[nc35 ]Bunch of water came out of the sump.

[MikeBb]

I am absolutely gutted.. A few weeks ago i drained the oil and then reinstalled the sump plug fingertight. Recently I attempted to flush the cooling system and in my infinite stupidity undid the wrong 'coolant drain bolt'. The bolt I DID pull out had coolant corrosion on it so i thought i had the right one. I stuck the garden hose in the radiator cap, and undid the lower radiator and flushed all the old green coolant out of the engine and radiators. After getting frustrated that nothing was coming out of the 'water pump drain' i reattatched the lower radiator and put the hose into the top radiator.. thinking that the drain was just clogged with corrosion. With no results i gave up.
Fast foreward, and i am assembling the thing to try and test start the engine, before putting oil in i decided to pull off the oil drain bolt to let out any more old oil that might have collected there. And out of the oil sump came a bunch (maybe a cup or 2) of clear water. Basically this monkey mechanic has forced a bunch of water from the coolant galleys to the oil galleys somewhere. I cant find 'head gasket' or 'coolant seal' in index in the haynes manual, so im not sure how bad this is.

After this i did another coolant flush with the oil sump plug off, and no water came out of the sump.

[Drunkn Munky]

2 cups of water will barely fill the sump, I wouldn't worry. Fill with oil and run it.

Which bolt did you undo as I can't see how you got water in the engine.

[MikeBb]

The lower left bolt.. On the thermostat housing... In my defense ive had a very tiring weekend and have been hitting the ground running with this bike as soon as i get home.. Note to self.. dont assume, rush, or work tired. :/

I also kind of cant see how water could have entered the engine, im new to this engine but it doesnt appear to have coolant galleys running parallel to any oil areas. My cause for upset wasnt that i got water inside the engine, but that i damaged/caused a breach in a gasket/seal somewhere by over pressuring the cooling system. It could not have entered through the loose oil filler cap (not nearly that much), And it did not get to the topside of the pistons. I did flush out the engine with oil, and attempted to start it this afternoon but couldnt get it fuel, but thats another can of worms.

Thanks.

[Drunkn Munky]

You put the vacuum pipe back on the tank? common mistake

[willandrip]

You wont have over pressurised the coolant system by using a hose, if that is what you are thinking.

When running at temperature and sealed; the pressure is much more than a hose could ever supply.

[Neosophist]

Weird.

You shouldnt get water in the sump doing what your doing. Did it rain anytime when your bike was in the open?

As for the rads, best way is to get them off and soak them overnight in a bucket of hot water with good degraser / washing powder in them, espeically the lower one and blow throught hem to clear all the fins out.

then while they are off oyu can blast loads of water through the engine block to clear it out, get the thermostat out too in order to remove any crap

[MikeBb]

Thanks all for the help, The bike is kept under cover, and even without cover, there are no 'in' holes that are left uncovered. It was definitely fresh looking water that came out of the sump. I checked the oil today and there doesnt appear to be any water in there, and the water level in the radiator doesnt appear to have gone down, Although this is to be expected, running it will tell all.

Regarding starting it; I made some attempts again today. the first attempt is here http://youtu.be/FkXPSMjBx9o Please excuse my mistreatment of it, When watching myself on video it is obvious i should have stopped and investigated as soon as i noticed the noise.
The video shows me giving the fueling a head start by sucking on the vacuum pipe, as with the weak battery it was only opening the tap enough to make fuel dribble out. Fuel begins to dribble out of an overflow (?)(visible at 3:54 in the vid) . And when cranking, the bike made an awful shrill noise that it didnt make yesterday.
After the video ends we removed the airbox and tried a bit more. We do successfully get it to sputter and run for a few seconds (the horrid noise stops when running, and stopped entirely after a while), but not for more than a few seconds, and not smoothly at all. The rear left trumpet filled with fuel and when i noticed this i packed up. From the rough running, the trumpet filling up, and the dribbling from the overflow when the tap is opened; I am suspecting that this carb is bad and that that cylinder needs to be cleared out now. (what size/length spark socket do i need?). Im still rather unfamiliar with this but i assume its a known occurrence?
Tomorrow i will have the battery charged properly, and remove that spark plug to clear the cylinder.

Thanks.

[Icemaestro]

Sure it wasn't fuel that came out of the sump? That would be more likely if you are seeing the cylinder fill up!

Does fuel come out strong when you suck on the vacuum tap? If so but not when you crank the engine then you have an issue with the vacuum pipe (or perhaps tap? Someone will be along to correct me) as if the engine Is turning over, it will create enough of a vacuum. Secondly if fuel is filling up the cylinder either you were using heaps of throttle or you have a bad float valve/needle seat. You can replace, or if it looks ok I got away with metal paste cleaner and a q tip on the inside of the valve seat till it looked new..prob clean the carbs anyway as per cammo's guide on here.

Then would be spark - check good spark, battery charged, and have you killed the plugs - plenty of info on here about this - usually replace but some say you can clean and cook them or blow torch the ends, as you can kill the plugs easily by flooding it. Good luck!

[MikeBb]

Definitely not fuel in the sump, as there was no fuel tank on the thing and the carbs were bone dry when the water occured. (bike has not run in a long time)