Oh joy!!!

[Blackrhythms]

Woke up today to find that it was lashing rain - and I mean pelting down! Ah well - time of year for it and all that - things still need to be done - so when I realised that the rain was down for the day, I geared up and set off on the bike! Conditions were really bad - the roads were holding a lot of water and of course the rain wasn't letting up, so myself and bike were getting wetter and wetter. No problem - until the bikes starts coughing and spluttering when I'm in low gear. At one stage, I went to pull out of a junction and it nearly died, but I clutched it quickly and it came to again! Then at the next junction I went to pull out of - halfway across the road and it cuts out altogether!! So reacting as quickly as possible, I'm backing it up while trying to get neutral (my bike won't start in gear even with the clutch in) so that I can start it again. In the meantime a car has pulled up behind me at the junction and gives me no room to get fully clear of the road (yeah thanks bud!! ) Anyway, I get the bike started, rev the bejaysus out of it and get going again.

Right, time to head for home methinks - so I head for the by-pass, which is a dual-carriageway - save having to sit in traffic in town and risk the bike cutting out on me again. So off the slip-road and I merge with traffic, when I notice that the engine is really labouring on the bike - it sounds like it's running out of juice (it wasn't - I'd only just filled up), so I go down a few gears to see if I can kick it back to life. Nope - it cut out altogether! Lovely - right as I had just passed another slip-road - traffic merging from that and traffic bombing along behind me. So I indicated, grabbed a gap in traffic and freewheeled onto the hard shoulder then pushed it up a bit further to get away from the end of the slip road!

Fabulous!! 5:30 in the evening, it's still pelting rain and getting dark and there's me sitting on the bike staring at it thinking 'WTF??!!' Of course it's rush hour too and there's so much traffic bombing past me!

Anyway, I get off and ring himself (not that there's much he can do considering he's at work 30 miles away!) So I then try to ring my Dad, as I know he has a trailer, but can't get through to him! But fairplay, while I was standing there looking like a drowned puppy, two people in cars pulled up to see if I was okay and if I needed a phone (many thanks to both of you for your consideration )

Then just when I think all is lost, along comes my Dad!! Good man! He tells me to hop in and we'll go get the trailer, but there was no way I was leaving my bike at the side of the road - so I told him I'd wait with it til he got back (I was already as wet as I could get!! )

After what seems like hours (at this stage I'm blue with the cold and can no longer feel my fingers) he comes back and we load up the bike onto the trailer, secure it down with heavy duty rope and head for my home!

So I'm finally dry and warm, had a cuppa, but now I've to figure out what the hell happened to the cbr!! Now when I first got it, after about a week it began acting up on me - it wouldn't start - I finally narrowed the problem down to the pick-up coils. So I replaced them with a second-hand set (this was back in August) and it's been going great, until now! I don't think it's them again - I won't know til I take them off again and test them with a multi-meter - but I'm wondering would any of you have any idea as to what could have caused it to just cut out like that? It still won't start, I've tried loads since.

Apologies for the long post and cheers for any helpful suggestions you could give me!
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[Nath]

Sounds like a typical case of wet electrics really. Of course it could be something else and the fact that it went wrong whilst raining coincidence (i've had this before and spent ages spraying the HT leads, caps, and coils with WD40 before eventually finding the real culprit).

First thing to do would be find which cylinders aren't firing (if any). If it was just water being the problem then the bike should run fine once it's had a little time to dry out.
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

First thing I thougt of was electrics as well.

Perhaps water getting in the carbs somehow, shouldnt really stop the bike running though.

[Blackrhythms]

Thanks Nath! I was thinking that it could be wet electrics or something similar - as you said, seems too much of a coincidence considering the weather, and it was really like it got gradually worse the longer I continued to ride! Well I'll be checking it over tomorrow, cos I ain't going back out in that weather!! Thanks for the suggestion!
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[Blackrhythms]

Hi Reuben. Yeah whatever it is, the bike does not want to start at all! I'm not sure if it could be water getting in somewhere, but it's fully faired - would the fairings not help deflect some of the water?
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[extreme3d]

When you say not wanting to start at all do you meant it turns over at the starter but refuses to fire up or do you mean completely dead full stop - no response to the starter, no lights.

If it's the letter than it's possibly just the bike got very wet (HT leads usually) and then with you constantly trying to start the thing up you will more than likely have drained the battery.

[Blackrhythms]

Sorry Extreme, I should have clarified that. The engine is turning over but won't fire up - I have all electrics - starter, lights etc. The battery's still perfect - it's only new anyway. It's almost like it was when the pick-ups were the problem before!
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[MarkJ]

It's not doing this is it? (Takes a while to "connect" (load) so please be patient)

[Blackrhythms]

I don't have the necessary plugin to watch that video - my pc is a bit of a bitch so it won't download it! Thanks for trying anyway Mark! Can you give me an idea of what was happening on that video?
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[Gazdaman]

I skipped most of the thread, but it sounds like the spark is arcing from the HT lead direct to the frame/something else.

One way to test it is get the engine running, or its version of running and touch the HT lead.

A good dousing with WD40 /should/ do it.

Gaz

[Trixie]

I used to have a simlar problem with my old Honda in the rain (and don't you find that it's ALWAYS dark and raining when you break down?! If we have to break down, why cant it be in nice weather??!!!)

Turns out rain was getting into the plug caps big time. I used to carry round a small tin of WD40 in my rucksack for times like that, and I could always get home after a quick plug cap off and spray of WD40 down the hole and in the plug cap
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Dead nobodies in company cars...

[irving]

[phk6]

after sparying all your electrics with WD40, why not spray them all with ignition sealer, as it coats electrics with a small amout of sillicon which stops water getting in and fucking them up.

ive done it to my cb500 which is a naked bike obviously and i dont have any bother in rain
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Current .. 2008 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure ..
Before .. 2003 Yamaha Fazer 1000 .. 2004 Kawazaki Z1000 .. 2003 Suzuki Sv1000s .. 1999 zx6r Track Bike .. 1999 CB 500 Cup ..
/Phil

[MarkJ]

[Blackrhythms]

Ok, the rain stopped late last night and when I went out today to start it, after a good bit of persuasion, it did! Having looked a bit further into it, I'm thinking that dodgy HT leads could definitely have something to do with it. Their all taped up with insulation tape!! Obviously done by a previous owner. So I guess with a combination of them and torrential rain - water was just getting in where it shouldn't!

So, I should spray all up with WD40 and then ignition sealer yeah? Can you tell me the name of the sealer or even where I could get some? There aren't many bike dealers around here - should an ordinary motor factor have it?

Many thanks for all your help - I really appreciate it!
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[Gazdaman]

Get a 'handy' sized can of WD40, from halfords, and some ignition crap from any car/bike shop.

Also, replace the HT lead, get it from any bike shop, and a new plug cap (both very very cheap).

They're also easy to fit, but get someone who knows what they're doing to do it. (important part of the bike etc).

Basicically, there's a screw inside the plug cap, and you just screw the screw into the wire to make the connection. It should be the same at the coil end aswell.

But WD40 and some sealer would do the trick. But only really buys you a bit more time. Better to do the job properly.

Gaz

[Pete.]

The insulation tape will be doing more harm than good, trapping moisture against the lead. You should remove it all and if it's possible replace the leads, if not seal them up as described above.

Whoever put the tape on HT leads has made a proper bodge of it.

[tintin]

Change the HT leads and plug caps and make sure you spray the connection with the coils as well. I once had a &50 Honda 4 cylinder that became a twin in the rain. It's worth buying good quality leads, it fixed the problem for me.
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The older I get the better I was

[Blackrhythms]

Yeah I'm definitely replacing the leads - it's a job I can do myself - having done it before on my poor old GSXR! And I'll probably replace the plug caps too - no harm when I'm that far anyway! The previous owner left me numerous problems to sort out! Ah well, it's all a learning curve!

Thanks again everyone!
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