Dropped the bike in the water, wouldn’t start right away, but it did later - why?
So, I’m going through a stream crossing earlier today, and a wooden stick jammed my chain tight inside the actual chain deflector, stopping me dead in my tracks. I put my foot down on top of a submerged log, slipped off it, and I dropped my bike on its right side in the water. Standing in the water, the water level was just below my knee.
Once I got the bike back upright, I pulled the air filter out. The bottom of the air box appeared to have seen some water (I’m kind of guessing here because I had never looking inside the air box before this happened),but the air filter felt dry, as did the carb entrance.
I undoubtedly did the wrong thing and tried to start the bike. The starter engaged and the engine made the standard starting sound for a fraction of a second before cutting out completely - ALMOST as if the cylinder was full of water the piston couldn’t move. I’m sure that was not the case, but that’s what it seemed like. I tried to start it several times over the next 15 minutes, but with the same result.
I proceeded to remove the seat and all the plastics in an effort to remove the spark plug and blow out any possible water in the cylinder. I also thought I needed to remove the fuel tank which I ultimately couldn’t due to its rear fastener.
In any event, all this took some time (note to self - include fly spray in my tool kit next time), because I couldn’t move the bike and I had to do this in the middle of the stream.
At this point - after I had pulled the spark plug lead off but before I could get the spark plug out - some atv’ers happened upon me after being in the water for about an hour or so, upon which I tried to start the bike again. This time the engine turned over, and eventually the engine came back to life. The seat and plastics went back on and I headed off on my merry way.
THIS IS THE QUESTION:
What was the actual issue with the bike? Was it something electrical, and things just needed to dry out a bit before the bike would start again, or was it something else?
I’m keen to understand this - if removing the seat and all the plastics did nothing to resolve the starting issue, then I would prefer not to go through that process in the future.
What should I have done?