poor wet startup

[keybuster324]

I forgot to cover my 94 R1100RS last night and it rained about .5", when I started it up it ran rough & sputtered until it was warmed up maybe 2 min.

I am thinking bad plug wires and maybe caps but the caps are pretty deep in the head and the bike was on the centerstand. Are the wires removeable from the coils? This also happened several weeks ago when it rained while at work and only the right side got wet since it was partially covered.

Thanks, Bob

[bikerfish1100]

poor operating in wet conditions is almost always electircal.
could be wires, plug caps, or HES wiring going bad. Given age of your bike, if wiring has not been redone, i'd lean towards HES related.
could do a simple diagnosis by starting bike, then spraying water at suspected areas, see what happens.

[keybuster324]

I will give that a try after it stops raining today.

Are the plug wires removable from the coils & caps?

The hes wireing to check is under the front engine cover or after it comes out of the cover if it does?
Thanks, Bob

[MotorradMike]

The HES wiring starts under the crank pulley on the timing plate. From there you can follow it up over the engine to the Motronic connection.

All you can 'check' without cutting the outer sheath, is the short bit of insulation right at the timing plate. Maybe that bit will tell the tale.

I actually slit the outer sheath on my '96 and found no issue, maybe the Canadian bikes run cooler.

[bmwmick]

I will give that a try after it stops raining today.

Are the plug wires removable from the coils & caps?

Bob,
Yes, the plug wires are removable. Check both the wires and the coil for cracks.
I doubt you have a problem with your HES wiring with this symptom. When the HES fails, you almost always have a dead bike, not an intermittent running engine.

[flars]

Plug wires is definitely one possibility.
There have been several cases of cracked coils causing this same scenario. When wet, the bike runs bad, but when dry it seems to be fine. You could wait til the bike dries out, then spritz the coil well with water to see how it reacts. Testing note: Spritz it with the engine off... :doh