Water went in to spark plug holes

[TorontoGL]

I hope it is not as terrible as I think

Was cleaning/ tuning up bike (GL1000)
removed spark plugs, put the rubber boots back on to avoid anything falling in, got busy with other stuff on bike, slipped my mind that spark plugs are out. Got the hose and washed the whole bike thoroughly.

Today after about 3-4 weeks later, pulled the bike out and spark plug wires just came off and i noticed all four spark plugs are missing then remembered the whole episode. Quickly sprayed some WD40 inside all four cylinders. What should I do next, Drain oil, what else?

to my best recollection water has been sitting inside for a month or so.

thanks for any input

[jdvorchak]

No real harm done.. So relax. Spin the engine over for a few seconds to ventilate the cylinders. You already put in WD-40 so the surfaces will be lubed. Put the plugs back and start it up and let it run for a minute or so. Check to see if the oil looks like a chocolate milk shake. If not you don't have enough water in the oil to matter. If you see foaming oil, just change it and ride it for 20 or 30 minutes and you're good.

[jdvorchak]

Good new is that if there is any water in the cylinders the start up will steam clean the carbon off of the pistons and valves.

[TorontoGL]

many thanks jd, i am relieved,
too bad that bike is not in a state to run as i have taken few things apart but will certainly turn it over by jump starting directly from starter motor terminal.
cheers,

[77Gowing]

Hope it all works out for you.

Good advice JD!

[jdvorchak]

many thanks jd, i am relieved,
too bad that bike is not in a state to run as i have taken few things apart but will certainly turn it over by jump starting directly from starter motor terminal.
cheers,

Not sure if you understood. ONLY spin the engine with the spark plugs out. After a few revs spray in some more WD-40 and put the plugs back in to seal the combustion chambers.

I normally don't like to use WD-40 but in this case it was the perfect stuff to spray into a wet cylinder. WD stands for Water Displacement.

[Don R]

Change the oil first. You don't want to pump water through your oil system.

[rcmatt007]

Good new is that if there is any water in the cylinders the start up will steam clean the carbon off of the pistons and valves.

a blown head gasket also does that great steam clean job

[Liam]

A couple of years ago I bought a GL1200 Aspencade for parts that had been parked under a tree for several years.
The shelter had been removed as had the seat. I took the top off the air filter and it was full to the top with water.
I loosened the inlet pipes to the head and drained down the water. I took out the spark plugs and the cylinders were all full of water.
We went about loading it into the back of my van and as we were pushing it I popped it into gear to check if the engine was locked.
It wasnt, and in fact while pushing it all the water got blown out through the spark plug holes.
When I got it home i drained the sump which was full of water and oil. I filled the sump with some low grade engine oil
and connected a battery. Everything lit up on the dashboard as normal. Tried cranking and actually had spark.
Blew any remaining liquid out of the bores and the oil light went out. Cranked for a while to circulate the oil and then put some oil
down the plug holes. A few days later I cranked it again gently and blew the oil out of the plug holes. Put some fresh oil in.
I was amazed. I honestly thought the engine would have been scrap. I have the carbs cleaned, they were a mess.
I will try firing it up at some point.

[rcmatt007]

my 79 project had the intakes loose on the left and had some water come out... I also had blown a bunch of wd-40 down the spark plug holes.... the bike runs

[jdvorchak]

I bought a 81 or so GS750 which was stored outside for about 10 years. I drained about a gallon of water out of the sump along with the oil. Put some rotella 10w40 in, cleaned the carbs and ran it for a few seconds. The oil looked like a milk shake. I drained it out and put it in a pan and boiled the water out. Put the oil back in and ran it again. Looked like a milk shake again. Out it came and I boiled all of that water out. Oil and water don't like to mix and the water will eventually go to the bottom as it is heavier than oil. If you heat the oil/water mix the water will boil out at 212 deg F. Well below the normal operating temp for motor oil. I monitored the process with a digital non-contact thermometer and noted that the mixture seemed to hover at about 215 deg for a few minutes. Then the temp rose quickly to about 230 when I took it off the heat.

Long story short I pulled the oil pan off to perform an oil pump regulator mod. What I found inside was NO RUST of any kind! Actually I was looking at the cleanest inside of an engine I've ever seen without being rebuilt. Anyway new gasket and put it back together with the "boiled oil" and it ran fine. Oh I did change the oil filter twice. That bike ran like a bat out of H_LL for over a year before I sold it.

[Don R]

So, what happened?

[TorontoGL]

Hi everyone,
Sorry could not report back right away as bike was not in a state to be fired up so had to do several things to reach that stage. I am very pleased to report that bike is running better than any other bikes i ever bought (projects). To record, steps i took;

sprayed liberal amount of WD40 in each spark plug hole and left it in for 24 hours
after 24 hours, put the bike in 2nd or 3rd gear and started to move the wheel while on centre stand
back and forth, came to a point where a bit of movement was noticed, dragged/ pushed it and it started spitting WD40 (mostly) out whereas there wasn't water inside or may be mixed up with WD40 or perhaps it was just my paranoia (that water was inside.
Drained oil, filled new one (with old filter in place), fired it up, some hesitation and it fired up, only with choke though
when warmed up, sprayed some seafoam top end cleaner in all intakes, gave some throttle, turned it off, 10 minutes later started and kept RPMs between 2000-3000, tons of smoke came, sputtering, popping misfiring etc.

treated topend with seafoam yet again, this time filled up carbs with 50/50 (seafoam/gas) and left it for overnight
next morning started again, hesitation initially then fired up rather normal but again only with choke. One more to end cleaning treatment and filled carbs with pure seafoam.

i think about a day and half later, drained seafoam from carbs, attached aux tank with fresh (pure gas) and fired up, started with hesitation but in short it was running without choke but random sputter and popping.

it was putting 15-18 volts on to battery, got worried, disconnected and came inside to do my search for overcharging situation. removed connectors at regulator and rectifier end, cleaned with fine sandpaper then sprayed contact cleaner and put them back with some electrical grease, fired up and voltage now at idle are 12.7V and over 2500 rpm about 14.02-14.1v. which seems ok ?

idle is sort of ok, revving is fine except when it reaches 5700-6000 rpm, right muffler pops pretty strong, not sure what to check next, could it be timing, carbs, (all spark plug boots measure between 4.7-5.1 ohms, new D8EA plugs, good spark).

[jdvorchak]

I see you pulling the carb rack and cleaning it properly. As you are finding out, there is no shortcut to cleaning carbs. Trust me. If there was we'd all know about it and would never pull another rack of carbs.

[gltriker]