Pressure washed my FZ6 = rough idle

[FIZZER6]

So I spent a week on the coast and after 2 days my chain and brake rotors were rusting badly from the salt spray! I quickly rode down to the closest pressure washing car wash and sprayed my bike down well, being careful not to spray high pressure into the wheel bearings, air box or electrical areas...

On the ride home I noticed that my bike was idling rough...almost like running on 3 cylinders. I rode it the next day and it was running rough for the first 10 miles and then was magically back to normal.

Only thing I can figure was a wet electrical connection somewhere that eventually dried out from engine heat. Anyone have any ideas? I would like to find the culprit and put some dielectic grease on the connection to seal out moisture.

 

[FinalImpact]

If I had to speculate, I'd guess you got the coils/wires/caps wet enough that they shorted under varying loads.

Q? Was the mis the same 99% of the time? If so, it indicate a single hole misfiring. Its likely the sustained temperature dried it out and healed which make me think a good quantity of h2o made it down in where the caps & plugs could hold moisture.

In the dark of night fire it up and have squirt bottle capable of spraying a fine mist. Spray each of the plug wires and see if you can duplicate it. At night, you should be able to see the arc-over if a wire shorts.

Beyond that, pull the caps and plugs and look for moisture. Clean everything well as air is a good insulator while grease and debris can be conductive.

Lastly; don't squirt car wash degreaser on your bike. Once it gets into electrical connections it doesn't always come out and when left, its caustic enough to allow corrosion to take over. If you did use it, flush with lots of water and then clean them and dry them placing your dielectric grease grease in the connector.

Hint: you may be able to read the spark plugs and tell which hole was misfiring.

 

[FIZZER6]

If I had to speculate, I'd guess you got the coils/wires/caps wet enough that they shorted under varying loads.

Q? Was the mis the same 99% of the time? If so, it indicate a single hole misfiring. Its likely the sustained temperature dried it out and healed which make me think a good quantity of h2o made it down in where the caps & plugs could hold moisture.

In the dark of night fire it up and have squirt bottle capable of spraying a fine mist. Spray each of the plug wires and see if you can duplicate it. At night, you should be able to see the arc-over if a wire shorts.

Beyond that, pull the caps and plugs and look for moisture. Clean everything well as air is a good insulator while grease and debris can be conductive.

Lastly; don't squirt car wash degreaser on your bike. Once it gets into electrical connections it doesn't always come out and when left, its caustic enough to allow corrosion to take over. If you did use it, flush with lots of water and then clean them and dry them placing your dielectric grease grease in the connector.

Hint: you may be able to read the spark plugs and tell which hole was misfiring.

The misfire was the same the entire time it was missing...it would only miss at <3,000 rpms, seemed to run normal at cruising rpms....at idle the bike would barely hit 900 rpms and sounded like a 2 stroke.

It ran fine for the 400 miles coming home so I doubt I'll be able to read the plugs to tell which one was missing. I don't see how water could get in the spark plug wells or in the caps as they are up under the tank and I was careful not to spray high pressure under the tank, only a mist under there to get rid of any salt residue.

I have a feeling I will never have another problem if I avoid having to pressure wash the bike again. I usually just use my garden hose and car soap but salt spray is unbelievably corrosive and I wanted to be sure I got it all off the bike before my trip home.

 

[FIZZER6]

HELP!

Ok, so the bike is still running rough when cold idling. It only does this under 2,000 rpms until the bike reaches operating temperature, then it runs 100%.

At cold idle it will jump between 900 and 1400 rpms and when I apply throttle it is extremely rough and sounds like running on 3 cylinders until I'm above ~3K rpms. Basically meaning that I have to launch from a stop at 3K rpms otherwise it will stall out!
While running rough it is extremely rich as I can smell unburned fuel from the exhaust.

It's pretty much done this every time I've ridden it since the pressure washing incident, I simply have not been able to ride much in September or October due to our record (ridiculous) monsoon season. :spank:

ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE BENEFICIAL.

I'm pulling the fuel tank tonight, going to open the air box, pull the plugs and check out the ECU for wet connections. This is frustrating! I've ridden over 500 miles since I pressure washed the bike...you would think that if there were water in the ignition system somewhere it would have been dried out by now!

 

[DDS]

If you're pulling the tank you might as well disconnect the battery and see if the ECU will reset itself and fix the issue :thumbup:

 

[FIZZER6]

If you're pulling the tank you might as well disconnect the battery and see if the ECU will reset itself and fix the issue :thumbup:

Can't hurt! Thanks.

 

[CanadianFZ6]

Sorry my friend that you are having problems... I have always been told never to use a pressure washer on a motorcycle, so I never have and never will... That'll learn ya', but I do hope you get it all worked out...

 

[FIZZER6]

Sorry my friend that you are having problems... I have always been told never to use a pressure washer on a motorcycle, so I never have and never will... That'll learn ya', but I do hope you get it all worked out...

I'm sure it is ill-advised but if you ever parked your bike near the ocean on a day when the wind was blowing off the water you would do anything needed to get the salt off ASAP! I was even getting little rust spots on bolt heads!

 

[CanadianFZ6]

I'm sure it is ill-advised but if you ever parked your bike near the ocean on a day when the wind was blowing off the water you would do anything needed to get the salt off ASAP! I was even getting little rust spots on bolt heads!

I feel yer' pain... our salted roads here in Canada during the winter months have basically the same affect on my truck.... I am sure you will get it all sorted... Meanwhile stay away from the Ocean (and Canada during the winter) with your bike...

 

[FIZZER6]

I feel yer' pain... our salted roads here in Canada during the winter months have basically the same affect on my truck.... I am sure you will get it all sorted... Meanwhile stay away from the Ocean (and Canada during the winter) with your bike...

Fear not...I have no intentions of ever visiting Canada during the winter months. It's too cold and snowy for my likings in central VA and we only get an average of 18 inches of snow/sleet per year here.

 

[FIZZER6]

UPDATE:

Pulled spark plugs and found greasy, wet residue on every spark plug shaft, under the dust seals. I replaced plugs before my last trip and it was certainly not wet under there then! I plan to leave the wires off the plugs for a couple days then pull plugs and inspect them. Updates to follow. Don't pressure wash your bike!

 

[AJsarge]

If you have no choice in whether you live/ride near the ocean, what's a good option for getting the rust off and then keeping it at bay?

 

[ChevyFazer]

If you have no choice in whether you live/ride near the ocean, what's a good option for getting the rust off and then keeping it at bay?

Where is the rust you are refering to? That makes a big difference. Also on the topic of pressure washing a bike i have done it dozens of times with no problems, for one i wactch where i spray and 2 i keep my bike running while doing so and that i think is the key making sure everything stays happy

Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk

 

[DDS]

Glad you found the issue. WD40 should help disperse the water

 

[FIZZER6]

Glad you found the issue. WD40 should help disperse the water

UPDATE: The spark plug wires are not the issue!

1. Cleaned all electrical contacts well, spark plugs look fine.

2. Reassembled bike after letting spark plug wells dry for a week, same issue!

Symptoms: Again, the engine idles rough about 30% of the time, low rpms, sounds like a random mis-fire, under load at less than 3,000 rpms the mis-fire is constant, very pronounced (sounds like a 2-stroke) and bike will stall if not revved above 3,000 rpms to launch from a stop. Again, this all started immediately after I pressure washed my bike a while back so I am 110% that the issue is water is somewhere it should not be!

THIS IS BEYOND FRUSTRATING!

Being that I DID find moisture in the spark plug wells I'm betting there is water in some electrical connection causing this.

I'm going to take the coil wires loose as well as ECU wires and look for moisture, let them dry out.

I need recommendation on what to look for. Could it be a bad spark plug wire? Do the spark plug wires come apart from the plastic piece that goes into the head to the plugs? How could I tell if a wire is bad? Running resistance on the wires will probably not tell me anything since the misfire is random.

 

[Motogiro]

UPDATE: The spark plug wires are not the issue!

1. Cleaned all electrical contacts well, spark plugs look fine.

2. Reassembled bike after letting spark plug wells dry for a week, same issue!

Symptoms: Again, the engine idles rough about 30% of the time, low rpms, sounds like a random mis-fire, under load at less than 3,000 rpms the mis-fire is constant, very pronounced (sounds like a 2-stroke) and bike will stall if not revved above 3,000 rpms to launch from a stop. Again, this all started immediately after I pressure washed my bike a while back so I am 110% that the issue is water is somewhere it should not be!

THIS IS BEYOND FRUSTRATING!

Being that I DID find moisture in the spark plug wells I'm betting there is water in some electrical connection causing this.

I'm going to take the coil wires loose as well as ECU wires and look for moisture, let them dry out.

I need recommendation on what to look for. Could it be a bad spark plug wire? Do the spark plug wires come apart from the plastic piece that goes into the head to the plugs? How could I tell if a wire is bad? Running resistance on the wires will probably not tell me anything since the misfire is random.

When dealing with spark plugs/coils you are dealing with high voltage. High voltage, because of it's higher potential can jump and pass through insulators where low volt won't pass. It's hard to diagnose when it's not constant.

Check that the insulators are pushed all the way onto the plugs. There is clip that slips onto the center thread of the plug anode. It makes a little zip noise as it slides on and off. Pull each plug wire/insulator. Move the rubber upward on the insulator so when you push the insulator onto the plug you hear that "zip" sound. Then make sure all of the rubber seals are pushed back down and seal against the valve cover to insure no dust and moisture can enter. These wires with insulators can be a real PIA but just take your time and you'll get it done.

Have you run a couple of treatments of Sea Foam through your tank yet?

I had a member on out forum come to me after he was at a service center and I found the plug wire insulator installed improperly. I fixed that and his bike was still running rough. He ran the Sea Foam through it and it ran great afterward.

We also had a member in the UK who washed his bike and it would miss when ever the rear wheel moved. We figured it was probably crosstalk between the speedo sensor and the TPS signal. He pulled plugs apart, blew them off and the bike ran fine.

Hope this helps!

 

[FIZZER6]

When dealing with spark plugs/coils you are dealing with high voltage. High voltage, because of it's higher potential can jump and pass through insulators where low volt won't pass. It's hard to diagnose when it's not constant.

Check that the insulators are pushed all the way onto the plugs. There is clip that slips onto the center thread of the plug anode. It makes a little zip noise as it slides on and off. Pull each plug wire/insulator. Move the rubber upward on the insulator so when you push the insulator onto the plug you hear that "zip" sound. Then make sure all of the rubber seals are pushed back down and seal against the valve cover to insure no dust and moisture can enter. These wires with insulators can be a real PIA but just take your time and you'll get it done.

Have you run a couple of treatments of Sea Foam through your tank yet?

I had a member on out forum come to me after he was at a service center and I found the plug wire insulator installed improperly. I fixed that and his bike was still running rough. He ran the Sea Foam through it and it ran great afterward.

We also had a member in the UK who washed his bike and it would miss when ever the rear wheel moved. We figured it was probably crosstalk between the speedo sensor and the TPS signal. He pulled plugs apart, blew them off and the bike ran fine.

Hope this helps!

The things you mentioned are definitely likely candidates for my issue!

I have confirmed the the plug wire insulators are seating properly on the plugs, I do hear or feel that "zip" sound of the wire making firm contact with the spark plug.

"We also had a member in the UK who washed his bike and it would miss when ever the rear wheel moved. We figured it was probably crosstalk between the speedo sensor and the TPS signal. He pulled plugs apart, blew them off and the bike ran fine. "

^^What plugs did he pull apart and find moisture?

Thanks.

 

[Motogiro]

The things you mentioned are definitely likely candidates for my issue!

I have confirmed the the plug wire insulators are seating properly on the plugs, I do hear or feel that "zip" sound of the wire making firm contact with the spark plug.

"We also had a member in the UK who washed his bike and it would miss when ever the rear wheel moved. We figured it was probably crosstalk between the speedo sensor and the TPS signal. He pulled plugs apart, blew them off and the bike ran fine. "

^^What plugs did he pull apart and find moisture?

Thanks.

Probably any plugs on the harness that were visible and accessible. One of the elements that changes how signals crosstalk is salt. If there is any contaminant like salt which is used on road ways during winter and it gets pushed into connectors you can have a problem. Pop the tank and start hunting. Pull them apart, blow out with compressed air and reattach.

Did you treat the bike with Sea Foam? Could the the anomaly occur at a specific vibration range? That might make the Kill switch suspect. Jump the kill switch wires and take it for a spin.

 

[FIZZER6]

Probably any plugs on the harness that were visible and accessible. One of the elements that changes how signals crosstalk is salt. If there is any contaminant like salt which is used on road ways during winter and it gets pushed into connectors you can have a problem. Pop the tank and start hunting. Pull them apart, blow out with compressed air and reattach.

Did you treat the bike with Sea Foam? Could the the anomaly occur at a specific vibration range? That might make the Kill switch suspect. Jump the kill switch wires and take it for a spin.

Funny you mention salt. Remember, the whole reason I pressure washed my bike is because I had parked by the ocean and it was covered in corrosive salt spray!

I will throw some seafoam in the tank for good measure but this has to be electrical in nature.

 

[FIZZER6]

UPDATE!!!!

FOUND THE PROBLEM!!! :thumbup:

Apparently the rubber seals on the top of the spark plug connectors are supposed to seat over a ring on the connector shaft...well the ring was OVER the rubber seals meaning that my spark plug connectors were seating about 3/8 inch off the spark plugs, barely making contact with the plugs!

When I realized this and moved the upper rubber seals to the correct position the connectors pressed onto the plugs tight and I heard that "zip" sound for real this time! :spank: Oops.

It was like that for 2,300 miles! Apparently getting a little water in the plug wells was enough to cause them to start missing once they could no longer make that arc. DOH!