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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Question. Poor running in the wet?
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Message started by Toom on 01/03/15 at 02:41:16

Title: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Toom on 01/03/15 at 02:41:16

Hi, I've had my little savage since May as a commuter bike and with the long term goal of passing her on to Mrs Toom once she finally takes her test.
She's a low mileage 1986 model bought having stood for four years.

After a lot of diagnostics on a weird carb problem ( it stuck open every other time you opened the throttle and emptied the fuel tank through the air box) which after a complete carb rebuild still wouldn't go. I ended up replacing with a new flat sided Mikuni built by Allens performance in Nottingham and a replacement push pull throttle off a HD sportster she was good as new and runs like a dream 99% of the time.

Only other casualty of standing was replacement starter motor after the old one died.

Whenever it's very wet she seems to get very temperamental and on new years day in the rain emitted a stream of 5-7 backfires then lost all power and conked out at the top of a hill.

Oddly this has happened before always when wet.

I left her for 20 minutes whilst having a cig then bumped her in 3rd down the hill, had a splutter of life and then started off the starter. Managed to get two more miles in the deluge running lumpy as hell and as normal the next day everything was fine.

Anyone experienced anything similar? Could it be something as simple as water getting sacked through the intake to the carb causing a bit of starvation? Is this normal?

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Demin on 01/03/15 at 04:16:02

It could be that or your plug wire is dry rotted and letting moisture in.A wet plug wire will do that too.Spray some WD40 or whatever you have there that's equal and try and see how it runs.WD will pull the moisture out.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Demin on 01/03/15 at 04:18:18

Oh.......Welcome to the site. :)

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Toom on 01/03/15 at 05:21:15

Cracking point, funnily enough I replaced that along with the ignition coil so yep that's worth looking at thanks

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by verslagen1 on 01/03/15 at 08:43:50

I have to assume the problem is electrical.
an old wiring harness, aged connectors, and minimal waterproofing.
I'd think I'd start her up and hose her down progressively till you found the problem.
Key areas of concern... kickstand switch, primary wiring, decomp controller (over the carb, has been known to fill up with water)

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Toom on 02/27/15 at 03:21:07

Hey thanks so much for the ideas so far. Still haven't got to the bottom of it. Would of replied sooner but some scrote stole my phone and with it my login details so only just got that replaced!

I tried hosing down and it stopped however it stayed stopped. Basically if it gets damp she hates it.

It's almost like she is getting water in the fuel or something.

Anyway I have a plan to systematically waterproof the electrics when my new indicators arrive next week and hopefully that will solve iit!

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Dave on 02/27/15 at 03:49:37

6358585A370 wrote:

It's almost like she is getting water in the fuel or something.

The backfires and poor running when wet are most likely electrical. The front tire throws a lot of water at the front of the engine, up under the fuel tank, and at the kick stand safety switch down at your foot. The electrical connectors are not sealed well, and it sounds to me like the ignition system is getting weak when wet.

As other said previously - start the bike and carefully start to get the parts wet.....try a spray bottle of water to be more precise in where the water goes. Don't just spray the whole bike all at once - start at the bottom and spray water on the kick stand safety, then work your way up the bike carefully trying to see what causes the bike to lose the ignition. Spray some water on the spark plug cap, wire, coil, etc. and get each part wet one at a time. Also try the left handlebar control where the engine stop switch is located.

I would also suggest you take the tank off, pull the electrical connectors apart and look for corrosion. Clean any off that you find, and then use a dialectric grease to seal and protect the connectors. Look at the decompression controller - the seal in the housing can go bad and let water inside.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by gizzo on 02/28/15 at 04:08:09

My '86 does the exact same thing! Runs like a top ,unless it rains then it fits and farts and threatens to stop. WOT seems to keep it going,badly. I'm assuming an electrical fault but haven't really made an effort to sort it,it never rains here anyway. But,keep us informed of developments.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Kris01 on 02/28/15 at 09:33:07

Isn't there some sort of goop that we can put inside all of the connectors to keep the water out? Being a motorcycle, and more exposed to the weather, it may be a good idea. I just can't think of what it's called right now.

Oh wait....dielectric grease! That's it! Could be a fix for a finnicky "doesn't run well when wet" bike.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Toom on 02/28/15 at 11:40:03

Will do, sort of glad it's not just me! I intend to go through the loom with a fine tooth comb when I replace the indicators in a few weeks.

I just finished recounting the headlight today after an incident with a cheap and nasty Chinese headlamp (fire. Bad.)

The next big job is going to be fathoming out why I'm getting oil from out of the cylinder.

It'll be brilliant when finished and ideal for the Mrs as her first bike. Thus far the biggest expense has been a new custom flat side carbon from Allens Performance which worked out cheaper than a new old stock one from Suzuki and was in my head at least less risk than a second hand one of unknown provenance from flea bay!

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Steve H on 02/28/15 at 16:10:08

Check the tech section about the head plug leak. That might be where your oil is coming from.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Lipi on 03/04/15 at 06:15:44

I ride an 86 Savage and had a similar problem last year.
The bike was running well when the weather was dry but had problems when it was wet.
It got worse in a couple of month and finally it was not even starting in rain.
Finally I found out that the root cause of the problem was the failure of the fuel petcock diaphragm.
Replaced it with a Raptor petcock and now it's OK.

Title: Re: Question. Poor running in the wet?
Post by Serowbot on 03/04/15 at 07:01:16

Sputtering and dieing, sounds like an electric problem,.. but, just FYI...
Rain, equals humidity, and you will get rich condition pops and blats from the exhaust, because the air has less oxygen... That part is normal...

You don't have an open air filter do you?... :-?...