The Rain!

[TheQK1]

Hi

Has anyone experienced issues when driving in the rain? Besides the normal perils’ of driving in the rain.

I have sealed the coil gaps with rubber cut outs around the coil so no water can enter, I will check if it has worked as my bike is showing irregular rev's after 2 days of driving in the rain.

Lets assume that water did get in, how do one get it out again as the coils go in quite deep.

Regards
Werner

[tomtom]

..

[TheQK1]

Thanks, where on the engin will I see the holes?

How will I know if there is water in the Coil holes, I can not take out the Splugs intill all water is out.

Do you know what will happen if water/moisture got into the coil area that cover the spark plug? This way I can tell if I need to start at the coils.

Only when it rains do I have this problem of the bike Rev's going up and down, like it's not getting feul trough the system or maybe not a spark?

Regards
Werner

[boilermaker]

Werner
You have not replied to my recommendation re checking the vacuum hoses before moving off into suspecting the plug coils. . Diagnostics consists of checking one thing at a time in a systematic fashion. If you start checking three things at a time then you will get nowhere, and only a lucky break will possibly help. Engine revs rising and falling randomly is normally a symptom of an air leak on the induction side unless the plug coil is shorting due to water in the plug/coil cavity but this would manifest itself in one cylinder breaking down causing an abrupt rise/fall in power. Toms recommendation is a good one, although I have not found a weep/drain hole in the 1000 cylinder head. It would also be a good idea to follow the advice of a few others and remove the plug coils and coat them in a good marine or Silicone based grease The problem with sealing the gap around the plug coil is that if water does get in (and the drain hole is blocked) then it may not be able to evaporate away when the engine is hot , the double (top and bottom) bellows type seals used by some coil manufacturers seem to work better. The whole set up is a piece of design lunacy perpetrated by someone in a warm dry office.) If it is any consolation just about every motorcycle manufacturer using this system has had problems.

[iceman]

The whole set up is a piece of design lunacy perpetrated by someone in a warm dry office.) If it is any consolation just about every motorcycle manufacturer using this system has had problems.

Which seem to be almost all these days on modern bikes.

[TheQK1]

Thanks Boilermaker

I only have time on the weekend to work on the bike, I will check the rubber as you have suggested. I however have the weekend to check things properly and want to know of a few areas that I can look over to make the time as productive as possible.

The revs do drop sharply and if I do not keep the throttle open a bit the bike actually stalls.

The last time this happened it was the same, I removed the coils sanded the off, re sprayed them and sealed the gaps with rubber covers. I also checked all the electrical connections and replaced the spark plugs; none got rid of the problem.

I once started the bike and rev'ed the bike, it made one BIG back fire, this is when I took it to Suzuki to repair.

I am still trying to find out from them what the have done, this was in December 2009. I'll rather find out how to fix the problem if possible rather that paying every year.

Please give some suggestions as to what I can check this weekend to try and identify the problem.

Best Regards
Werner

[boilermaker]

Werner
At the risk of repeating myself have you checked the induction manifold vacuum hoses?

[TheQK1]

Well, no

As I prepared to work on the bike on Saturday I gave it a try and it started 100%, no problems. I have driven to work and back yesterday and today (Tuesday) and still no problem.

Maybe something got wet and needed to dry? Any ideas?

I look after my 1000 with lots of love and clean check all visible components regularly, so I would have noticed any rotten rubbers or the like. This issue seems to be rain related.

Regards
Werner

[boilermaker]

Werner
The components that I am referring to are not visible unless you lift the tank.

[TheQK1]

It's raining again today, so covered the instrument clusters- let's see if it holds up. As per below advice:

"sounds like water in the switch gear on handle bars
put it in a warm room and dry it out
when it runs spray silicon lube on the connectors for the things related to spark
and the fuel injection like the tach sensor and the mass air flow sensor


most of the problems I have had with my 3 MZ bikes has been related to poor quality
electrical harness and parts
it’s been so bad here they are making joe lucas look like he knew what he was doing
Dave"

Thanks Boilermaker, I do regularly open up the tank, remove the air box and clean all then replace and off I go.

Regards
Werner