2007 can am outlander 400 xt

[tygrrr123]

i recently purchased a very low hour 400 xt for my wife. she has rode it every weekend for about 2 months with No Problems. Today, she got into some mud (with standing water) and it lost power, backfired, and (after several attempts) restarted. it would run for less than a minute, backfire, and cut off again. finally, it would not restart. we let it sit for 30 minutes, started it up and it ran fine for 1.5 hrs. she got into some water. the bike cut off (did not backfire this time) and would not restart. after 15 minutes, it restarted and ran fine for another hour or so. she rinsed it off before loading to go home and again it would not start. 15 minutes later, it cranked right up and ran fine. it seems like something is getting wet and interrupting timing or firing. does anyone have any suggestions?

Edited October 4, 2009 by tygrrr123

[DirtDemon]

Check all your electrical connections, make sure the connections are clean, apply some dielectric grease, and seal them up good.

[Ajmboy]

That's happened to me when water gets into the intake.

[DirtDemon]

Sucking water into the intake is bad, if that was indeed the problem, you need to be careful about going into water that is too deep. You need to install a snorkel system if you want to ride though deep water and mud that could get into the airbox. If the engine takes in too much water while running at high speeds, it can destroy your engine. Water does not compress in the cylinder like the air/fuel mix does. Here is a worst case scenario of what happens when your motor gets hydrolocked.