I recently bought a neat little red Kawasaki dual sport. Having put 100 miles on it, I was ready to find some trails. At the north end of Lake Lewisville I found what I was looking for. There were some decent hills and lots of nice single track, but very wet. I was avoiding all the big puddles. After an hour I was on my way out and there was a big puddle rutted out by some 4x4s. It looked OK down the center so I took off. About half way in I slid off center into seat high goo. That stinky black lake Lewisville gumbo but mostly water on top (Now I’ll try to account the events from here as best as I remember).

The Bike Stalled. I tried to start it no luck. When I got off the bike I slipped and the bike tipped over slightly. I’m not sure if the tail pipe was under but its possible. Eventually I was able to pull the bike out. Exhausted I tried to start it again and nothing. Being brand new the bike did have some tools. I pulled the plug on the bottom of the airbox and lots of muddy water and goo drained out. I pulled the seat and the top of the airbox wringed out the mud etc. I never pulled the spark plug. After pushing for an hour, stopping every 10 minutes to crank it, I was able to get to a trail head where my family met me with the truck. Thank God for GPS and cell phones.

Bike Still won’t start. Here’s what I’ve done

Washed it.
Completely cleaned airbox and filter
dried snorkel etc..
Drained milk shake oil, replaced oil filter
Drined more oil from flywheel plug by laying bike on the side
drained carb bowl several times.
refilled oil, cranked it and drained again.
pulled plug cleaned and checked for spark looks good
tried spraying starting fluid in the head and the carb. it never fires

Next steps:

Disconnect and drain tail pipe
Check compression
Get a new spark plug anyway
Pull carb and clean
Take it back to the dealer with my tail between my legs and bend over
Divorce

I’ve been reading some of the forum posts and most of these bikes recover from this kind of abuse and eventually start on the trail. Mine has never Re-Fired. Any other ideas?

 

I think if you basically tip it vertical, with the front wheel straight up, you can drain the exhaust. There is more to it than that but someone may come along and post up the technique. There are some steps for next time that you can do and you won't need a truck.

 

Yep, it all went wrong when you tried to start it before you de-watered it. But fear not, they are tough bikes and it will work again.

Carb and electrics, clean and dry.

After you have cleaned and dried everything, leave the plug out and crank it over.
Squirt a bit of fuel in the plug hole and crank it again. (careful now)

Leave the air filter out, plug back in, should start.
Then dry and oil the filter.
Job done.

And, change the oil again after you get it running.

 

Milkshake oil huh....been there

Sounds like you have done good so far surprised she did not fire with starting fluid and you got spark. First take out the plug and blow out the cylinder....spray wd-40 in there and repeat.

Now put plug in and start her with a ether shot.....if she does not start, you got no spark....or you did not get enough ether in there so take off the air filter to get a good ether shot in there.

Thats all I got to say about that......post results.

 

Just a thought, the sidestand cutout switch!

Good effort BTW. I'm no hero when it comes to water. No one likes pushing a bike for an hour.

 

If it cranks and has spark I don't think it's the sidestand safety switch. I would remove disassemble and clean the entire carb.

 

Welcome To Kawasaki Forums.

 

Well that sucks. I got to see first hand that a KLX does not make a good submarine. KLX Tony took his bike for a swim over at the Reiter pit near Goldbar Washington. a couple of years ago. I ended up taking his bike back to Everett after he got the water out of the and tried to ride it a couple of miles. Good luck with getting the bike back to running condition. Here is a link to what happened. Maybe there is something in there that can help. Oh and welcome to the forums.

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...ead.php?t=8077

 

My son did the same thing with his 07 with about 40 miles on it and did all of the thinkls that you mentioned and it would not start -even though I think it had spark. Pull the flywheel cover and though it may be drained, mine had a coating of thick "milk" over everything including the coil & pick up etc. I cleaned it all with WD-40 and it started right up!
Hope this helps!

 

drained tail pipe no water
Used a can of carb cleaner in fuel line and air intake.
sprayed wd 40 in cylinder head
pulled flywheel cover cleaned magneto

still won't fire with ether. did see a flash back thru carb though. (can't reproduce)

going for new spark plug now.

Also noticed clutch won't disengage 1st gear very well. can't crank engin in 1st with clutch pulled.

list is getting short. guess i need to pull the carb next. not too confident with that task.

Take it back to the dealer with my tail between my legs and bend over
Divorce