Hard to start bike after tons of rain

[Badeye]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick one,

I was wondering if anyone could shed a little light on this. I have a K3 Pointy and yesterday when i was riding to work and coming home it was bouncing down with rain, even with all my kit on i was drenched. Anyway the bike seem to be fine until this morning when i got up for work and went to start the bike. It started ok but then as it warmed up the idle dropped to like 0.5 and sounded like it was about to stall.

Anyway i jumped on the bike and went to put more fuel in but the bike was running really rough in lower revs but once i got it to about 4000 it was ok. As i rode and the engine got warmer the bike sorted itself out, as if it was all dried out. The bike now runs fine and idles ok.

Whats should i check first if this happens again and is there anything i could possible do to stop this from happening again?

Cheers Guys

Si

[STRAMASHER]

Water in the front plug probably.

Silicon grease round the top of the plug cap giving it a waterproof seal is the cure.

Or buy a fender-extender.:sick:

[ophic]

In my experience, a fender extender is not a 100% cure. Mine still went to one cylinder, although I was virtually swimming down the M62 at the time.

There's also a small drain hole in the front cylinder head. Make sure this isn't blocked. Squirt some WD40 up it and see if that helps.

[-Ralph-]

They all do that sir ;-)

[Littlepeahead]

I find not riding in anything but bright sunshine solves this problem.

[SoulKiss]

They all do that sir ;-)

YOU LIAR!!!

At the risk of cursing things, mine hasn't.

[-Ralph-]

YOU LIAR!!!

At the risk of cursing things, mine hasn't.

Ha ha! :D

[Owenski]

K4 onwards has a small rubber flap below the rad to stop spray coming up off the front wheel, sort of negates the need for a fender extender. But as mentioned if that drain hole blocks you're fecked either way if you ride in anything heavy for a significant length of time water will collect in there, not a bad idea to do a plug swap and copper grease the new plugs before you insert them.

[dizzyblonde]

wd40 with straw attachment, spray in here, unblock spark plug drain hole. It might not start, but at least it will be clean of crap!


http://www.bluepoof.com/motorcycles/0404/cache/50pct/352_5242.JPG

[tomtomskin]

hey, I had a very simular issue. (actually worse than your's. Couldn't run in the rain for 10 minutes before loosing a cylinder.) I did all the checks all suggested above. I found no damp around the spark plug and the drainer was clean and clear. I followed the HT lead round to the ignition coil ( mounted just on the inside of the frame on the left hand side) A small twist of the lead and a load of water came flooding out.

The Ignition coil was a relatively cheap part to replace and although fiddly only took me a coule hours to do.
Haven't had the problem since at all.

Could almost go swimming with it :P

[Reeder]

hey, I had a very simular issue. (actually worse than your's. Couldn't run in the rain for 10 minutes before loosing a cylinder.) I did all the checks all suggested above. I found no damp around the spark plug and the drainer was clean and clear. I followed the HT lead round to the ignition coil ( mounted just on the inside of the frame on the left hand side) A small twist of the lead and a load of water came flooding out.

The Ignition coil was a relatively cheap part to replace and although fiddly only took me a coule hours to do.
Haven't had the problem since at all.

Could almost go swimming with it :P

I dare ya to try it:smt027

[-Ralph-]

Could almost go swimming with it :P

Oi! That's MY party trick! ;) :D

[ophic]

At the risk of cursing things, mine hasn't.
You don't get proper rain down here :p

[kiggles]

my k3 does this as well. cant work out why either. its always stalls and just about starts. almost given up on it and going to convert to in-line 4 permanently

[Badeye]

Cheers Guys,

I'll be doing some checking over the weekend, see if i can make up some protection for the vital parts. I love my K3 and really don't want to have to get rid of it and get an inline 4 so we will see. In the dry the bike runs brilliantly and i have ridden in some crazy rain on the M! before now and its never bothered it.

Well i'll get a fender extender, check that drain hole, get some silicone grease for the plug cap and see if i can make some rubber coats for the coils to keep them cosy.

I had this problem before on another bike where when the coils were soaked the bike would go crazy. I made some rubber coats for the coils from old bicycle inner-tube and the bike was fine.

[SoulKiss]

my k3 does this as well. cant work out why either. its always stalls and just about starts. almost given up on it and going to convert to in-line 4 permanently

There is a seal on the plug lead - ensure that this is seated properly.

I have looked at a couple of pointies with this issue and in both cases the lead was not seated right.

[Badeye]

i'll check it out, cheers bud