Flooded engine!!

[rotaxrule1]

Hi guys,

Well here is another water flooding story. Last Sunday I took our machines out for a run and during the process of someone getting on my 96 xp, it tipped over. After that it would not start.

So, I turned it over a few times. At first it fired, quit, fired, quit. I pulled the plugs and light water mist on them. I figure it must have had water from the exhaust back flush inside when it tipped the wrong way. ( sound correct?)

Anyway, right away I started with the cranking with plugs out, let the plugs dry in the sun for a sec, put them back in, crank over again. I repeated this process on the water about 15 times until it killed my battery and my wife towed me in.

Got it back to the dock and jumped it from my gsx (not running) tried a few more times, plugs were finally looking dry. At which point it fired up. I let it idle at the dock for a few minutes, then took it out and ran it for at least ten minutes until I had to leave. Then when I got it on the trailer and was waiting for the others to come, I let it idle some more there (about 5 mins)

That being said, I just have 2 questions for you guys if i may:

1. Would you say I did my due diligence for getting the engine dried out and safe?

2. During this last few minutes, my gas guage also acted weird. It was indicating full ( correct reading) then all the sudden the bars started gradually going down as if gas was draining (tank was still full) did the sending unit die on me or could that be due to the battery being so low? I have it on the charger and will try it again after I charge it.

Sorry for the long posting, thanks so much as always for any help

 

[rotaxrule1]

Well charged the battery and no change in the gas guage, kinda figured that though. Any input on those two items anyone? Thanks in advance.

 

[rotaxrule1]

bump......

 

[wtrgrl]

Don't know about the gas gauge but it sounds like you got all the water out of the cylinders. Did it seem to run fine after the 10 minutes?

 

[rotaxrule1]

Thanks for the reply, yes it seemed to start and run perfectly normal after. I still am a bit paranoid as to any water still residing in there. Other than that I think I was lucky.

 

[wtrgrl]

I think you're all good with the water in the cylinders. If your still paranoid just go run it on the water, it will all burn off. I flipped mine over and after it would not start. I did the same as you except I never saw any water, put new spark plugs in and it ran like new. That was over a year ago. As far as your gas gauge it is a common problem for these to go out. Search the threads there is a ton of info on gas gauge problems and ways to troubleshoot it.

 

[rotaxrule1]

Since this, I actually took it out on the water last weekend and it ran beautifully. Whew! Thanks for the reply, I will start the troubleshooting process for the guage. Its almost like the float sunk all the sudden or something because the gas level suddenly started dropping bar by bar until it was empty, then it stayed that way.

Anyway, thanks again...

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

guage

the guage, well the mpem, smooth's the tank from high to low, so the bars don't go up / down all day long even though the floats moving...

my guess is the baffle / sensor. I've replaced my '02 XP one, and have ordered one for my '99 GTX to put in this week. not a 'hard' fix just a bit of a pita...

if u jump the guage it should read that you have a 'full' tank... or at least it does that on my '99GTX... then when i remove that it goes back to 'empty' tank...

 

[rotaxrule1]

Good info, thanks. Ya I heard on the xp hull you have to take the steering assembly off to get the fuel baffle to come out. Not aure I will have to play with it I guess. Maybe I can move the tank forward and get it out through the trunk opening.