Did something stupid...

[sam000lee]

Yesterday was likely the the last riding day for me for a couple of months - In the 40's and dry - so I took the GS450 out for a little ~30 mile ride. I figured I should do some "winterizing" which was to fill the tank, put in some seafoam, run it through, put some mystery oil in the cylinders and put the bike on the center stand. I was also going to change the oil but didn't get around to it.

What I did:
I took out the plugs, poured a bit of oil in each hole, and put them back in but didn't attach the leads (i.e no spark). Without thinking, I hit the starter to move the oil around the pistons, which I know I shouldn't have done. The starter clicked but the engine didn't turn over. No loud bangs or anything, just the starter clicking. I didn't do this more than a second or two.

Took off the ignition side cover and tried to manually turn it over - didn't use a lot of force but it wasn't rotating forward anymore. At this point I realized it was probably a hydrolock situation so I took out both plugs, and the engine once again turned over easily and smoothly by hand. I spun the motor with the starter and some of the oil spat out of the plug holes, then reinstalled the spark plugs, turned the engine by hand a couple times, reattached the leads and fired it up. The bike started just as easily as ever and idled normally, with the exception of there being some white smoke at first which was the oil getting burned up.

Could I have bend a rod? I think it's likely that the left cylinder was at or near the TDC when I put the oil in and maybe the engine didn't even really spin and build any momentum before getting locked. Is the starter motor powerful enough to cause that kind of damage? There was no combustion power being applied since I didn't have the plug leads connected. Is there a good/reliable way of checking without taking off the top end?

[Nessism]

Take the bike out for one last ride. Most likely it's fine. If you damaged something it will become quickly apparent in terms of extra vibration and poor running. If not, go back and do the oil trick again, only this time take out the plugs and turn over the engine a few times before putting them back in. Oh, and get some Marine Stabil. It's much better than Seafoam for storage. And last thing, run the bike to get the Stabil into the carbs and then shut down, remove the fuel line from the petcock, and drain the float bowls.

Good luck.

[TxGSrider]

You're probably ok. I suspect most of us have left our fuel petcocks to the "PRI" position and went out to start our bikes to have a similar situation ("Hydrolock") and after pulling the plugs (and draining the oil), they worked fine afterwards.
So like Nessism said, go take it for a ride and listen and feel for problems. You should be fine though.

[radek22]

I was just about to put some oil in cylinders - is ok to use the starter, as long as the spark plugs are out? Or is the manual option preferable? Thanks

[tatu]

I was just about to put some oil in cylinders - is ok to use the starter, as long as the spark plugs are out? Or is the manual option preferable? Thanks

Should be ok, put the bike in 4th or 5th and turn the back wheel by hand should do all you need without making a mess with expelled excess. Though with all the oil about it's probably a good idea to take the plugs out and spin the crank, again by hand, before next start up.

[sam000lee]

It's fine to use the starter as long as the plugs are out. Put a towel or something in front of them to catch all the oil that's going to spit out but then the cylinders will be clear enough to put the plugs back in and start it up.

[520eek]

I have a question....seeing how I live where we don't have to do this sort of thing, my question is.....how much oil did you put in?

[sam000lee]

I just dribbled a little I didn't measure - only enough to coat the cylinder walls.

[OldTwin]

Probably stating the obvious here, but hydraulic lock can only occur if you fill beyond the compressed volume of the combustion chamber (hint: a dribble of oil will not do it), the valves remain tightly closed on the compression cycle, the plug is tightly installed and no other leakage path exists.

[850 Combat]

Bending rods is common on Kawasaki Concours 1000 from bad petcocks. Google it, and you will see lots of pretzel rods. On my first 850G, in like '88, I got hydro lock from a bad petcock once. I hit the starter several times, and finally it spun with gas spraying out of one pipe. I always thought that I could detect a tiny vibration in it after that. I kept it for years though, and it never gave any trouble. I'm with Nessism on this. You could check with a piece of tubing or a straw in the spark plug hole. Mark how high up it goes. Both pistons should come up the same amount.

I left the petcock on on my Atlas in the early 70s. I kicked it over and it fired up. A sheet of mostly gas sprayed 360 degrees out of the cylinder base gasket. Didn't hurt anything, but I was late for work.

[sam000lee]

Yeah I don't think I did any damage. I'm in New England and we got some snow the past few weeks so no riding but I have put 100-200 miles on it since then it feels normal. Still, I'll give the straw thing a go.

[LAB3]

Realize this is an old thread but here's some advice for winterizing. Marine mechanics use what's called "Fogging Oil" which is sprayed through the carb with the engine running to get some coating into the cylinders before storing. Using it virtually eliminates any hydro lock issues.

[Steve]

Not sure how that would avoid hydro lock on our bikes.

The usual cause is a petcock leaking down the vacuum hose or the fuel delivery hose. If it goes down the fuel hose, it is depending on the float valves to stop it. If they don't, the bowls overfill, flowing down the carb throat, filling the intake tract. If any intake valve is open, the cylinder fills, too. If fuel goes down the vacuum hose, it simply bypasses the float valves, filling intake tract #2 or #3, depending on which carbs you have. If the valve is open (or leaks), you have hydro lock. It does not matter how much fogging oil your engine breathed before shutdown.

.

[mrbill5491]

I just dribbled a little I didn't measure - only enough to coat the cylinder walls.

There is a cylinder fogger just for that, coats the wall good and into the rings so they don't get stuck. Also, about every two weeks. Rotate the engine by hand a few turns to keep the rings nice and loose, doesn't hurt the valve train to rotate either.