How can I tell whether there's water in the engine?

[kevino]

I have an Ice Bear scooter barely two years old.   I left it out in rainy weather all winter.   Now the battery is dead but I charged it and was able to start the motor.   So now it was idling but dies whenever I twist the throttle.   Tried for so long that I drained the battery again.   I'm wondering if water is the root problem.   In cars I would pour alcohol into the gas tank to get rid of water.   Now the charger is on.   Why does it die when trying to go above idle?  Is this a sign of water somewhere in the motor?  

[jackrides]

Many carbs have a drain screw use it. If not, remove the carb and remove the float bowl. Usually 4 JIS standard #2 phillips screws, then tap on the side of the bowl with the handle end of the screwdriver. Water will look like mecury at the bottom of the gasoline. Dump. The bowl, not you. Hold the bowl under the carb and turn the gas on to reserve and see if more water comes out. If so drain your tank and run a little new gas thru it. Obviously do this outdoors.

[aeroxbud]

If there is water in the gas tank. It will sit below the level of the fuel. If you suck on the vacuum line from the carb. Fuel should come out of the fuel line. Catch the fuel in a clear container.
Leave it to stand for a while and if water is in there, it should separate from the fuel and be easy to see.
It probably just needs a carb clean.

[repherence2]

like jackrides and aeroxbud mentioned, most likely it is water in the carb bowl. i have been battling an issue like that for the last several months ever since i swapped my stock chinarelli back onto my bike. where i park my bike, it gets blasted with the lawn sprinkler every morning and i guess some of the water gets into the carb from the top of the slide cover where the throttle cable tube enters the slide cover. that water makes it's way down and into the bowl.

so everytime i want to take the bike for a spin to buy beer, i have to drain the carb bowl. i have yellow tygon fuel (gasoline) hoses and i attached an 8" length of hose to the bowl drain spigot, that just dangles when i am riding, i stick that hose into a clear gatorade/powerade/water bottle and open the drain screw and let it drain for about 10 seconds.

and just like aeroxbud says, after letting the bottle sit for a while, the water and gas separate and you can clearly see how much water was sitting in the bottom of the fuel bowl.

[repherence2]

this is all the fuel/water that have from all the bowl draining that i have done in the last several months. 3 bottles worth.