Hydrolock without damage?

[J V McLure]

A few months ago I left my petcock open when parked. When I tried to strat it, it turned over and then stopped dead. When I pushed the starter switch again, she fired up. I then found a small puddle of fule on the floor that came from the weeps in the exhaust. Since then, I have not had any problems. It sounds normal when cranking and when running. Is it possible to hydrolock and not do any damage to the starter or ring gear?  Was I just lucky?

[Blackduck]

That makes two of us. Did mine several months ago and still going OK. Not to say there may not be some strained parts in there but every thing seems fine.
Mind you the second it locked I quit trying to start it and pulled the plugs and cleared the fuel from the cylinders.
Cheers Steve

[Garland]

In my case, I broke a tooth or to off one of the starter engagement gears after a similar episode years ago. Afterwards, I would find every once in a while that the starter would just spin, without cranking the engine. I would have to put it in gear and bump it a bit to get things lined up where it would start. I managed that way for a few years before I replaced the damaged parts.

Yours is probably fine. The gears are pretty beefy.

[BOZ]

J V... Sounds like you may be playing Russion Roulette. Consider fixing the likely core problems of leaking petcock and sticking float (or you may be a very unhappy camper someday). 

[Mildew]

I know I need to get mine fixed. I had no idea the problems that caused. It never bothered me to leave it off or on. I guess i've been lucky. One would think Honda would make these things better because of the problems they could cause.