box, so going to drain the oil twice and hopefully that's me back on the road.

Until the next issue.

[fastbob]

Yeah looks like it's definitely the cause, not seen a drain off the air box, so going to drain the oil twice and hopefully that's me back on the road.

Until the next issue.

 

Twice ? Why are you going to drain the oil ? Do you think there's so much water inside the engine that it's being pumped back into the airbox through the oil breather? Makes sense I suppose but you must have aimed that jet washer in the wrong place for quite some time to do that. Can I suggest that you use the cheapest oil you can get your hands on for the first oil change and use the good stuff for the second one. After that I suggest you go for a very long ride to boil off any remaining water. By the way, when I saw the last picture I assumed that the water was simply lurking in the airbox all the time but on reflection I do see where your coming from. If I pumped water into the airbox on my ER5 it would flow straight into the crankcase. We can thank the environmentalists for this because its designed to stop naughty oil vapour getting out by burning it off through the carbs. Trouble is anything going the other way such as petrol from a stuck float or in your case water from the jet wash ends up in your oil. There's something to be said for pod filters and a separate crankcase breather . Do let us know what drops out when you drain the oil. Good luck.

[elpash]

I'll be honest I'm pretty green with all this stuff so the twice was a recommendation from two separate people so yeah the cheapest stuff they've got, a blast around for an hour or two and then put the good stuff in. One of them did mention two oil filter changes too but think that's maybe a step too far.

And yeah I'll take a photo, appreceate the input so far too.

I tried putting the video up and you'd of seen it pouring out but the forum wouldn't let me.

[SlowBusa]

Do let us know what drops out when you drain the oil. Good luck.

 

Half of the Amazon by the looks of it

[TimR]

Im mildly confused at in your original opening post you say you removed air filter but no water in it

And now it has all this water in it ....

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Im mildly confused at in your original opening post you say you removed air filter but no water in it

And now it has all this water in it ....

 

I think the water / emulsion had got past the air filter into the engine oil. Certainly reinforces the advice about either not jet washing bikes or if you have to keep the spray pattern wide and well away from the engine.

[elpash]

Im mildly confused at in your original opening post you say you removed air filter but no water in it

And now it has all this water in it ....

 

I'm sure I had more of a confused face when I took it off the third time and got covered in water!

And yeah it's definitely a bucket and a sponge next time.

[SlowBusa]

Your experience and posting it in a forum WILL I have no doubt stop some new bikers from making the same mistake

To anyone reading this who may not put 2 & 2 together ......you will (No matter how careful you think you are) wash away your grease from bearings (wheels/swing arm/steering head...blah blah) causing problems

It Can And Will take your decals off if to close too

[elpash]

Contents of the oil drop...

The bike is only meant to hold 1.6 litres of oil, and that looks about 3-4 litres full

 

Looks like fuel is going into the oil, which is hopefully just from flooding the engine trying to get it started

[fastbob]

Im mildly confused at in your original opening post you say you removed air filter but no water in it

And now it has all this water in it ....

 

Me too initially but it would seem that so much water has found it's way info the crankcase via the airbox that its actually being pumped back out again when the engine is running.

[fastbob]

Contents of the oil drop...

The bike is only meant to hold 1.6 litres of oil, and that looks about 3-4 litres full

IMG_5224.JPG

Looks like fuel is going into the oil, which is hopefully just from flooding the engine trying to get it started

 

Possibly but remember that oil floats on top of water so that isn't necessarily a bowl of just oil. Also bear in mind that you have already shown a picture of a water/oil emulsion belching out of the airbox after being coughed up from the crankcase.

Edited November 18, 2017 by fastbob

[Joe85]

Jet wash with no problems at all.

High and wide is the rule i stick to.