04 1150RTP runs rough in rain

My girl now hates getting wet. She's an 04 R1150RTP, 57k on her. I get jealous of others touching her - except for her shoes, Ill let the shoe guy put those on.

I ride year round in any weather. Ok - not hail. I don't like getting shot by a macing gun. I might also not be a fan of sliding on my side in snow. outside of that bring it on!

Earlier this year I was ridding to work in rain. Got about 20 miles under my belt and then it started happening. Got caught behind a cage afraid of the water & going slow, so I started going slow. I noticed she was running a bit funny, then I noticed she was'nt joking but farting instead of running. Farting soon turned sharts. Sharts quickly became me sitting in a parking lot thinking WTF as she died while idling. By the grace of God I was a block away from a warehouse where some friends work so I finessed her there on the sidewalk RPM's way up. Pulled her inside (while hearing Harleys don't do this) (Asking them where their Harleys are - oh right in their garages cause they are afraid of them getting wet and then needing to wash and wax for 8 hours before putting them back in the garage. So how would they know if their precious likes being wet or not???)

Sorry got side tracked.

ok so I parked in the warehouse. Took a really good leak. (need to remember to buy new rain pant. Mine leak right into my crouch. Makes me gotta go after 16oz of coffee) Went back to my girl and fired her up. She was running rough & had a case of the vapors coming out of her back end. I took the seat off & pulled the air filter off. (don't know why really). Fired her up and within a few seconds she was purring like a kitten nursing on its mom surrounded by all her brothers & sisters.

Wtf I again ask myself. Myself says BMW shop is a few mins away. Lets get a new air filter, even though this one seems fine. Only a few thousand miles, but maybe damp???

Ride to the shop. Service manager says stick coil & hand me a cup of coffee. I feel at home & buy a few extras things while I am there. New air filter installed in the parking garage at work. Ride home uneventful.

I didn't buy the stick coils there, got them from the EuroParts place, also bought a nice aluminum coil puller. Figuring id probably damaged a coil in my lack of using the proper tool.....) Remove old stick coils & start to install new stick coils. (thats when I asked myself why I bought a tool to properly remove a part that I am now about to throw away???) I digress again.

New coils on, fire her up and go for a ride. Notice she's running better then ever and call her all the sweet sexy names she likes.

Now several months later (and no rain while I'm ridding) I finally get to ride to work in the rain. (Not a heavy rain at all. Enough to put on the rain jacket, but not rain pants - still haven't bought new ones that don't leak anyway) Off I go. Get about 5 miles this time. Slow down for a round about (so much fun, but on a wet oily road I'm taking it easy) She's not happy. Spitting & sputtering. Get the revs up and she's fine. Next round about I do a 180 & head home. 20 more miles of keeping the engine at 3000 or higher seems like a bad ride. About half way back home things seem fine, start to think I could get to work. Decide I'm going to make another cup of coffee and take the truck in.

When I got home that night & fired her up she had the vapors out the back end again. Lasted a minute or so, then was running smooth. Rode into work in a light rain/mist AOK. On the way home it was HUMID!! She was running, but not smooth. Kinds sounded like I the exhaust was missing. The rest of the week I noticed that at diff temps & humidity she runs different. That can vary while leaving the city and driving into the country and vice versa.

Friday I thought maybe I left the hoses off the injectors when I synched them last time. Called myself an idiot among other words. After removing the tupperware I see the first one is on. Remove other side and low and behold - its on too. I tell myself to take back all the names I called myself on Friday. Apologies accepted.

I sprayed (out of a spray bottle) water all around the injectors and nothing. Soaking them pretty good. The can of Gumout I had was dead so tomorrow Ill run out & get that to spray around so see if she notices.

After removing the tupperware I start to think maybe I should make her a naked bike. So much easier to get to everything. Add that to the list of projects, plan on putting the lids back on cause she's not ready for being naked in public. Need to figure out some kind of Victoria Secrete covering for her bits & pieces ya know.

So, I came in. Made a drink & started writing. Maybe Ive had more then one while writing this. After al, I am not a fast typer...

I thought about the HES(?) after reading about that on 1100's. That doesn't seem to be a prob on 1150's?? And she's running, just not trustworthy in rain - kinda.

Any other thoughts????

Morning llee3

That's an awful lot of reading to go through so I only read it once so forgive me if I missed something in the book.

I think you are saying that your bike only runs bad in the rain? Correct?

If so then possibly the HES, the HES isn't as likely to have problems on the 1150 bikes but with an RT-P who knows how it was treated in service. I'm not sure if you actually had a total quit with no re-start or if it just ran bad & wouldn't idle. A deteriorated HES pigtail wetting out usually causes a total quit with NO re-start until dried out.

The other possibility is the lower spark plug wires. If still the original RT-P spark plug wires then those are shielded so have metallic coverings & RT-P spark plug wires have a long standing habit of shorting out & arcing internally right at the coil connection. (this can be difficult to find as the problem is inside the plug wire covering).

If you could tell us more about the problem-- such as does it happen every rain ride, or only occasionally, or only in certain rain conditions we might be able to pin point it closer. Please, only tell us only about the specific problem & related events.

Thank you dirtrider! I didn't mean to write the next great American novel!

Correct, runs bad in the rain, sometimes. If I can keep the RPMs up doesn't seem to be as much of a problem. Also seems to go away in time while still in the rain. Ive noticed smoke coming out of the exhaust both times. (like when I start her on a cold day kind of smoke). Not the normal puff of oil smoke from leaning to the side, but a steam kind of smoke.

We haven't had much rain this year so I've only ridden in it twice since March. Both times Ive had the rough running problem.

Im going to go out and check the lower spark wires & see if I see anything.

Being 14 years old, I think Ill order new wires. Should I go ahead and replace the other coil while Im there? I am leaning towards yes. After all its a pain getting there, may as well be safe???

I have a new alternator belt to put on. So (again to be safe) I guess I may as well replace the HES at the same time?

I hate just throwing parts at her. But at the same time I hate the possibility of getting stranded even more.

Again thanks!

Thank you dirtrider! I didn't mean to write the next great American novel!

 

Correct, runs bad in the rain, sometimes. If I can keep the RPMs up doesn't seem to be as much of a problem. Also seems to go away in time while still in the rain. Ive noticed smoke coming out of the exhaust both times. (like when I start her on a cold day kind of smoke). Not the normal puff of oil smoke from leaning to the side, but a steam kind of smoke.

 

We haven't had much rain this year so I've only ridden in it twice since March. Both times Ive had the rough running problem.

 

Im going to go out and check the lower spark wires & see if I see anything.

 

Being 14 years old, I think Ill order new wires. Should I go ahead and replace the other coil while Im there? I am leaning towards yes. After all its a pain getting there, may as well be safe???

 

I have a new alternator belt to put on. So (again to be safe) I guess I may as well replace the HES at the same time?

 

I hate just throwing parts at her. But at the same time I hate the possibility of getting stranded even more.

 

Again thanks!

Afternoon llee3

It is very difficult to see or find the problem in the RT-P lower spark plug wires as the problem is usually inside the outer RFI shielding right where they screw into the coil metallic housing.

When it is back to running good you might try unplugging the power connector to the lower plug coil then see if it runs about as bad as it does wet (if it does then you have probably found an area of concern).

They usually run OK, or sort of OK, on just the upper plugs but they usually don't idle or run worth a hoot at low throttle setting on just the upper plugs.

"GOOD" RT-P lower coil & plug wire parts are expensive so a lot or riders just convert to the civilian non-shielded parts.

I removed the plug wires off the lower plugs last night & started her up.

The plug wires seemed to be stiff. Not flexy like new wires, could that be the shielding? If they were on my car id call em bad right away

Time to start was less then a 1/4 second longer id say. There was s stutter for a few seconds (at high idle). That went away within a few seconds. I only noticed a small difference in the way she ran with the wires off.

I put the right plug wire back on & did not notice any difference. Then put only the left wire on. She stumbled & stalled when started. I started again and quickly she was running as usual.

Makes me wonder if the lower plugs are really doing anything.

I removed the plug wires off the lower plugs last night & started her up.

 

The plug wires seemed to be stiff. Not flexy like new wires, could that be the shielding? If they were on my car id call em bad right away

 

Time to start was less then a 1/4 second longer id say. There was s stutter for a few seconds (at high idle). That went away within a few seconds. I only noticed a small difference in the way she ran with the wires off.

 

I put the right plug wire back on & did not notice any difference. Then put only the left wire on. She stumbled & stalled when started. I started again and quickly she was running as usual.

 

Makes me wonder if the lower plugs are really doing anything.

 

Afternoon llee3

They might not be working, could be bad plug wires, or fouled lower spark plugs, or ???

See if it will run on just the lower plugs (it won't run good & probably won't idle but should run if given enough throttle).

Evening Dr

I pulled the stick coils off when I got home. She started up. Ran like crap below 2000-2500 RPMs. That is more how it seems to run in the rain.

The stick coils were installed in May or June of this year. As I remember they are BERU from Euro parts. (if that part matters)

The plastic wrap around the wires leading to the stick coils are crap. Falling apart when touched. (not the insulation, but the black plastic wrapping - can't think of the name)

Morning llee3

I pulled the stick coils off when I got home. She started up. Ran like crap below 2000-2500 RPMs. That is more how it seems to run in the rain. -- This could tell you something (IF) the engine was still running bad when you got home. If the engine was back to running normally when you got home then more than likely the lower plugs were back to firing OK again. This doesn't outright mean that your problem was the lowers or the uppers but troubleshooting when the problem isn't present isn't always accurate.

The stick coils were installed in May or June of this year. As I remember they are BERU from Euro parts. (if that part matters)--This would be pretty early for a stick coil re-failure but that isn't a given. You don't power wash the motorcycle & engine do you? Did the BERU coils come with the outer rubbers on them or did you transfer the rubbers over from the original coils?

The plastic wrap around the wires leading to the stick coils are crap. Falling apart when touched. (not the insulation, but the black plastic wrapping - can't think of the name)-- Are you referring to the black convoluted wire harness covering. Is the actual connector that plugs into the stick coils still OK?

This is going to be a somewhat difficult problem to isolate unless you can do your troubleshooting when the problem is present.

It is going to be especially difficult to find if your problem is inside the lower coil to shielded wires & only shows up when wet as just swapping parts on the lower coil/plug wires is extremely expensive.

If you can somehow pin the problem down to either upper or lower spark plug firing then that will make finding the problem easier.

One thing that you could try-- remove the lower spark plugs then install an old set of plugs with the electrode gaps opened up by .010"-.012" (or buy some single electrode plugs & use those with opened up electrode gaps). This will force the lower plug coil & plug wires to carry more KV so might induce the problem to return even in dry weather. (caution do not alter your present dual electrode spark plugs unless you don't plan on ever re-using them again).

If the above doesn't bring the problem back in dry weather then maybe try some wider electrode gap upper spark plugs in the uppers to see if that will aggravate the upper coils to possibly act up. (again don't modify dual electrode spark plugs that you intend to re-use).

I hate to even suggest this as it can wet out a lot more components then just the coil area but if you can somehow wet the lower spark plug coil right where the wires attach (mainly inside the coil box) that might show if the lower wires are arcing internally when wet. (this is a very iffy thing to do as there are other things up under the tank (like ABS & Motronic that shouldn't get any direct hit of water)