I Swear it has to do with rain. The bike has been fine. No issues. Yesterday we had a torrential downpour in the morning and afternoon. It sat out all day at work. Rode it home fine. This morning it did not want to start without opening the throttle. Cut out and stooped on the way to work. Put it on prime and I managed to get it started again and to work.

Tonight I go to leave work and it starts up fine. Perfectly OK. Almost to home (3 miles away) and I slow down for a stop sign - I've already been through several - and it just quietly dies. Next stop dies again. To get through the final stop and pull into the driveway I have to keep the throttle open. It was not on prime on the way home.

It acts like there is water. The mechanic of course says no way. Well this only happens after it has been sitting through a monsoon.Where else could there possibly be water entry? The gas cap?

I'll drain the bowl tonight and see if there is any water in it.

I'm perplexed.

I put in seafoam yesterday when I got home just for prevention.

That's my next order - the spark plug. Sure wish they didn't put it under the tank. And I have a full tank.

Very frustrating.

It would be but I don't remember a spark plug mod. But then it's been a really long day at work. Thankfully it's 1/2 day tomorrow.

Is there any wiring(or connections) you could check on the outside of the bike that could be frayed,etc....that may be affected by the rain?

I really dont know but maybe one of the guys could give any info on this....if its a possibility.

I dont have alot of experience but my bike has had no problems other than the battery(yet) .....and it stays covered when its raining....although not sure how good those covers actually are,in rainy weather.

FreeSpirit wrote on 07/31/08 at 16:27:07:


Don't think I can do that. SavageGreg says it takes a beer and since the pictures are no longer there it would probably take at least a 6 pack.

And I don't drink...

I think the first pics show it pretty well. Looks simple to me

But I could be missing something

And,I'm just not ready to take the gas tank off...LOL...I'm going to wait til I need to...then try it.

ALittleBird,
   It might be good to have someone check your idle RPM's.   The stop sign/light cut-off is almost alwyas too low an idle.

 I noticed with my tach, that the RPM's at idle do change.  I think it's has to do with humidity in the air, air density , etc etc....

Also, a warning, these are low oil pressure bikes.  If the idle RPM  gets too low you could start to cause damage to the cam journal in the head.  Yes, I know it sounds cool when the idle is low, but ..... 10W-40 dino oil at 1100 RPM in 85 deg F weather give a 2 PSIG oil pressure.  Yes... TWO. ... no typo there.    The spec calls for 7-10 PSIG at 3000 RPM.

T Mack

EDIT: I took my oil pressure gauge off because it was a 30 PSIG gauge and in the cool weather (50 deg F) with 20W-50 Mobil One V-twin oil, with cold engine at start-up (thick oil) I could peg the needle.  I think I pegged it too many times because it stopped going back to zero when I shut off the bike.  Have bid in on a 60 PSIG gauge.....    fyi for those that don't remember,  I got an eBay special last year that had a melted piston and bad cam journal.

I wish I had done the spark plug door sooner. It makes it a lot easier to get that plug out. Remember to blow the dirt & stuff from around the base of the plug before you pull it. You can get a can of keyboard dusting air if you have no compressor that ( I hope) would blow the stuff from down around it, but it's a cavity & stuff collects down there & can fall in after the plug is pulled.
I cut the bolt off that came from the rear side of the head trim, leaving it tall enough to go up in the trim a ways, not far, & put heat shrink on it, so it wouldnt rattle & so it wouldnt be able to swing out.

I forgot to blow the stuff out once & when I saw what was around the plug hole I freaked out. Using grease on a stick, I was able to remove it, but some had already fallen in, so I put grease on a straw & probed around in the cylinder & pulled several chunks of gritty stuff out. The roads out here are made of sand with heavy oil on it & it flies up from the front tire. Maybe the cavity around your sparkplug doesnt get loaded up with dirt, mine sure does.