Rough Ride in the Rain | GTAMotorcycle.com

Rough Ride in the Rain

iegod

iegod

Well-known member
Having taken my bike to work today I had no choice but to ride back in this crappy weather of ours. I've ridden in the rain before but I would have to say today was the heaviest I've been out in on the bike. I had a 30km commute from Brampton to Toronto, and by the time I hit the city streets in TO I noticed the bike was performing very roughly. For example, I'd have the throttle at a constant position in first or second and sometimes it would seem underpowered, then catch, and suddenly rev up, then rinse and repeat. I had to be extra careful in this weather and basically ride my clutch to prevent any mishaps.

Is this common in the rain? I don't recall ever running into the issue before. If it is related to water/moisture somewhere, is it likely to return to normal when the bike dries up? It's stored in a garage for now and given our nice forecast I doubt I'll be taking it out for the rest of the week.

It's an '06 Ninja 650r if that makes any difference.
 
Finally got around to taking a look at the issue last night. Here's what I found when I pulled out the ignition coils:



You can see the rubber seal on the right is completely out of the cavity. Pulling them out:






The seal was cut/torn letting water in for what looks like a decent amount of time now. Bummer. The inside of the cavities looked like this (left and right respectively):






So I'll be replacing the one coil for sure. I'm also planning on changing out the spark plugs since I have no idea when that was last done. Of course I don't want this junk falling into the engine and would like to clean it; any recommendations on how to do this? A friend suggested using a brush followed up by vacuuming or a compressor to blow out the excess crud.
 
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stuff dielectrical grease down there
 
got the problem sorted on the first try. use compressed air and sheiled your eyes, and check for drain holes, might be blocked, at the base of the spark plugs.
 
also... dont stuff die. grease down the spark plug hole, it will conduct tempature to the sparkplug and its messey to clean up it could break down and pool at the bottom. only use it on the seal at the top!
 
Just a quick update: after cleaning/reoiling the air filter, scrubbing the interior coil cavity with a brass brush, using an air compressor and vacuum to clean up the crud, replacing the spark plugs, and swapping the one ignition coil, the bike is as good as ever. That first test ride yesterday was a thing of beauty. Thanks for all the advice!
 
obviously dont stuff it with di-electrical grease, just coat the surfaces with it. It helps with moisture.....
 
iegod said:
Just a quick update: after cleaning/reoiling the air filter, scrubbing the interior coil cavity with a brass brush, using an air compressor and vacuum to clean up the crud, replacing the spark plugs, and swapping the one ignition coil, the bike is as good as ever. That first test ride yesterday was a thing of beauty. Thanks for all the advice!
Click to expand...

The 650R with Michelin Pilot 2's was amazing in the rain. Don't give up that easy on rain riding. Bikes won't melt.
 
Ahhhhhh...watching that video makes me nervous.

I'm all for rain riding but racing in the rain. That's crazy. :duckie:
 
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