Got a right soaking in a heavy downpour

Hey all,
Morg here..
Got caught last Wednesday in a terrible downpour..Problem is when I got home my XJ was ringing wet so I couldn't put the cover on her.. Was hoping she would dry beforehand.
Thing is..its continued to rain for the next two days non stop..Roads got closed and country came to a standstill.
So...yesterday it finally stopped raining.. I chanced starting up my XJ..
She started ok but ran like a pig for nearly an hour...Idled fine but as soon as I accelerated she died..Popping from the exhaust and lacking power...
Got her home and dried her out, cleaned the plugs and hey presto..She is fine..
Question is....Was this just down to her getting soaked due to the engine being so exposed.? Or would you recommend spraying the leads with some water repellant.
Thanks all.
Morg.

 

It could well just have been damp getting up into the plug caps (engine would have been warm & steamed off rain making it rise and possibly get in the caps).

It's also possible the coils have hairline cracks & steam got in there, but less likely if the bike's normally fine. To be honest I'd leave as-is (well maybe refit plug caps with some dielectric grease like they use on EDIS car plug leads)

I'd also carry some WD-40 or similar in my on-bike tool kit, just one of the mini cans to douse the electrics if she plays up in the wet again.

 

i had the same problem dried the coils and all the ht leads then sprayed everything with wd40 it's a water repelent been fine since other guys will come along and chime in if that does not do the trick

 

Rain has a way of doing some real strange things with electrical systems. As the problem happened after the bike was parked. I would tend to agree with 750EII that it was a matter of steam working into the system.

Dirty, and corroded wiring connections also have a way of acting up when moisture works its way in. If you have not already replaced the fuse block. That is also another possible culprit.


Ghost

 

I took apart every electrical connector on my bike and used files, picks, screwdrivers and sandpaper to clean each contact. Then I sprayed a liberal amount of Electronic cleaner. Last I sprayed some DeoxIt(they sell it at Radio Shack) into the connector to promote a good connection and smeared some dielectric grease around the plastic(dielectric grease is an insulator not a conductor) to keep water out.

If you think about it your bike's electrical system is 30 years old, bound to be some corrosion in the connectors. No more gremlins for me.