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Hi Ed because it was out side may be the water seeped into the cylinders through the air filter not the head gasket but you need to determin that can you spin the engine with the plugs out so you can dispell the water then plenty of wd 40 down all the cylinders you will need an oil change also new gas an a good battery if its the head gasket ect its not diffacult you will get all the help you need here

 

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I had two 1100s in my old shop that had been left with water in the cylinders on one side. One was left outdoors for several years with the sparkplugs out. The other had water in two cylinders caused by a leaking head gasket. In the first case the cylinders were pitted to the point I parted out the engine. The other one has some light pitting and rust in the two left jugs. I had to knock the pistons loose with a piece of 2x2 and a heavy hammer after letting some PB Blaster soak in for a couple days. Once the pistons were free I hand buffed the bad parts of the cylinder with some 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper used with oil. After that I cleaned things up, put the engine back together with a new head gasket, cleaned up the carbs and fired it up. It started well and ran well after syncing the carbs. Once the engine had been run a bit I checked the compression and found all within a few psi of each other and averaging about 160psi. My point in all this is one can't know how bad the damage is until you take a look at it. If the owner would allow pulling the head to take a look it could be a good buy but if not I'd pass on that one.

 

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Hello and welcome Ed,

Rain water or is it coolant. Remove the radiator fill cap and see what that color is. Peter is right on, it would not scare me away. Before you try to spin the engine with the starter, drain the oil and refill with fresh for good measure.

JD

 

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exavid is right, Have the same thing going on. Ended up pulling the heads a soaking with PB Blaster. One good rap on a piece of wodd and it moved cleaned up the cylinder walls and I'm confident it will be alright. Drained the oil/water out of the crankcase put a new quart and with the heads off used my speed wrench to spin it over until oil came out of the ports feeding the heads. Been doing this once a week until I get the heads lapped and reinstalled. Hopefully it will be good to go. Like the rest of the guys, still haven't figured out why the PO pulled the plugs and left them out in the first place.

 

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It's infuriating to me how people will leave a good machine out in the weather to the point an easy repair changes to a trip to the junkyard. It's unexplainable. There was a nice Cessna 170 tied down at the Juneau airport when I moved to that town in 1982. The airplane was still there untouched and rotting away when I left in 1997. It went from a flyable machine to a wreck. Why someone would do that and pay for the tie downs all those years is beyond me. Anyone near water can find boats the same way, expensive boats in expensive marinas just sitting in their slip rotting away. Who knows what's wrong with these folks. If you chase them down to ask about buying their whatever it's almost guaranteed they'll want the price they originally paid. All I can say is that they must have serious mental problems.

 

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exavid,

You just gave me a good laugh and could not agree more. Full price.

JD

 

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Before you go any farther I would look at the gas tank. If it is rusted, bet the carbs are bad. You might be talking motor, tank and lots of carb work. Add price of battery and ??? Soon you have to ask is it worth it? I know first hand as I have done all the things and wish I had just invested in a nicer bike. Ultimately it is your decision but I would say don't start spending until you know whaat you are up against. Good luck though.

 

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Since you bought it without starting it , you now own its troubles. You say water is in left side , was it parked on the side stand ? If so the coolant might have seeped into the left cylinders over time. If the coolant is water and antifreeze you might be ok as the antifreeze will retard corrosion much better than plain water.
Agnogel and redwing52 have you covered for the rest of the adventure. Please let us know how you make out.

 

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Helps to post mileage. You can do it through your profile so you don't have to keep repeating yourself. Sounds like you picked up a "project" but there are projects and there are projects. With a little luck you can get it road ready without any majors. That being said you'll still have a lot of maintenance and anything that holds or flows liquids will have to be flushed, inspected and refreshed. If the engine is gone I doubt you'll be wanting to go any further so determining engine status is primary. Taking one's time, following good advice and not succumbing to the temptation of shortcuts can make the difference between a sweet ride or a parter or worse. Tell ya one thing, you got the best posse you could find right here.

Oh and Welcome to the Forum.