Rebel Missing in Heavy Rain

[J.R. Bob Dobbs]

1986 Honda Rebel 250, 3500mi, factory original except recent Battery, tires, and carb rebuild. Hopefully there's enough experience out there with this bike that somebody knows this problem. This is the only trouble I've had.

Yesterday I rode into unforecast heavy rain. I'm a novice rider and it's the only time I've had the bike out in really heavy rain. After about 5min of 65mph rain running just fine, I exited the highway and headed into town.

The motor started missing lightly, at first I thought the road was bumpy, then the missing got much worse. Under load it would miss, stumble and kick heavily. Light throttle and low speeds it ran almost perfectly, still idled fine.

I started to pull off the road twice when it seemed it was gonna completely die, but both times as I slowed down it ran better so I pressed on. I limped along in the rain at about 45mph stumbling and kicking all the way.

As the heavy rain lightened to a stop, even though the road was still very wet, the bike started running normally and it has ever since.

I plan to try some driveway "water hose" troubleshooting. Might be a tough problem to find as it seemed to do it only under load while getting lots of water.

I checked the fuel strainer cup for water in the gas, it was OK. I figure its somewhere in the ignition as I can't see any way for water to get into the carb and leave that quickly. Help appreciated.

[sickchilly]

You're on the right track... first, see if there's any possible way that the motor could injest water into the carbs. Maybe there's a splash sheild or something missing between the motor and rear tire?

Second, and probably the most likely, is that something electrical got saturated and didn't like that. This is where your water hose test should show something. The trick is to only hose down one section of the bike at a time until the idle stumbles.

[Quick 350]

I'd bet it's your pug wires or boots.

I've found many times that small cracks or dry rot or even ware over time the wires and boots would fail under wet conditions.

If you have replaced the wires and boots then invest in some dialectic grease.

This greased is used on electrical connections that may come in contact with water or moister.

A good investment for reinsurance of good electrical connections.

Plus stops wire corrosion.

Good Luck!

And Get out and ride!

Mike

[flynrider]

I'm with Quick. I've had this problem before and it always turned out to be plug wires or their caps. A small crack or break in the insulation and the rain will short out the plug. It's a good place to start looking.

[Coil]

I too have had this issue. When doing the driveway water test, pay close attention to the plug wires. If you can, to it during twilight or in the shade and when she starts to run rough, you should see the juice arch from the wire to a ground. Looks cool, but runs like crap.

[niterider]

I too say it is the plug wires. When I bought the Bullet the seller told me that if I were hit by a yard sprinkler the bike was going to die on me. I bought some heat shrink and black silicone and sealed out the water, turned the water hose on it, the bike started right up.