Cold water on hot engine risky???

[Isaac Vanier]

I ride a 97 DR350SE. It has an air cooled engine. If the engine is hot, is
it dangerous to ride through cold water, and submerge the engine
completely?? Is ther much danger of cracking the engine? I also would like
to know, because I've been afraid to bring my bike to the car wash, because
I have to drive it to get it there, and by then the engine is hot.

Thanks!

[KTMNealio]

In article <bg_o4.648$iw1.1...@homer.alpha.net>,

The water itself doesn't hurt the engine. You could throw a cup full
of ice water on there and it would be fine. Submerging the engine in
ice-water would probably crack or warp something. The sudden, uneven
cooling of the metal is what causes the damage. If the car wash is
heated (like many pressure wash places are), letting the bike sit for a
few minutes and then washing should be fine.
When I was a little kid, my grandparents bought my brother and I and
ATC110. They lived in the woods and we used to blast through the creek
(snow runoff) all the time and there would be a huge cloud of steam.
We did this for years and we never had a problem. The water would turn
to steam and cool the engine off slightly, but it never cooled it
enough to hurt anything. Just a worthless story to prove my point..
- Nealio

--
###################################################
##---------------- Aaron K. Neal ----------------##
## ----- Software Engineer - Boise, Idaho ------ ##
## -- 1999 KTM 380 SX ** KTM: Known To Mangle -- ##

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Before you buy.

[Floyd Frederickson]

>When I was a little kid, my grandparents bought my brother and I and
>ATC110. They lived in the woods and we used to blast through the creek
>(snow runoff) all the time and there would be a huge cloud of steam.
>We did this for years and we never had a problem. The water would turn
>to steam and cool the engine off slightly, but it never cooled it
>enough to hurt anything. Just a worthless story to prove my point..

It's those types of "worthless" stories that I hope my kids and grandkids will
remenber about good times with me. :-)

dd

DirtDoggie's Triple Crown ------------------------------
99 YZ400F "Mighty Moe"
97 YZ 250 "Big Blue"
99 YZ125 "Dave's Dream"
98 XR100R (Mom's Honda doesn't count)

[eiei...@my-deja.com]

I have heard storys with older bikes where engines would cold seeze or
4 corner seezing a piston when they went under water but they were 2
strokes, I had an XR600 that went through rivers in ECEA enduros many
times and never did crack have a problem. but the steam used to fog my
glasses bad!

In article <bg_o4.648$iw1.1...@homer.alpha.net>,
"Isaac Vanier" <f...@pitnet.net> wrote:
> I ride a 97 DR350SE. It has an air cooled engine. If the engine is
hot, is
> it dangerous to ride through cold water, and submerge the engine
> completely?? Is ther much danger of cracking the engine? I also
would like
> to know, because I've been afraid to bring my bike to the car wash,
because
> I have to drive it to get it there, and by then the engine is hot.
>

> Thanks!

[Dudley Cornman]

In article <bg_o4.648$iw1.1...@homer.alpha.net>, "Isaac Vanier" <f...@pitnet.net> writes:
> I ride a 97 DR350SE. It has an air cooled engine. If the engine is hot, is
> it dangerous to ride through cold water, and submerge the engine
> completely?? Is ther much danger of cracking the engine? I also would like

I guess it could happen, but I've seen alot of hot bikes go into deep
water with no bad results. I've personally ridden my XR400 through deep
puddles with floating ice in them. It makes alot of steam, but never has
hurt anything so far.

> to know, because I've been afraid to bring my bike to the car wash, because
> I have to drive it to get it there, and by then the engine is hot.

Some car washes around here have hot water... at least in the winter. :)

dsc - acssysdsc

[Mean Gene]

That's A Honda.Don't count.

[Vintage Dave]

I have run bikes through a steam so many times...sure I would avoid it but I
have never heard of it actually hurting a any bike.

Vintage Dave

[Anssi Lehtinen]

Motorcycleman wrote:
> Yes, it is dangerous to ride a hot motor through cold water. You will most
> likely crack the case and you will definately wish you didn't ride through
> the water. Same with the car wash. Even if you didn't crack the case,
> something would probably warp.

I wouldn't go as far as saying "most likely" and "probably". I've ridden
through ice-cold (and I mean this literally, sometimes there a bit of
ice on top that I go through) and there have been no noticeable effects.

Of course it isn't the brightest of ideas to go steaming through if
there's a way to avoid it, but it's not like it will definitely (or even
very likely in the context of a single steamy incident) ruin your
engine.

[DOUG. ROTH]

I don't think it would hurt anything because I've ridden up streams and
nothing happens.

Anssi Lehtinen wrote in message <38B10D75...@pp.htv.fi>...

[TNT]

I live in Canada and a couple years ago when we had wicked Spring flooding I
was riding my XR thru water up to the seat, with ice chunks floating by. My
buddy's throttle grip got a little wet (shoulda wired them on) and let the
bike stall half way thru. He had to get off and walk it out. I think his
nuts cracked and warped when they hit the water, but both bikes were okay.

Madman
XR200R from Hell
Z50 MiniTrail
http://www.vicinities.com/dirtbikes/