Rain Riding Problems

[Guest]

gsx250 -On the way to my licence test today the bike was getting massive flat spots, in order to go anywhere i gave it full choke and it picked back up a little, it only happens when it rains and im abit lost at where to start, the plugs are ok, inlet rubbers are tight and in good nick.

How would water be getting into the engine causing the problems? Could it be electrical?

On the way home the bike was fine as the rain had stopped.. Rather annoying.

[bonanzadave]

Most likely its the spark plug caps. Easy fix. Run by the Slow-zuki store and gab some new NGK plug caps. There are different styles with different geometry so take note what your old caps look like. Then just cut off the old caps and screw on the new ones. Done.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

I used to ride in the rain everyday. Never noticed any problems.

[pete]

My guess is either plug caps like bonanzadave said, or there's some wires somewhere that aren't being insulated fully from water ingress.

If the negative lead for your coils is being grounded by water, it will leave the coil on and it won't spark until the water moves to open the circuit.

That's one theory anyway.

I'd start by lifting the tank and checking for any connections under there that look like they have dodgy insulation as even though they're protected from direct rain by the tank, it can run down the harness from the instruments etc.

[TheCafeKid]

Cracked and dry rotten plug wires and or plug cap internals or both. Water will let it arc across the head. Replace your caps (smart to do either way) inspect the wires. If they're bad or cracked replace the coils. Cannot replace just the wires on stock coils.

[Woodsy]

My wiring has been hacked up abit by the POs, it has connections all over the shop, i have checked the coil wires and they were good connections and they were dry, i'll replace the plug caps to be on the safe side. I'll do one thing at a time and see which one eliminates the problem, I should probably re wire the whole bike.

My plug leads are quite hard and stiff as well so they are probably on the list for replacement, but as you said i have to replace the whole coil etc while i'm at it.

Should breath abit of life in the old girl, i did do a resistance test on the coils and got 4.5 each side which is within the 3-5 range in my manual.

[pete]

My wiring has been hacked up abit by the POs, it has connections all over the shop

Ugh, that's where my money is... but one thing at a time is best

I lucked out with my harness, after a good clean it appears to be good, and someone has even already kindly taken the stator from the headlight direct to the R/R by the looks too.

[1_v8_merc]

I'm really surprised, my GS will haul ass threw an Armageddon rain storm and not even miss a beat!

I've been caught in some nasty storms...completely off-guard.
I was soaked.....but damn did I feel alive!

Plus I really didn't care how wet I got, as long as the GS kept goin!




I realize this doesn't help you at all....lol.
But there's definitely something funny going on, I thought GS'es were notorious for being good in water and off-road, haha.