A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

Lin · Senior Member

DROWNED

LRJ · Senior Member

I will let others with greater experience offer suggestions, but I wanted to offer my condolences to you and your countrymen for the losses and difficulties so many have suffered from that storm. I hope you can get your bike up and running soon.

Larry

TTRfan · Super Guru

Bad luck Lin cry

I think most of the following is fairly obvious but, here goes anyway!

DON'T EVEN THINK OF STARTING OR TURNING THE ENGINE OVER UNTIL THE FOLLOWING IS DONE!

1. Power wash the bike thoroughly with panels removed so that as much of the silty water (grinding paste!) is washed off so that switches, electrical connections etc have their best chance. Cover everything liberally with WD40 or equivalent.

2. Airbox cover off, take out air filter and wash and re-oil, clean and dry all areas of the airbox. If you are taking the carb off then you might as well take the airbox right off so that you can really empty all the tubes etc.

3. Drain engine oil, remove the oil filter, and clean filter area.

4. Remove exhaust header and pipe and empty and dry out. Drain carb and maybe take it off and strip it out if you think it necessary. I am guessing the fuel tank will need emptying, cleaning and drying out before putting fresh petrol in.

5. Remove spark plug.

6. It may be worth taking off the cam cover just to see what its like inside as this will give you a reasonable idea as to what the rest of the engine is like. If there is any water sitting in the head then use a syringe or tip the TTR on its side to empty it out. If you have a syringe then maybe check if water is sitting on the piston and, if so, suck it out.

7. Replace sump plug and fill with cheap oil.

8. Depending on what you found inside the cam cover, either keep turning the engine over on the starter with the plug out to circulate the oil and clean the oil ways and galleries of residual water or, if you thought it looked clean, then replace everything and start it up.

9. One way or the other, you will then want to drain the oil again and refill. This time definitely start the engine and warm it. It should be possible to see what the oil looks like through the sight glass. If it looks emulsified then drain and refill again.

10. I am guessing the battery and electrics will be OK once dried out but it is important that the engine gets attention as soon as possible so that no rust starts to develop on bearing surfaces etc.

Good luck. I hope everything is OK with the TTR.

Brian

Lin · Senior Member

Thanks Brian and you covered a few bases I hadn't thought of. I did think, however, of the camshaft oil baths and the possibility of them becoming water contaminated so for sure the head cover is coming off.

The great difficulty of it all is that I am in NZ, my brother in Cebu is laid up in hospital. I have a Kiwi mate on the next island who is highly competent and willing to do the job. The trick is transporting the bike by local shipping hoping they won't destroy it or pinch it.

Couple of pics - one of my father-in-law pointing out the tide mark. Terrible event, bodies in the garden etc. We came through with no human losses but the property damage is huge.