Water in gas?

[DerekF]

Hey guys,

I have never ran into this before and wanted to get some of your guys's thoughts:

We we out the other day and made a DUMB mistake by runing along the bank of a creek/beaver dam. Long story short we ended up on our side in the creek and fill the tub half way with water. We winched out farly easy. Truned the motor over and to my surprise, after it spit some water out of the exhaust it fired up no problem. It ran home with no ill effects other than some water in the transmission, which I changed out right away. There was zero water in the engine oil.

The next day we had to head back in there (work related) and the motor idled fine but had way less power than normal. Turning boggedit down to a stop. It seemed to run okay but I did smell gas smell a bit. I checked the plugs are they were good, not fouled for sure.

I put methyl hydrate in the tank but it didn't seems to do anything. I am thinking it is some water that may have settled in the tank, does that sound reasonable? I don't know where the vent is on an avenger ( we tipped to the left side).

Is there a drain on the carb bowl that is accesible?


As always, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Derek

[Bazooo guy]

Try running it with the gas cap off.
The vent tube could be plugged with beaver mud.
Drain the tub and grease the axle bearings and chains.
If you can stand on your head and stick it in the hood you might be able to see the carb.
What year is your avenger and what engine is in it?

[msafi65]

The tank vent is on the left rear just below the body band,little plastic nut with a hole in it. sounds like you sucked in some water. I think you can pull the top off carb to clean easier than any other way. The water will sit in the pocket in the bottom of the tank where the pick up tube is. pull the fuel filter and blow it out backward into something to see if there is water traped in it. You may have to pull the tank to get it all.

[plott hound]

just pull the tank and dump it.its the only way to solve the problem.got a good dose in my 4-wheeler deer hunting one year,that was the only cure.

[ARGOJIM]

I recently had an issue with the driven clutch hanging up about midway and the conquest acted the same way, probably worse as it bogged the drive and caused the engine to smoke and knock under heavy load and steering. Just a thought to check, but if you were stuck with left side rear in the water vent tube is a good possibility.

[DerekF]

I thought I would bump this old thread to see if I could get some help on this. Believe it or not, I am only now getting to the Argo again that hunting season is upon us.

I ended up pulling the tank in May, changing all the filters (fuel/air) and pulling the carb off and giving it a good cleaning. There was a little junk in the bowl but I have seen worse. Filled up the tank with premium and it seems to run a bit better, so I chalked it up to water in the gas. Unfortunately, I had to park it (busy at work) since then.

But now I got my Adair tracks and was dying to try them out. I put them on, went for a run and end found the engine problem was still there and after an hour of riding it isn't going away.

Here's the thing: the engine runs fine, it revs up in neutral. I set the RPMs at mid range (not too high) and let it runs for 10 minutes, no hiccups. But under any load it sputters like there is water in the gas. But I know now that the chances of that are near zero. If it let the gas off and slowly apply gas, it picks up and runs good, but if I put a turning load or any load on it, it seems to lose power almost completely. Let the gas off and I am good to go again. Sometimes if I apply gas and the load is but too great, it revs up flawlessly. But when I hit a hill or turn, it sputters.

-Engine has under 200 hrs on it. I will do a compression test tomorrow but I doubt it is low.
-clutches seem to be not sticking. they open and close smoothly. The appear to be backshifting good.
-It looks to be getting lots of gas. I have a Carb kit coming but, again, I doubt that is the problem.
-Maybe ignition modules are weak?

thoughts? I had planned on snooping around for Moose Tues/Wed but it doesn't look good now.

Derek
Any other possibilities?

[ARGOJIM]

Check the compression, may have kicked off a pushrod. The kawasakis are known for sticking valves from bad gas, mine did it wed.. Engine will run under no load.
If off, I generally spray some penetrating oil on the valve sticking and work it up and down til free, then put push rod back on and run it til warm and use some carb. cleaner through carb to try to clean it some.

[DerekF]

Actually its a Kohler aegis 26hp. I did a Compression and it was 120 on both, did an oil change and it was still just over 120 on both cylinders. Online 120 comes up as normal but the Service manual says it should be 160. This motor had less than 200 hours on it so I sure hope it is not hooped! I guess I will run it into the dealer and see what he says. Ouch.

[Supermag]

I have a kohler magnum 18. It has a built in decompressor for start up. It is activated as soon as the starter is activated. This gives a lower compression value than what the engine runs at under normal operation. The minimum recomended for the magnum 18 is around 90 PSI. the engine runs at a higher compression when the decompressor is not activated. I know the magnum 18 is a far cry from what your avenger has under the hood but could your compression test be affected in a similar way? Does the aegis have a decompressor built in? You could try to put oil directly in the cylinder just before doing a compression test to see if you get a higher value.

Dave

[ARGOJIM]

Check your belt, if you ran back with a wet belt it may it may be burnt.
If you think it is a fuel probblrem,There were 2 carbs on the 26 kohler, one had an external accelerator pump, I would guess the linkage is hanging up if yours does, if not may be the fuel solenoid only slightly opening.
I would rebuild the carb..

[philipatmaxfour]

Derek, My efi avenger has two fuel filters . a small plastic see thru on the far left under the bar behind the seat, then the elec. fuel pump, then the second larger metal fuel filter closer to the fuel filler hose. I had water in my fuel and changing the second metal filter fixed the prob. The bosch fuel filter was expensive from Argo and they didn't have one but I got one from the Ford dealer at half price. If you only changed one filter this may be helpful, if not please ignore. Warren

[DerekF]

Update:

Now normally I consider myself an "ok" handy mechanic. Won't tear down the motor over the weekend but pretty much all else is open season. But this one was a head scratcher. Long story short, I ended up changing the carb from the old 58 model to the new 59 model. Nope. I had already changed the filters, cleaned the tank, clutches, new plugs/belt. tried a new fuel pump. Nope. Compression is good. Values don't appear to be sticking. Spark on both plugs.

I was running out of ideas so I stopped by the Argo dealer last week. They told me their heavy equipment side is swamped and it would be at least 6 weeks before someone could look at it. I am going moose hunting in two weeks. The owner of the company over heard me and asked what the problem was. I explained I was going "hunting" with my "Argo" and apparently those two specific words were all I needed to say. I brought it into the shop and we spent 2 hrs working on it. He thought a valve might be sticking so we were addressing that when he unplugged one spark wire and the motor never changed. We had just checked that. But sure enough, the problem was that one ignition wire was simply weak and/or not working at all at times. I had already checked the spark but I guess it was working at that time. Put the new parts in an go to go.

Anyway, It was a fluke that the two problems (sinking the unit and the bad wire) happened at the same time. I don't think they are related as the wires did not get wet at all. But who knows.

I really appreciate his help and better yet, he didn't charge as "all Argo hunters need a break now and then" he said. But I did get him a fancy bottle of whiskey.

So i now have a number of spare parts.

On another note, the new carb made a HUGE difference in the engine response. Thanks Noel.

I am ready to go. Got the new Adair tracks on and the new rear standing platform on. Here is a pic.

Argo ready to go.jpg

[capri302]

now go get that moose and bring back some pictures !
good luck !

[guyfox]

And do not forget the videos as well....