Why did it stop after the rain 1990 R100RT
On the way home from the Bloomsburg rally on Sunday I ran through a very heavy rain for about 10 min. then I drove out of it and shortly thereafter the motor stoped. I checked and had plenty of gas so it must be ignition. After waiting about 20min.I tryed to start the motor again and it fired right up and I drove the next 175 miles with out it missing a beat.Any ideas as to why and the fix for the next rain storm.
Bob
I would suspect spark plug wires, caps or coils.
I had a similar problem with my R1150GS Adventure, but it was heat induced. After getting numerous educated opinions , and replacing the the timing sensor, - it turned out to be my coil. ... On the way home from Bloomsburg, my riding buddy's R1100RT did the same in the rain, and we had it towed to a shop, and tore it down. We even swapped coils from my bike to his, and ruled that out. In the end, we believe it is the timing sensor, and he's got his in the shop now.
Bob -
Dress in your best ATGATT and have a "friend" spray you down while running the bike in the driveway.See if you can't induce a wet failure like the rain storm. I'm not sure when the "crack-o-matic" coils were eliminated, but this sounds like one of the coil towers is cracked.
Kurt -- Forum Administrator ---> Resources and Links Thread <---
'78 R100/7 & '69 R69S & '52 R25/2
mine-ineye-deatheah-pielayah-jooa-kalayus. oolah-minane-hay-meeriah-kal-oyus-algay-a-thaykin', buddy!
BMW motorcycles have been dying in the rain since about 1923. Water is conductive and water in the wrong place plays the Devil with the systematic flow of electrons. Over the years various models have had various vulnerabilities, from magnetos to HES wiring, with coils and spark plug wires following close behind.
These problems do cure themselves temporarily when things dry out but I like to find them when things are still wet. If you have a spare afternoon and a bottle that will spray mist you can sometimes find and correct the problem so as to not again get stranded in the rain.
Paul Glaves - "Big Bend", Texas U.S.A
"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." - Bertrand Russell
http://www.bigbend.net/users/glaves
Runing in the rain
Thanks for the input I will clean and check the coils. The wires and plug caps are new when I installed them I did not see any cracks on the coils but that was last year. Is it possable that the ignition switch or kill switch could fail in a heavy rain?
Would cleaning with electrical cleaning spray and then spraying with ignition spray help?
Cheers Bob
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