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Hurricane Sandy Flooding - Advice needed

1K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  rorlow 
#1 ·
Hi,

I hope that most forum members were safe and more fortunate than me and didn't suffer the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, or were able to recover quickly.

My house was flooded that night and I'm slowly recovering from it. It is quite an intensive experience, both physically and emotionally.

I reach out to my forum brothers and sisters for some advice today - my R1 was in the garage along with my car - a 2008 Honda Civic, when the water came in. The water level in the garage rose up about 1.5 feet. The front tire was not completely submerged even, exhaust was far above. The water stayed an hour and a half to two hours before it left.

The next morning I brought out the hose and rinsed the motorcycle down with fresh water. Hesitatingly, I put the key in the ignition and turned it, everything came on as expected. I hit the starter and she came to life without a second thought, like nothing ever happened.

I peeked through the oil window and it looked ok. I shut the bike off in under 2 minutes just to be safe in case water had entered done other critical component. In hindsight, maybe I should never have risked starting it without professional opinion first.

Although, the fact that the water did come up so high as to cover the gear selector, is making me nervous. What should be the following course of maintenance/repair here on forth in my case? Change oil? Flush coolant? Chain? Brakes?

I would appreciate all the advice I can get. Thanks in advance. Ride safe.


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#3 ·
I'd let it sit outside for a day or two, just to dry off completely, and I'd go get professional help. If you're willing to spend the bucks, have a mechanic tear into it and look for anything, anything at all that could be wrong. The only thing I can think of (and I'm no expert) is that you might have some kind of sediment deposit somewhere, although you did rinse it off, you never know.

Good luck brother, and I hope you get back on your feet soon.
 
#4 ·
im sure its fine. my bike goes thru the rain and sits in heavy thunderstorms on those days i dont watch the weather and ride to work :lol i would only be a little worried if you had a low mount exhaust on it. other then that. just stripe the plastics off check for any standing water left anywhere clean the chain up and ride.
 
#5 ·
When you change the oil, look at the oil to see if it has any grey in it. If not then the internals are good. If so, then I would advise to flush and change the clutch plates out. Also change your air filter especially if its a paper filter. It will hold moisture and mold!

As for the electronics, pull the connections and clean if necessary and take the opportunity to dab some dielectric grease on the connections.
 
#7 ·
I would recommend greasing wheel bearings and swingarm pivot bearings and shock/swingarm linkage pivots, flood the chain (in sections)with WD40 and holding a rag under section being sprayed to keep from making a mess. Water will sit in all of the bearings, killing the grease and rusting the balls or rollers. Especially salt water. Grease the bearings, or they will need to be replaced.
 
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