bike dies in rain, elp!

[Timber020]

Im heading up from hokitika to nelson tomorrow and its supposed to be pissing down (again).

Bike has been doing great work, but in the rain about 30kms from Greymouth on at 11pm xmas night the bike just lost all power and came to a halt. After the noise the dark, no sign of houses or cars, just the depressing sound of rain drumming down on my helmet. Stopped for a few minutes, then it started again and travelled less than a km and died again. Started it once again and it was fine all the way to hokitika although it was pissing down.

Seems like its something warm and electrical as it seems to dry and get moving down. Tomorrow the rains supposed to be heavier so I was looking for any suggestions. Its not one cylinder its the whole lot dying. I have done a search of forums and havent found anything. Could be a LONG trip at this rate, ANY IDEAS?

[Ixion]

All dying suddenly suggests low tension. And a short . Do all the other electrical things seem OK when it happens? Water in the kill switch ? Check round the CDI unit (I'm assuming it has one) or FI computer if it has that. And give the ignition switch a blast of WD40. Did you do the "turn ignition off, turn ignition on" thing when it stopped? Tempting to assume it's water in the works, but always a bit risky, assumptions.

Could be the ignition pickup being flooded, was there a lot of spray from the road?

[Motig]

Spray the electrics liberally with CRC ?

[NighthawkNZ]

Im heading up from hokitika to nelson tomorrow and its supposed to be pissing down (again).

Bike has been doing great work, but in the rain about 30kms from Greymouth on at 11pm xmas night the bike just lost all power and came to a halt. After the noise the dark, no sign of houses or cars, just the depressing sound of rain drumming down on my helmet. Stopped for a few minutes, then it started again and travelled less than a km and died again. Started it once again and it was fine all the way to hokitika although it was pissing down.

Seems like its something warm and electrical as it seems to dry and get moving down. Tomorrow the rains supposed to be heavier so I was looking for any suggestions. Its not one cylinder its the whole lot dying. I have done a search of forums and havent found anything. Could be a LONG trip at this rate, ANY IDEAS?

Sounds like the CDI or modern equal ... had a similar problem when when tour the north island. could travel 10 15ks and then died as the CDI warmed up... let it cool and do another 10k ... was a long trip home

is it only when it gets wet or in all weather it dies? I agree with Ixion

[Toaster]

Spray the electrics liberally with CRC ?

How about using WD40 - CRC is an abrasive, WD40 is not.

[Patch]

Why not just put a raincoat on ya bike and ride between showers. :dodge:

Wouldn't use either crc or wd40. Use Electrical Contact Cleaner made by CRC, is a water repellent as well.

Good Luck

[Timber020]

Yeah its weird, rest of the electrics are all fine, just kills the engine. Bike has a powercommander under the seat but I would have thought it was well away from influence from rain. I will get some crc electric stuff tomorrow on my way north. its only happened on this trip and only in rain. Maybe I will have to keep the speed down to, keep the rain from being driven into it so heavily.

Thanks very very much for you imput guys, I really appreciate it!

[awesker]

Hey dude, if your riding your RGV in the wet your probably getting the same problem as I get.. turns out water getting kicked up from the front wheel shorts out the spart plug on the bottom cylinder, and mate that thing is hard to ride on 1 cylinder .. also paranoid that it would kick back in and Id get thrown on my ass.. I thought about just putting some duct tape over the fairing where you can see the spark plug lead.. might help.. maybe getting some kind of water proofing agent that you can spray around the plug or something..

Those RGVs are the best design for wet riding, when I look under my seat you can see wires and all sorts hanging nice and open waiting to get wet.. so I just ride the cib in shite weather. Just try and keep all your electrics away from the water. good luck mate!

edit: helps if I read your post properly eh? haha!

[Bonez]

Hey dude, if your riding your RGV in the wet your probably getting the same problem as I get.. turns out water getting kicked up from the front wheel shorts out the spart plug on the bottom cylinder, and mate that thing is hard to ride on 1 cylinder .. also paranoid that it would kick back in and Id get thrown on my ass.. I thought about just putting some duct tape over the fairing where you can see the spark plug lead.. might help.. maybe getting some kind of water proofing agent that you can spray around the plug or something..



That's were decent mudguards with mud flaps come in handy. Anyone else remember them ?

[What?]

It's not Italian, is it?????

:dodge:

[Bonez]

It's not Italian, is it?????

:dodge:Don't BMW 650s have wiring issues :gob:
Gerty has this horrible scoop on her front mudguard that actually flicks up water onto the low tension leads. Liquid cooling I guess ;). Fucken Hondas.

[Bonez]

Why not just put a raincoat on ya bike and ride between showers. :dodge:

Wouldn't use either crc or wd40. Use Electrical Contact Cleaner made by CRC, is a water repellent as well.
Doesn't it leave the contacts dry though, agreed good for initial cleaning, wereas wd40 leaves a protective film over the contacts. Theres silicon contact gunk available as well. A mate uses it on his Ducatis contacts.

[What?]

Nah - the wiring's OK, just issues with some of the bits hanging off the ends of it. Italian bits...

That should do it!

[awesker]

That's were decent mudguards with mud flaps come in handy. Anyone else remember them ?

yeah my RGV has a nice fat ugly mudguard that I want to pull off.. but just sitting above that is the wires.. so water vapour would rape it!

[Motig]

I'm curious. CRC 5-56 is an abrasive ? The one that says "Advanced Lubrication" on the can ? Mind you I probably left it a bit open as they do make more than the 5-56, just its the only CRC I use.

[MacD]

The CRC 5-56 vs WD-40 debate is very similar to the synthetic vs mineral oil debate. Depending which side you are on, the other product will cause your motorcycle to self-destruct on application. You have been warned! ;)

Of course both products are mainly petroleum distillates similar to kerosene:
WD-40 Data Sheet (http://www.wd40.com/Brands/pdfs/msds-wd40_aerosol.us.pdf)
CRC 5-56 Data Sheet (http://www.crceurope.com/wwwcrc/msds/AB10100-3.htm)

[Timber020]

Actually the machine in question is a late 90's blade, Hey how is this for kinda weird. If im getting cramped I sometimes rest my legs on the crash posts. Now this is fine at 100kmph but at 120kmph (on closed roads with expert guidance) after a few seconds its makes it splutter and cough! I cant work it out although it gave me a fright at the time. One leg up is fine but both kill it.

The cutting out problem in the rain kills all the cylinders dead, not just a little cut out on one or two like I get sometimes with my GSXR in the wet.

Hey if anyone happens to find the entire end section of a two brothers pipe within about 40kms north or murchison, its mine! looks like the carbon fibre holes gave out and I might have been concerntrating to much on being a careful and considerate road user to have noticed until it was so late. Jeez its loud!

Had a fantastic ride from hokitika to westport and then through to murch and onto nelson. Saw some other bikes having a good time, luckily saw the cops out in good time to. When I got to murch I thought I was going to need surgery to get the smile off my face. The cops stopping every single vehicle for reg and wof check did that for me. I was okay, I just dont like them closing open road to do some revenue gathering when there are filthy, dirty, underhanded and very loud speeders to catch!:Punk:

[kro]

My FZR 400 used to do the same thing, it was just water collecting in the number 1 spark plug well, which wouldn't drain, because the little drain hole was clogged with crap. I bet good money you have the same problem. The water shorts the HT lead, and gives you a weak and crappy spark in the cyclinder.

Check your drain hole on that cylinder...assuming Suzuki gave you one.