Sunday was a real nice day. I got in a 150 mile ride in the morning, gassed up the bike at the corner station when I got home, pulled into the driveway and washed the bike.

I went for a little ride Sunday evening. About 10 miles into that ride, the bike got sick. It started missing, back firing, surging and running on one cylinder unless I was really heavy on the throttle.

So I limped it home and assumed I had some bad gas.

Monday afternoon, I called the gas station and asked if they’d had any indication their premium was off-spec. The manager said no, but he took my name and number and said he’d let me know if anyone else called. If it was bad gas, they’d take care of things.

I pulled my plugs. Rear was good. Front was fouled. I siphoned the tank dry.

Today, I picked up some new plugs and a can of Seafoam. Replaced the bad plug, got some gas from a station I’ve never had issues with and added about 1/3 of a can of seafoam. I went for a ride. Bike was running just as bad after about 20 miles.

So something else is wrong. Bad fuel pump? Clogged fuel filter? Power Commander failed?

I started with the easiest to diagnose and pulled the Power Commander to see if the bike would run better without it. I unplugged the connection at the FCU and reached behind to get the connection from the bike to the Power Commander. I noted the adhesive tape that had secured it to the underside of the battery box had let go and the connection was dangling above the swing-arm. Whatever, it didn’t seem to be any worse for wear. As I was pulling this connection, I heard something sizzling on the exhaust. I realized the sizzle was coming from water that was dripping from the connection I was taking apart.

Crap.

Saturday, I was cruising the garden section at Home Depot. Spotted a garden hose sprayer and picked it up. My old one was old and sticky. I put the new one on to wash the bike on Sunday. The old one, while sticky, had a real nice fine spray to it. Perfect for washing the bike. The new one was a gentle spray, but it was a little more powerful. Obviously, I had soaked the connection under the battery box to the extent it got water in it.

I was the cause of the problem.

So I’ve left the connections apart. They are drying. Tomorrow or the next day, I’ll throw them back together and see what happens. One of the following scenarios will play itself out.

1) Everything will be fine.
2) Power Commander will be unusable, but bike will be fine.
3) Bike will be damaged requiring electrical repair.

Lesson learned.

Anyone want to speculate on what might happen?

 

Number 1 it will be fine. At least it was with my PC on a RK.

 

spray everything down with WD-40 and I'm betting things didn't get any wetter than they would in a really bad thunderstorm so I bet you'll be ok in a day or so..

 

My guess would be;
1) Everything will be fine. +1 on the WD 40

 

Let us know what happens.

 

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate the advice.

Wilco on the WD40 and hope for the best.

I'll post back with results.

 

Yup yup on the WD40 WD = Water Displacing

Adam

 

Why do you guys wash your bikes with a hose? One thing I got from riding metrics is Honda spray on cleaner/polisher. It basically seems to be similar to pledge furniture polish in an aerosol can.

Spray it on one section at a time and wipe off with a microfiber towel. I've been using it for years, never caused any problems or swirl marks or anything else. I do the whole bike with it. Works great on windshields, chrome, painted surfaces, just about everything.

 

Tell ya what....I would rather find a bad connection by using a garden hose to wash my bike in the driveway that finding out riding in the rain. If that is all that takes to short out the connection then there is/was a problem.

 

ouch! sorry to hear bro!