Ok, Here's the scene, Dirt road flooded with about a foot of water for about 100 ft.(dammed beavers!). No big deal, right? About 10 ft. from making it through dry, stall...No chioce but to put foot down..boot full. I was going kind of slow, so mabye i just stalled beacause of low revs. Ride on...
New day, exploring a new trail, about 5 miles in, I come to a water crossing. after checking it out for depth, seems to be about 2' deep, and about 30' wide. So i go for it and at about 20' in, the friggin thing stalls out! Both feet in, way over the top of the sidis and approaching the crotch! Not fun! Push the bike to th edge, crank it, but no start. Let stand for couple and she fires up. Thank god! Would have been long friggin walk with wet boots and pants.
So my question to you guys, Anyone else had this problem? I belive the culprit to be the kickstand switch, suggestions on proper removal or bypass of this unit would be appreciated.

On a different subject: BigGun(spark screen only), dynojet kit (128 main,4th from top,2.25 turns), one hotter plug, airbox lid and screen removed, kenda 760's, case breathr opened, emission crap removed......RIPPIN.

Oh yeah, The suspension on this bike is awsome! (5'-11' 170lb's)
Love ridin down the street and having kids on their bikes give ya the thumbs up and thier parents wondering why you haven't been arrested yet!!

 

The kickstand switch is VERY easy to bypass. Just remove the seat and trace the wires up from the switch where they connect with a pair of plugs. Kawasaki engineers had us in mind because they made one male and the other female - just unplug the switch wires, and plug the male / female pair feeding the switch into each other - no cutting or soldering required.

 

Somebody had this same problem at one time. And I belive that the kickstand switch as you suspect was the culprit.

If anyone knows how to fix this problem it will be Nobrakes (Brian).

 

Thanks NoBrakes, Figured it was probally a no brainer. The kickstand switch did save my *** once when I was leaving a gas pump, but now I don't even get off the bike when filling up.

 

There is an issue on the KLR650 with an air vent picking up moisture and not air for the carb bowl. It is an easy fix, just put a "Y" connector or "T" connector in the line and run the new end up under the seat. The present line run down to the bottom of the bike and could easily stop feeding air if the level of water is correct.

I need to take a look at this as I'm planning on doing some deep water this week. If I "Get R Done" I'll post pictures and an entire procedure right here.

Might someone start their KLX up and find the "pink" tube and put their finger over the end of it to see if it stalls. If it does, that is what we need to fix.

 

Marty, you're a genius! Here's what i just did... Removed KS switch from bike(still wired up), put bike on stand so it could idle in 1st with the clutch out(rear wheel off ground).
submerged switch in large cup water....Bike didn't stop. Took the three lines from the carb and put the ends under...it stopped running! Now i'm going to do each line one at a time and see which one is the culprit. Keep ya posted on the results.
Thanks for the help.

 

I did the "T-mod" a couple of weeks ago for riding in the deep water. I would recommend to anybody who rides in water to do this mod. I posted this link before, it does a nice write up of the procedure for a KLR650. Carb T-mod

 

The t-mod is a must in the PNW. Be sure to do both vent lines. You can route both into one line and run it up to the front of the gas tank area.

 

ok that mod sounds good, but what about when your in the water the extra line added will act as a vent to let the water come up the existing vent. so what if your in water up to the carb, the newly added vent line will allow water to rise up to the carb, would water possibly go into the carb through this vent and mess it up? if you didnt understand i can try to explain more...

 

Okay, I really don't have any right to weigh in on this because I know just about zero when it comes to carbs. With that said, EMS, couldn't the scenario you describe potentially result in water into the carb in the stock configuration as well? Is there positive/static pressure on the vent line in the stock config? If not, then couldn't water come up the vent line into the carb in that situation.

Now that I think of it, I guess if there is no outlet for the air in the stock config, then the water would not be able to displace the air that is in there. Is that your point? If so, is is possible for the air to displace up through the carb?

I guess it all comes down to whether or not there is a path for the air in the vent line to escape if the water level rises up to the carb.

I realize that I may just be missing a basic concept about the role of the vent and how it interacts with the carb. If so, then just dismiss this post altogether.

Chris