Long read, just a forewarning lol
So rewind about 2 months back, I got a call from the sister in law telling me "she left her ATV that she got from her father out by her pond on her second property, the rain made the water rise and sunk it". She wanted to know if I wanted to pick it up and see if I could figure out what was wrong with it... I had no idea what it was or what I was getting into, but I'm up for a challenge lol, so I agreed to come get it and take a look at it.
When I got there, I found this 6x6 Vanguard pushed back into the woods around the pond, caught up in some trees that I guess stopped it when the rising waters took it for a ride. The plugs were gone from the floor, it took on water, and completely filled up and sunk...
After popping the hood and slowing pulling on the pull start rope, I found that it was at least not locked up, it turned over, although you could HEAR the water sloshing inside the crank case... BUT, the fact that it turned over by hand was a good start, and I figured I could do something with it!
So I winched it out of the woods and up onto a trailer and proceeded to drag it home, where it sat for another 2 weeks or so before I finally began digging into it.
First order of business was seeing if the Vanguard 16hp V-twin in it was salvageable. I've never really had too much experience when small engines (more on that later), but I've always been a tinkerer, born with a wrench in my hand, and have always worked on cars and trucks with my father since I was a kid. So I figured how hard could it be.
The first thing I did was get the water out of the crank case. I bet I drained at least 1.5 GALLONS of water out of the drain plug... Then I pulled the plugs and turned the engine over by hand with the pull rope and shot out rusty water from both cylinders... so it's safe to say that the engine was COMPLETELY submerged... I poured a little trans fluid in the spark plug holes, turned the engine over a few times, and let that sit as it was for the time being.
I knew I needed to pull the carb off and clean it out at least, and when I did I noticed there was still standing water in the intake manifold... So it all came off, intake and all. It got a good cleaning all the way around, inside and out. Bolted it all back on, without replacing anything at this point, just giving it a good cleaning and reassembly.
After that, I began the oil changing rituals to get the rest of the water out of it... 5 oil and filter changes later, the oil was finally just, well, oil lol, and no more milky mixture.
Checked the transmission fluid, and surprisingly there was no water in it! Looked good and clean, so I left it alone.
Then I drained the fuel tank. Didn't look like much water had really gotten into it, but it had been sitting for a WHILE, and I knew the gas in it had to be in rough shape...So I drained it, filled it up with a full fresh tank, and when I went to change the fuel filter, the lines just crumbled in my hands... So, it got all new fuel lines at that point.
Now I was at a point where I could finally try to start it. First attempt with a dry float bowl, I hit it with a little starting fluid and it fired to life right away! Once it ran long enough for the pump to suck enough up and start filling the bowl, it was finally running on it's of fuel! But, only for a short time...
It would run great for about 20-30 seconds, then putter out and die... After much troubleshooting, and asking around at work for advice, I discovered what I had done... When I was putting everything back together, I put a rubber cap on the carb float bowl vent tube... I had no idea it needed to stay open, I just thought it was going to be a massive vacuum leak, so I put a cap on it... and that's where my lack of small engines comes in lol. I pulled the cap off, and finally the thing would stay running for longer than 30 seconds! In fact, I finally got to pull it off the trailer under it's own power!
Once I got it to the point where I knew the engine was going to be usable, I needed to focus on the controls. The right stick moved great, but the left was rusted up almost solid... So I started to pull the controls assembly apart, and the steering shaft that runs through the tube was NOT coming out... I put an air chisel to the cam/tab that actuates the left side brake, the little plate that's welded to the end of the steering shaft, yeah that didn't work out so well... Ended up breaking the weld and knocking the tab right off the steering shaft rod... So what I ended up doing was actually cutting a slot down the length of the tube that the shaft runs through to release the pressure. After that, I put a cheap throw-away socket on the end of the shaft and hit it with the same chisel, and the shaft worked it's way right out! So I was able to clean up the inside of the tube, then cleaned up the shaft and the tab that broke off. Welded the tab/cam back onto the end of the steering shaft, smeared a ton of grease all over everything and reassembled. After a little adjusting, the controls work and feel great now!
But something still wasn't right with the carb. I couldn't get it to run right. It would fire right up, and even idle sometimes, but if you gave it any throttle, it would rev up fine, and when the RPMs came down, it would just die. It refused to come down from RPMs without just stalling out. Also when it was running, if you gave it 1/4 throttle or so, it would just surge, like it was hunting for the proper fuel mixture. After playing with the idle air mixture screw, I realized that I could turn it all the way in until it stopped, and that didn't make a difference on how it ran or "idled". So at this point I figured that the old gasket in the top of the carb was just leaking and was allowing gas to get sucked straight in from the bowl into the intake, which was allowing it to run, be it poorly, and was also not letting the mixture be great at all...
One carb rebuild kit later and a GOOD full cleaning, and the thing fired up on the first hit! The idle mixture screw actually does something now lol, and the thing runs like a top! I still need to adjust it a little, but as it is, it's completely operational. The wife and I took it on it's first real trail ride since I've had it over this last weekend, and it's an absolute blast! Need to get some new plugs for the hull, so have yet to take it in water. But it's been a FUN little project, and I look forward to putting some miles on this thing!
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Originally Posted by curtisbyrne
rescued from a junk yard and then rebuilt!