Bike losing power in heavy rain

[slimyxylofone]

Hi all,

I rode home late last night in the heavy rain on my SV650. Close to home I went to overtake and the bike lost half its power. Felt like one of the cylinders cut out. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

I did notice that morning that when I had stopped, after riding in heavy rain to work, the air filter was dripping a lot of water onto the ground. Is this related, or fairly normal?

It is due for its 18,000km service anyway so I am going to take it in tomorrow, but if anyone had any ideas at least I could get a heads up before handing over to the mechanics.

Many thanks guys,

Jesse

[scumdog]

Had a similar problem once on my XL350 - trouble was it only has one cylinder so I use to end up pushing it in the pouring rain.

Turned out to be a split in the plug-lead up near the coil, water off the front tyre use to spray on it and earth out the spark.

[dino3310]

i was thinking along the same lines as scumdog, water getting to the spark

[bully]

yer, electrical, then when you park it up, the engine heat drys it out.

[Ixion]

Odds are that water is getting to the front cylinder spark plug. Which is pointed nicely into the wash from the front wheel.

[slimyxylofone]

Thanks for the replies guys. Is this generally a problem to fix?

[Murray]

Only if it continues to rain!! I would suggest you get your spark plug leads checked out when getting it serviced. I would also look at the air filter dripping water, sounds like a leak and that won't help either??? cheers

[imdying]

Yes, is a known problem... there's a drain hole in the front cylinder spark plug recess, make sure it's clear. Once you've done that, take the plug out and make sure it's not a rusty piece of poo now. If it is, replace it. Then make sure the inside of the plug cap isn't also a rusty piece of poo... if it is, replace that too.

Try svrider.com for all your SV650 questions

[slimyxylofone]

Yes, is a known problem... there's a drain hole in the front cylinder spark plug recess, make sure it's clear. Once you've done that, take the plug out and make sure it's not a rusty piece of poo now. If it is, replace it. Then make sure the inside of the plug cap isn't also a rusty piece of poo... if it is, replace that too.

Try svrider.com for all your SV650 questions

Cheers man. I will take a look and sort it.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments!

[Mikkel]

I read the OP and all I could think was wheelspin...

Sounds like imdying knows the real answer though - if it had been an SV1000 I'd still think my thought would be equally plausible.

[Badjelly]

Make sure you hold the throttle wide open until the missing cylinder kicks back in .

[musicman]

Hi all,

I rode home late last night in the heavy rain on my SV650. Close to home I went to overtake and the bike lost half its power. Felt like one of the cylinders cut out. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

I did notice that morning that when I had stopped, after riding in heavy rain to work, the air filter was dripping a lot of water onto the ground. Is this related, or fairly normal?

It is due for its 18,000km service anyway so I am going to take it in tomorrow, but if anyone had any ideas at least I could get a heads up before handing over to the mechanics.

Many thanks guys,

Jesse

Sorry for the thread dredge, but I was wondering if you got the problem sorted and if you found out what caused it? I just got a Raptor 650 (same engine as the SV650) and when I rolled on the throttle from about 105km/h the same thing happened. It was dry when I was riding it, but it had been parked out in the rain the night before.

[Pwalo]

Very probably the same problem. The front plug can be exposed to wet weather, especially on the earlier SVs. (My 06 has a couple of flaps of rubber to keep spray off this area - seems to work as well).

[slimjim]

v-strom has same rubber flap to.....what they can't design a water-proof plug cover....buy a yama.....or a......honda..

[Racing Dave]

I don't disagree with the above suggestions, but if it's a model with carbs (I'm not sure when the injected models were sold here) then carb icing is also a possibility. This will make the engine run rich, giving similar symptoms, and also clears when the humidity drops. Seems more likely an ignition problem, though.