Had to push start when wet

When dry, my 82 750 Seca is easy to start--If it doesn't start in 3 or 4 seconds of starter, choke it and it will fire on the next attempt.

The last two times I've tried to start my bike after it has been heavily rained on, starting was very difficult. Turns over plenty fast, but fails to fire--I will occasionally get an attempt to fire just as I let off the starter. The first time I had to resort to push starting--the bike started immediately in second gear duck walking the bike on a very slight uphill.

When I first got the bike I had similar problems even dry (although I never resorted to push starting). Based on advice from here, I disassembled the starter, cleaned the gunk and the commutators and cured the problem. I may have had the wet starting problem all along--Bike is generally garaged, and only gets rained on parked at work. Battery is less than a year old, water level is fine. After the first incident, I cleaned and tightened all the battery connections--the second time it finally caught with the starter, but after far more cranking than usual. Both times once it started it ran as normal.

Suggestions?

 

Moisture getting to the coils could be the problem. How are the plug wires at the coil end? Coil could be cracked.

 

It also sounds like the symptoms of a battery going weak.

Crank the bike with a meter on the battery - it shouldn't go below "9" volts.

 

Meter across the battery terminals stays above 11 when starting--although when dry, it may be starting faster than my cheap digital meter updates.

I haven't pulled the tank yet to look at the coil end (should have asked this question Friday, since I just replaced a leaking petcock...) but I don't understand how moist coils would completely prevent starting on the starter, but start instantly when push starting.