Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Hi folks

My Curvy S is my daily commuter...rain or shine. Until yesterday that is. All the usual symptoms of a wet front spark, rough idle, choppy under power, stalls etc. A hairy ride home. It dried up overnight and was fine this morning. Then it started raining and sure enough, same thing all over again.

I noticed tonight in the dark that the front cap is arcing against the cylinder head so the insulation is probably cracked. I've ordered a new coil/cable/cap and spark plugs. After reading all the threads covering this common problem I'm still left with some (probably embarrassingly simple) questions...

1. When I apply the dielectric grease to the cap, am I supposed to squirt some INTO the boot where the HT lead touches the spark plug AND squirt some around the outside of the boot where it touches the head walls, or just a touch round the top seal?

2. Do I get a high temp grease that won't melt and wash off?

I'm going to order a fender extender too and probably fab up some kind of splash guard to cover up the cylinder. It's my commuter so I'm more concerned with function over form lol.

Again...thanks for any insight folks.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Here's a short video explaining how to apply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-542IYGBbpg

Basically, apply inside the boot avoiding the metal conductor (although I've never had a problem like the video suggests). Di-electric grease is high temperature tolerant.

I avoid riding in the rain but wet roads are common. I added a fender extender (to my AL7) and then a mudflap to that because I've polished the header. I used nylon nuts/bolts to secure the fender extender rather than the plastic rivets that Pyramid supply since I was going to be adding the further weight of the mudflap.

If you buy a mudflap from ebay, there are basically 2; a short one (approx 165mm) and a long one (approx 250mm). The short one is made from a stiff rubber and hangs well, the long one (often labelled as a scooter mudflap) is a good length but is too flexible - the airflow can push it back onto the header where it leaves rubber marks. It needs some type of stiffener (I speak from experience).
If you're not bothered about your header, the short one would work fine.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Fender extenda-----good
Proper flap in front of plug hole-----better.


Also do check the drain hole at the side of the cylinder head is clear.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

My pointy really didn't like it when it was totally ****ing down. I have the fender extenda etc.
I pulled the lead out to try and unblock the drain hole everything looked lovely and clean.
So I followed Lances advice and put a great dollop of red rubber grease around the edge of the cap once fitted back in.

I tested it on Monday when the rain was coming sideways. No cough or splutter at all.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Cheers lads.

Extender ordered and currently fabbing a splash guard out of aluminium to fit between the head and the radiator that will hopefully blank off the whole head and extend it down a bit to provide some protection to the downpipe. Might look a bit naff but we'll see.

That vid perfectly answers my question...cheers for that. And I think a good helping around the boot seal for good measure couldn't hurt I suppose. I did poke about in the drain plug but nothing obvious was clogging it up. I'll find out this weekend when all my parts land and I can get stuck in.

I'll post my methods/results when I have them.

Top lads!

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

I've heard about this problem and never had it. Make sure the collar bit of the plug cap is good and tight against the rocker cover.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Four months of ownership/riding in Irish weather trouble free until Monday that is. It does seem like an oversight, especially from a Japanese company that has regular monsoons, and the drain hole wouldn't be up to much when the bikes on the side stand.

The boot is definitely split so no amount of cleaning, greasing is going to fix that. Ran into a problem with my splash guard. There's so little room between the rad fan and the head I'm struggling to shape 1 piece of aluminium in there. We'll see how I get on.

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

I also had the Suzuki vee single issue in the rain, and a single application of dielectric grease on the inside of the plug cap seemed to solve it. I was considering also making up some kind of cover to go over the plug cap as well, but given that the grease has worked, I've not gone to the bother of making anything (although I've probably jinxed myself with this post now...)

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

Haha...hope not Zed.

Just waiting on the new cap to land now so I can get started. Ran into another annoying problem. I've a crash bar fitted that mounts at the swing arm, side of the engine, then wraps round and meets just above the oil filter.

The hose from the rad to the water pump is tucked in behind the bar so when swinging the rad forward, it takes up a lot of the slack from the hose (which looks like i was replaced with a slightly shorter one than I've seen in others pics. So it looks like either...

1. The crash bars come off and that might give me enough slack on the hose to swing the rad forward
2. Drop the rad from the top mounts and rest it on the tyre (taking care of temp sensor, return hose and removing the horn too)
3. Drain the system and just go full bore and remove everything.

It seems like every simple sounding job on a faired SV requires dismantling half the bike lol! Changing my dash bulbs to LEDs was a mission in itself!

Thanks again for all the replies people. I'll keep ye posted

Re: Another SV325 in the rain.
 

All good advice above and.....

Have you replaced the Spark Plug Caps?

The OEM ones are silly expensive so these are what I use,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-Genuin...DPYh:rk:6:pf:0





Available in Black as well.

I had to fashion the little rubber skirt out of some old inner tube as the original rubber seals wouldn't fit.If I was riding in a lot of rain I would make another Square of Rubber bigger to double up and go on top of the little Skirt.

I also smear a thin film of GT85 chain lube on them on and the HTs on the outside as it's a Fantastic Water repellent.