P500 Drivetrain issues. P500 losing power and stalling

[Anthony_J]

Hi, Im hoping someone has an idea. I recently took my bike out and we went into some fairly deep water. Nothing went into the intake but not reading the post on here about not snorkelling the fuel vent line before this excursion I ended up sucking some water into my fuel (I think anyways). Heres the issue. I thought there was water in the fuel and thats why my sxs is losing power and slowing down to a stall, so I siphoned out as much fuel as I could, I replaced the oil and filter to be safe and I filled it with premium to dilute the remaining water as much as possible. I went out again yesterday and I pushed it hard just to make sure that there was no further issues. It ran great but it seemed like the sxs was running a little hot, the display gauge said it was more than fine and I got NO warnings of any sort but it just seemed hot to me. I was reading about issues with the mufflers and something about it causing similar issues. For reference when it started having issues I was in the bottom 3rd of my tank (or a little lower). Im just wondering if its the water in the fuel still? or does it sound more like a muffler issue....Any info would be appreciated!!!

 

[Admin]

 

[allgm1]

water is heavier than gas so it will be on the bottom of the tank. How did the oil that you took out look? did it have water in it? you say its seems to be running hot, maybe it was a little hotter becuase you "took it out yesterday and pushed it hard"? If you think you may have a little water in the fuel, maybe a little bit of fuel treatment from an auto parts store would help?

 

[Anthony_J]

The oil looked fine, I was just being over cautious. I did a few oil changes just to make absolutely sure there was no possibility of water in the oil. I figured that there might be water in the bottom of the tank but its impossible to siphon out all of it. I was just wondering if this looks more like the issue I saw in another thread with the stock muffler or more like water in the fuel...Im at a loss really

 

[Code54]

Run the Pioneer up on ramps/a mound/ use the winch to lift the front - then siphon the fuel, putting the hose to the low side of the tank. This will get the vast majority of the fuel out. Refill with fresh gas, and dump a little Seafoam (at the auto parts store or Wal Mart , about $8 a can but WORKS) in with the gas and give that a try. Good luck

 

[Anthony_J]

I siphoned out the gas filled it with seafoam and filled it back up with premium wish me luck

 

[bobbyhill]

Good luck!

 

[Springer]

There were a few 700's that were losing power and they found that the internal baffle in the muffler had broken loose and was restricting the exhaust enough to lose power. They could see it by removing the spark arrester and looking inside the muffler.
Perhaps if you went deep enough to cover the exhaust it may have caused the baffles to break. Maybe a long shot but worth looking at.

 

[jak9922]

could have messed the cat up if water got into the exhaust

 

[jak9922]

I hate when cats get in my exhaust lol they always clog sh!t up

 

[Alexa]

My $0.02.... depending on what kind of gas you put in your unit and what time of the day you purchased, there may be water in your gas.. not from your trip... if you're buying gas, make sure to purchase first thing in the morning, or late afternoon.... mid day gas tends to be warmer, causing air build up, as well as heat creating a form of "precipitation" almost at the fuel pumps... Honda is very clear that you don't have to use any special gas or fuel stabilizer, as their units are typically bullet proof and don't need it... if I may make a suggestion.... we use non-ethanol marine gas - to ensure that its the purest and cleanest gas that you can put in your unit without adding stabilizers or anything.. just a thought.

 

[Hondasxs]

Yes. Issues is water in the fuel. Siphon all you can and fill it up with Premium. Let it turn over to clear the pump and it should be fine. This is like the 7th case just like this.

Here is a PSA I made about it.
//hondasxs.com/index.php?threads/1570/

 

[Anthony_J]

thanks a lot for the input guys, this forums the best one out there especially with these new machines! Im snorkelling it soon and putting so 27'' on her Ill post pics when I do it

 

[Thelma1994]

I have a 2014 pioneer 700/p2 that had the muffler problem. When it was cold it went fine the minute it warmed up it lost power and the speed dropped. If you pressed the gas pedal it would stall. After I got the new muffler it runs better and has more speed than when I got it new. Every time you let it sit till it's cold the power was ok when the muffler was bad. Honda wouldn't contact the dealer back on what to do with paying for it. My machine was there a month and the dealer said they will just let me have it. Honda should recall the muffler cause that's a safety issue. I can think what it would be like crossing a highway and lose power as a car coming. They would say another ATV accident

 

[Hondasxs]

@Thelma1994, How recent was your muffler issue?
I was keeping a listing of them but it seemed like reports stopped coming in around fall last year.
There have been no reports of this happening with any 2015 models, both the 700 and 500.
Thanks.

 

[Thelma1994]

My pioneer 700 muffler started with 190 miles on it. At the 300 miles I couldn't live with it. I took it in to the shop and they had it for a month because honda wouldn't communicate with the shop about it. The machine was out of warranty but they gave it to me anyway. This was the month of July 2015

 

[Anthony_J]

Mine happened after fall last year. After siphoning out the fuel and running some fuel dryer through it, its running like its old self again. Thanks for all the input. Now to snorkel the damn thing, especially my fuel vent pipe lol -_-

 

[JACKAL]

Glad I ran across this thread, has no idea the vent hose has a habit of sucking in water, but the above theory makes perfect sense. Re-routing my vent hoses for sure.