Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech cutting out in wet weather

alright guys, i drive my speedy hail, rain, sleet or snow, but i've just came across a problem when then rain is very heavy it seems to cut out or drop revs. any info would be much apprecieted.
cheers donny

Awright Donny being a fellow scot who rides the same I have found that the left hand coil as you sit on the bike gets screwed up seems the rain is forced down the tunnel gap between the tank and the frame. Plent of De elctric grease on all the contacts worked for me. Also changing the plugs every now and then. maybe just being pedantic but I found that helps. Give it a try.

as a fellow rain soaked Scot a good blast of water repellant grease over the coils and HT leads cured it too.

I'm not a Scot, but get just as bloody wet in the rain...

Use the dielectric grrase.... but if still happens, it's spray blocking the tank breather pipe. Guess how I know,....
I read somewhere someone cut the end to a point and it solved it, but I can't remember where. Just crack the petrol cap every so often and it'll be ok. Or buy a vented cap.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the newer models equiped with a plastic shield that goes over the coils to prevent this?

the 08';s maybe, not sure about the 07's but my 06..... cuts out.

neither of our 04s has ever had a wet weather issue and we have ridden in some very heavy rain, for hours at times.

My 03 hasn't either, and the 06 didn't when I first got it. I've no idea what started it either. It just does it. And no, it didn't coincide with the tank being off. Just happened.

A crack so small you can't see it in the insulation on the coil can do it, so can bad plug wires, or if water gets in the connections if they are not greased. Not saying any of those are the issue but they are causes I have run into over the years.

The 08's have a lot of changes under the tank. Probably due to the fuel injection. The wiring looks much cleaner.

5 hour night journey to Scotland in fine rain and my 06 speedy cut out 7 times wasnt anything to do with friday 13th but spray went up the vent pipe dangling behind the engine.I cured it by cutting it at an angle.

There are a few old posts about this. In very heavy rain, my bike (an 07 TA) started cutting out. If I open the petrol cap and close it, bike would start up and run fine for around 5km then same thing. If this is what is happening, cut the outlet of the vent hose at a 45 degree angle and around 2 inches shorter. If venting the tank does not provide 5kms of releif, (that is running fine) then it is something else and would start with the coils and grease.

....I don't ride in the rain, but my '03 america used to fail when I washed it....tried greasing all of those connections - no help!.....turned out to be a kick stand switch that liked staying dry.....took it off and sealed it real well with silicone; all better now.

Had the same issue with the gas tank vent. Some water gets sucked in to the breather hose and creates a vacum in the tank. Opening the gas cap solved it temporarily and as others have said cutting the vent line at a 45 degree angle is supposed to help too.

So im having a similar problem, checked out the coils and they look like my bike is owned by a 25 year old kid that parties to much and doesnt do maintenance, For giggles I pulled my plugs and they both look very lean. shouldn't they be soaked if there not sparking correctly?