A Solution to avoid HydroLock damage?

[Gavin_Sons]

When my hydrolock occured last year I pulled the plugs and cranked it over. Had rags draped over the spark plug holes and still shot gas all the way across my 2 car garage and on the ceiling and wall. Rags ended up about 4 feet away. So.yes it does make a mess.

[rockbobmel]

When my hydrolock occured last year I pulled the plugs and cranked it over. Had rags draped over the spark plug holes and still shot gas all the way across my 2 car garage and on the ceiling and wall. Rags ended up about 4 feet away. So.yes it does make a mess.

So you caught it before damage occurred?

[Gavin_Sons]

When my hydrolock occured last year I pulled the plugs and cranked it over. Had rags draped over the spark plug holes and still shot gas all the way across my 2 car garage and on the ceiling and wall. Rags ended up about 4 feet away. So.yes it does make a mess.

So you caught it before damage occurred?

yes, i'm in the habit of just tapping the starter. When i tapped it and it clunked i knew exactly what happened. I have fixed 2 hydrolocked bikes and in no hurry to do a third. I watched closely as i shot the gas out of the cylinder to find which one locked. i pulled the bowl off and replaced the float and needle and has not happened since. It is a job to do it while the carbs are on the bike but doable. Took me 2 hours to just do the one. I think another thing that helped was my battery was on the end of it's life and did not have a full charge. That may have prevented the starter from spinning at it's full RPM.

[¿spoom]

When my hydrolock occured last year I pulled the plugs and cranked it over. Had rags draped over the spark plug holes and still shot gas all the way across my 2 car garage and on the ceiling and wall. Rags ended up about 4 feet away. So.yes it does make a mess.

Good info. One thought just occurred to me, were you repeatedly tapping the starter to jog the engine a little with the plugs out, or did you just hold the starter button down assuming it would be safe? I just tap the button when I check, but since I never had gas pooled in a cylinder I don't know how it would have turned out.   

[Gavin_Sons]

I cranked it over as if i was starting it. 2 or 3 seconds. with the plugs out there is nothing stopping the gas from shooting out of the plug hole. What makes it lock is the plug creating the pressure stopping the piston from making the full stroke.

[Jruby38]

crap can the OEM POS and install a Pingle. No worries or problem in 15 years and over 100k miles,

[Gavin_Sons]

crap can the OEM POS and install a Pingle. No worries or problem in 15 years and over 100k miles,

I have a pingle. Still did not stop it. Pingle alone will not stop it from happening. I'm not sure there is any real fixes apart from disconnecting your fuel line and draining the bowls each time you are done riding.

[Gavin_Sons]

and even then it could happen as soon as gas enters the carbs.

[The emperor has no clothes]

crap can the OEM POS and install a Pingle. No worries or problem in 15 years and over 100k miles,

178,000 miles on so-called OEM POS. No worries or problems. 

[Jruby38]

Pingle valve does not leak, and there is not enough fuel in the line to cause hydrolock. I pulled the line and it was about one ounce.

[Blackduck]

Any valve can leak.
Have close to 100,000 miles on mine and know of a 98 with 200,000 that has not even had a kit in the stock valve.
If you get in the habit of turning the stock off you greatly reduce your chances of a lock.
Just need to ensure the selector knob shaft is not binding on the chrome cover.
I have had a lock. Had the carbs apart and the bike on the lifter, had a short run then left it for a couple of days before finishing off the work I was doing. Never found anything in the carbs to cause the leak there, suspect a stuck float.
The petcock had a blocked bleed hole and the vacuum would not release the diaphragm. Nothing wrong with the diaphragms.
Easy to check, remove the fuel hose from petcock, apply vacuum to get fuel flow and if it does not stop flowing when you release the vacuum there is a good chance the orifice is blocked.
So if you have a petcock you have re-kitted and still leaks check the orifice.

[rockbobmel]

So you caught it before damage occurred?
[/quote]

yes, i'm in the habit of just tapping the starter. When i tapped it and it clunked i knew exactly what happened. I have fixed 2 hydrolocked bikes and in no hurry to do a third. I watched closely as i shot the gas out of the cylinder to find which one locked. i pulled the bowl off and replaced the float and needle and has not happened since. It is a job to do it while the carbs are on the bike but doable. Took me 2 hours to just do the one. I think another thing that helped was my battery was on the end of it's life and did not have a full charge. That may have prevented the starter from spinning at it's full RPM.
[/quote]

So, we are talking after a winter layover, not daily or (normal) intervals?

[Hook#3287]

So you caught it before damage occurred?

yes, i'm in the habit of just tapping the starter. When i tapped it and it clunked i knew exactly what happened. I have fixed 2 hydrolocked bikes and in no hurry to do a third. I watched closely as i shot the gas out of the cylinder to find which one locked. i pulled the bowl off and replaced the float and needle and has not happened since. It is a job to do it while the carbs are on the bike but doable. Took me 2 hours to just do the one. I think another thing that helped was my battery was on the end of it's life and did not have a full charge. That may have prevented the starter from spinning at it's full RPM.
[/quote]

So, we are talking after a winter layover, not daily or (normal) intervals?
[/quote]

It's been suggested, as a preventive of Hydrolock causing damage, to bump start every time you start the bike.

It's a good practice that may, or may not, save the starter from exploding the gear.

Hydrolock is a problem, but I'd be interested in the percentage of bikes that have experienced it.  My guess is the % is very low.

But if it happens to you, % don't matter.

[rockbobmel]

I'm curious about the % number also.

[Gavin_Sons]

So you caught it before damage occurred?

yes, i'm in the habit of just tapping the starter. When i tapped it and it clunked i knew exactly what happened. I have fixed 2 hydrolocked bikes and in no hurry to do a third. I watched closely as i shot the gas out of the cylinder to find which one locked. i pulled the bowl off and replaced the float and needle and has not happened since. It is a job to do it while the carbs are on the bike but doable. Took me 2 hours to just do the one. I think another thing that helped was my battery was on the end of it's life and did not have a full charge. That may have prevented the starter from spinning at it's full RPM.
[/quote]

Happened several weeks after spring start up. I think it was in late april. Just rode it all day the day before and went to start it the next morning when it happened.no rhyme or reason it just happened. I always let it idle in the drive way with the gas off and let ot die of fuel starvation before I park it over night. The only thing that could have happened is the float got stuck open and when I turned the gas on it flooded the cylinder. Like I said, there is no sure way of preventing a hydrolock just hope and pray it does not happen to you. My brother bought a hydrolocked bike and we fixed it. Then rainman had his lock a couple years ago and we fixed his. Both of those bikes had oem petcocks and mine had the pingle. I added it several years ago when I was like you guys, trying to prevent this from happening. That was a failure. Now I just bump the starter a couple times to make sure the motor turns over then I start it. Hydrolock is not expensive to fix. Maybe 100 bucks worth of parts but you need special tools to make it easier and a full weekend to tear it apart and put back together. You get real familiar with the bike when you have it stripped down to the frame.

So, we are talking after a winter layover, not daily or (normal) intervals?
[/quote]

[gordonv]

Hydrolock is a problem, but I'd be interested in the percentage of bikes that have experienced it.  My guess is the % is very low.

But if it happens to you, % don't matter.

My thought also, not too often. What saves you if knowing that the original clunk is a problem waiting to happen, and NOT pushing the start button again.

I don't recall anyone yet saying that they have broken gears from hitting the start once and stopping after the clunk. Only when they press it again, not knowing what that clunk ment.

This is why we warn new owners about it. It's all about the knowledge of what happened.

[rockbobmel]

Hydrolock is a problem, but I'd be interested in the percentage of bikes that have experienced it.  My guess is the % is very low.

But if it happens to you, % don't matter.

My thought also, not too often. What saves you if knowing that the original clunk is a problem waiting to happen, and NOT pushing the start button again.

I don't recall anyone yet saying that they have broken gears from hitting the start once and stopping after the clunk. Only when they press it again, not knowing what that clunk ment.

This is why we worn new owners about it. It's all about the knowledge of what happened.

Good advice.  Thanks.