Water in airbox and electrics (LDE)

petem · Aug 31, 2010

I see that at least two of the Husaberg riders in the EWC had problems with water in the airbox at the EWC round in Greece. Not sure what Mena's riding but Salinen's shown as being on an FE390. Without seeing any pics or video yet it might be that they were going through ridiculously deep water as other riders also had the same problem, but just wondering if anyone here has had a problem on one of the LDE bikes crossing water? I don't mean dropping the bike completely underwater as that'll cause a problem on most bikes (!), but has anyone had it die while still upright riding through deep water? Might be doing a couple of fords this weekend so I'm keen to know...

Mine wouldn't start for a while after washing it the other day, which I put down to water in the electrics somewhere. It kept coughing and trying to start and a few times ran for a second or two then died. Left it for 5 minutes and it finally started up, a bit rough at first then settled back to normal. Starting it again later it was fine. It had the blank in place of the air filter while washing and a fresh filter fitted afterwards anyway so it wasn't anything to do with water in the airbox in this case, which is why I suspected electrics. I never use a jet washer BTW, just a low pressure garden hose and this is the first time I've had a problem - after every other wash it just fired straight up first time as normal, though usually the bike would have still been a little warm after riding it, while it was cold this time. I'm hoping the electrics can stand a bit of water otherwise those fords could get interesting...

DaleEO · Aug 31, 2010

Just a thought.................

Maybe, just maybe, those who had water in their air box had modified the shrouds to get more air into the air box and that let in the water.

As far as your electrics go. Not long after I got my bike, I pulled every single connector apart, blew it out with high pressure air, and filled it with di-electric grease and then re assembled. Even the ones with O rings in them. If the connector is full of grease, then nothing else can get in. Just wipe off the excess that spoooges out and it won't be a dust collector.

petem · Aug 31, 2010

It'd be interesting to know whether they did have modified shrouds fitted. Anyone?

Hopefully I'll be fitting the sub-frame tank this week so maybe that's the time to have a go at greasing all the connectors too. Thanks for the suggestion.

berger · Aug 31, 2010

I have had issues crossing deep water a few times. Each time the bike chugged out of the stream and died on the bank. It usually takes a couple of long tries to get it fired again. I have always attributed it to the motor cooling so quickly it played havoc with the EFI, not so much a water intrusion issue.
Just my thoughts.

petem · Aug 31, 2010

berger said:
Each time the bike chugged out of the stream and died on the bank. It usually takes a couple of long tries to get it fired again.

Interesting. My old Husky would wade through pretty deep water and run perfectly well both then and later as did a Yam WR250R I had, but my KTM 690E has done exactly what you described a few times, one of them after going through water that was only about a foot deep and very unlikely to have got into the air intake especially as it's probably even higher up than the one on my FE (and I checked it when the bike stopped and it looked bone dry, but the engine itself was wet of course). It's not been through water very often so the failure rate is pretty high (>50%). Maybe there's a common factor here somewhere in the KTM-sourced electrics or EFI components... :?:

DaleEO · Aug 31, 2010

berger said:
I have had issues crossing deep water a few times. Each time the bike chugged out of the stream and died on the bank. It usually takes a couple of long tries to get it fired again. I have always attributed it to the motor cooling so quickly it played havoc with the EFI, not so much a water intrusion issue.
Just my thoughts.

Hmmmmmmm, come to think of it Berger, when I crossed the river at the bottom of the 48 switch backs trail, and got hung up on the far side, my 570 started to sputter and miss, but still had ample power to get me up and out of the river. Once out of the river, I just let it idle for about 30 seconds and then revved it a few times and all was good. Everything was fine until I got pushed down stream a bit and hit a stump on the far side and got stuck in the river, up to that point it was running great.

I bet you are right about a rapid coolant temp decrease and the ECU not liking it very much. However, I have driven hundreds of miles with the bike in the back of my truck in the rain, sleet, and snow, unloaded and hit the button and the bike started right up.

berger · Aug 31, 2010

Funny Dale, that's the exact same place I am talking about. The bottom of Deadmans, crossing the creek. The only problem is that I seem to find the big deep hole every time

It always makes it out but stalls on the bank with a huge plume of steam coming off the motor and exhaust.

berglsmerg · Aug 31, 2010

Hey berger I ride some pretty deep water occasionally and I have found three things that make the bike die.
1 Water in the air filter, not so much inthe air box, when you give it a big rev it draws the water out of the already saturated air filter and kills the fire. I stop, wring it out and keep going.

2 Dodgy spark plug cap seals and the drain hole for the spark plug gallery in the head. I've plugged the drain hole with a piece of o-ring material and greased the plug cap seal.

3 Water in the connectors especialy the open to atmosphere killswitch connectors. Do Like Dale says.

Also I have found that the two slots in the picture selow let in heaps of crud, in soupy, coarse river sand they let enough junk in to jam up my seat catch requiring removing the exhaust, all the subframe and tank bolts, percussion via a hammer and long screwdriver to the latch arm, plentiful swearing and lots of xxxx beer. So if enough sand gets in to pack out the latch a ton of water must travel through as well right down on to the ecu battery and fuse block.

CrazyTed · Sep 1, 2010

I've had a problem in an extremely wet and muddy race with mud coming up into the airbox where the fuel line and pump are located, behind the filter. I added a piece of skid plate foam in that area and have not had another problem with mud reaching the air filter.

I also fabricated a rear fender extension for my FX to prevent the mud from flinging off the rear tire and onto my seat while I'm standing. Makes for a slippery seat really quickly.

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Water in airbox and electrics (LDE)

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