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Flooding CT125 in the field and recovery (Thailand)

op46

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Feb 2, 2021
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168
Location
a ridge overlooking Lake Guntersville, AL.
For some reason I started to get a lot of native Thai YouTube videos on the CT125 in pretty tough use. One that impressed me was on where the rider tried to ford a body of water and didn't make it. He pushed it out and began triage. It was interesting and by the next morning he had it up and running. Watch from "9:00 thru 13:30" Pulled plug and pumped water out of spark plug hole by kick starter, drained milky oil, pulled side cover and drained and sprayed oil in and manually exercised. Pulled exhaust and drained. Refilled oil and put plug back in. Restarted with exhaust off and next morning rode off over small bridge he should have taken the first time.
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m in sc

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Feb 2, 2021
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Rockhill, SC
yeah... ive seen some vintage 'hurricane sandy' bikes a few years after they were flooded 1st hand... NOT GOOD.

watch the 'top gear' episode with the toyota hilux. that thing actually went out to sea and they got it running again. :ROFLMAO: :eek:
 

SneakyDingo

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Aug 6, 2021
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1,561
This video has done the rounds before

download.jpg

Sometimes I can't tell the difference when it's a video from Thailand, Vietnam, etc. if fundamentally people have a different approach (avoid damage vs. I'll repair it 20x and/or throw it away) or if they're just one of those lunatic content creators. The repair repeatedly and/or toss the part out and get a new one mentality would explain a lot of those cheap parts that you're expected to buy in bulk and tune/replace frequently vs. one good one (e.g. those low quality carburetors, nozzles for my printer, etc.).

I'd really like to see someone do that, and then show us what the bike looks like 8-10 years on. Probably fine, but there's a difference between thinking and knowing.

RE: top gear episodes for the Hilux, I loved those episodes. Season 3. They eventually got rid of it too:

- this is the one where they dunk it.

They were so impressed with it that they eventually mounted it as a fixture in the studio.
uizYRfUBgJXf0h37Wq32lVmyFd8oavUH.jpg
 

dmonkey

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Jul 4, 2021
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🇺🇸
With riding motorcycles through water like that you really have to be willing to accept a lot of potential damage, the same as flood damage, potentially totaling the bike. The video shows the common stuff being gone through on the motor, but you only have so long to act before oxidation starts. It's a common reason that folks will leave sunken snowmobiles in half frozen lakes for days or weeks, if you don't have time to tear it apart right away, you may as well leave it in the water until conditions and timing are better to pull it out and then get to it immediately. There are dozens of things you might not think of right away that can be damaged easily by water, anything behind a seal, wiring and anything electronic, steering bearings, really any bearings, water in fuel tank and lines, brakes, tension springs, etc. There's an unfortunate likelihood that the guy in the video will be dealing with other issues caused by the water in weeks or months from now.

As for the repair it 20x times or throw it away, that's the moped way of life if you're interest in examples. Almost any kitted moped is always a work-in-progress and because mopeds are so inexpensive and accessible, there are a lot of owners who are either still learning and do some very shoddy work on them, or put little effort, money, and time into them and end up with cheap junk parts that never work right (especially cheap carbs, shipped new with bad jets).

Similar to the Top Gear Toyota Hilux, Discovery channel also had a bit with Charley Boorman where they put the C90 through a lot of abuse. Not the greatest copy of it, but it's online:
 

SneakyDingo

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I forgot about the C90 video, what a great video. But yes, the moped life was exactly what I was thinking of with the cheap carbs running with bad jets.
 

AZ7000'

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Jan 28, 2021
Messages
957
My friend just bought a ct90 for $200 with a title. It won’t kick over. Thinking some marvel mystery oil in the plug hole and try again in a week or so!
 

AZ7000'

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Jan 28, 2021
Messages
957
might be hydro locked on the bottom end, tell them to drain the oil. I once bought a sohc cb750 that was locked solid due to a bad petock filling the crankcases.
My wife’s te250 has a “smart carb”. To meet ca emissions they don’t have an overflow, crankcase and big ol 2t header pipe were filled to the brim w fuel!

thanks for the tip
 

m in sc

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Feb 2, 2021
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2,435
Location
Rockhill, SC
'SMART CARBS' (if it is indeed a real one) https://smartcarbfuelsystems.com/shop/
don't vent because they use pressurized signal from the bellmouth to help 'push' the fuel up the emulsion tube. (thats the most simplified way to explain it) there is no vent, the tube at the bottom is strictly a drain.

If its a later CV, even some stock units don't have overflows. ie: 1st gen concours carbs and ex250 carbs. no overflow. and thats 50 state. but they do vent. ive seen a few C10s bend rods due to this.

full disclosure, the CB was also suffering from the PO plugging the end of the carb drains. dumb. but i got the bike cheeeeep.
 

AZ7000'

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Joined
Jan 28, 2021
Messages
957
'SMART CARBS' (if it is indeed a real one) https://smartcarbfuelsystems.com/shop/
don't vent because they use pressurized signal from the bellmouth to help 'push' the fuel up the emulsion tube. (thats the most simplified way to explain it) there is no vent, the tube at the bottom is strictly a drain.

If its a later CV, even some stock units don't have overflows. ie: 1st gen concours carbs and ex250 carbs. no overflow. and thats 50 state. but they do vent.
Sure, the other 3 Lectron carbs we have have both a "pressurized signal" and an overflow valve. I have spoken to both teams pretty extensively, the same guy has the patent for both. Same principle but one with an overflow and one without. SC was trying to get CARB approval but Lectron wasn't interested.

3 friends started with the smartcarbs and we (6 guys I ride with) have all moved onto Lectrons due to the lack of overflow issues

 

CTExplorer

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Jan 23, 2023
Messages
74
I jumped my air cooled Honda 300ex ATV into a lake back in the mid 90’s (long story). Anyway, we recovered it from upside down in the lake, drained the oil and dried the air filter and ran it the rest of the trip like nothing happened. It was actually fairly new and was still finicky when first starting and after this episode it started perfectly and still does to this day.
 

mcmd

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Joined
Nov 3, 2022
Messages
225
Location
SW Ohio
For some reason I started to get a lot of native Thai YouTube videos on the CT125 in pretty tough use. One that impressed me was on where the rider tried to ford a body of water and didn't make it. He pushed it out and began triage. It was interesting and by the next morning he had it up and running. Watch from "9:00 thru 13:30" Pulled plug and pumped water out of spark plug hole by kick starter, drained milky oil, pulled side cover and drained and sprayed oil in and manually exercised. Pulled exhaust and drained. Refilled oil and put plug back in. Restarted with exhaust off and next morning rode off over small bridge he should have taken the first time.
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That video is pretty crazy. What's with the laugh track when he drowns the bike! Amazing what punishment and abuse these bikes will take and keep running!
 
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