choking during rain yesterday...
 

hi guys, let me explain my situation in detail so people in future can clearly see what my symptoms were:

Yesterday it was pouring rain outside, and I rode my bike to dentist office in the morning, then to work and back home.

My morning ritual is: pull the choke out, turn the bike on, let it idle for about 30 seconds or so (don't want to piss off neighbors), get going slow for about 2 miles or so, until the temp reaches about 170 or so, then while I am riding at about 30 mph or so, push the choke back in.

Yesterday, it was a colder morning so the temp hadn't gotten over 155 or so, when I pushed the choke back in. Further down the road, while slowing down for a traffic light, the bike started to hesitate to rev (no chopping or anything, just engine revving down continuously no matter what i did to the throttle.) It felt like it wanted to stop, so I pull over, leave it in neutral for a few seconds with engine running, and it starts behaving normal again after a few seconds. I get on the highway, ride for about 10 miles no problem, and as I start to slow down to get on the off ramp, again the same thing, engine starts feeling "heavy", and doesn't want to rev. I get to the dentist office which is only a few blocks from the highway, turn the bike off, and come back after 1 hour or so. Bike starts and runs beautifully. I think may be it was bad gas (bike was sitting for about 2 weeks without being ridden.) I fill up at the nearby gas station (about 2 gallons or so), and get back on the highway, no problems at all (still raining like crazy.)

At evening, when leaving work, I do the same with the choke, and turn the choke off when I get on the highway about 2 miles down. Everything running fine, until I find an empty spot and I speed up to 60 mph or so, and the temp starts to fall down to about 155 again (cold, pouring rain). As I have to slow down again, the bike starts hesitating to a point that I pull over at the stop and go traffic. It turns itself off. I thought may be the air inlet to gas tank is clugged with water or something. I open the gas cap and close it again, start the bike up, runs beautifully, and no problems all the way home.

I don't think wet electricals where the problem, as when it behaved normally, it was still pouring rain.

The bike has not been jetted, stock air filter, stock mufflers on (with holes at the rear to make it sound meaner), no jetting issues noticed. The CA emissions were removed when I bought the bike, and the PAIR tubes are connected to each other rather than being plugged, from what I can see. I have done a carb synch and plug replacement at 8.5k miles, bike now has 11k miles.

So, questions are:
- could this have to do with the way I ride with choke on?
- have you noticed any misbehaving like what I described above?
- is there any air inlet to the gas tank that can get clugged up but clear out after a few seconds of stopping?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to be detailed enough.

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

hey hope this helps...the owners manual specifies for low air temp starting-50 f. or below to: pull choke knob all the way out, start engine, LEAVING throttle closed-DO NOT OPEN THROTTLE WHEN STARTING ENGINE WITH CHOKE ON. THIS WILL LEAN THE MIXTURE, RESULTING IN HARD STARTING OR RUNNING., when engine rpm begins to pick up, operate choke knob to keep fast idle at 1800-2500rpm, continue waraming engine up until it runs smoothly and responds to the throttle when choke knob is fully off.
i live in mass and rode bike to work today in about 30 degree weather, dont use choke as much as you are, it sounds like you are causing bike to run lean...hope this helps---phil......

It sounds to me like your getting a little moisture into the tank/carbs. Probably from running in the rain. Moisture gets suked into the airbox then down thru the carbs. Or possibly the condensation from inside the tank mixing with the gas.

if it continues even when not raining, I would check the vacuum tubes that are hooked to the tank on the bottom. When you opened the tank cap and closed it again, your allowing in air that the vacuum needs to feed the fuel to the carbs.

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

Thanks for the feedback so far.

It never happened during normal operations. It has been pretty damn solid and consistently running perfectly. It was the only appearance yesterday, which lead me to believe it might have been a bad gas (or as you suggested, condensation in the gas tank may be.)

I will also change the way I warm up my bike. It seems like I may be using the choke too long, and I should close the choke fully before operating it normally.

So that is my question: If by opening the gas tank cap the air gets in, where does it get in from normally? is it one of the tubes at the bottom? (I am pretty sure it is.) I didn't think it was the case (blocked inlet to gas tank), but I didn't want to spend too much time debugging under the rain in the highway.

thanks for the feedbacks. if anything else comes to mind, please keep them coming.

Yeah, normally the vacuum line on the bottom of the tank allows the vacuum to draw the fuel from the tank to the carbs.
Could be clogged or have come off for some reason.

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

I don't remember where I heard this before; on the SuperHawk or VFR lists but it can be from one of the vent lines sucking water in. Do you have an aftermarket lower or are the lines running down into the OEM lower where they can pick up water?

Have you been able to run the bike in dry conditions since then to see if it runs better?

Thanks for the feedback. That is a possiblity.

No lowers or anything, the lines are running directly to the bottom left of the engine, right behind where the front wheel will be spraying water to them.

Another board member (thump) also suggested that the twins may be prone to shorting the front plug when VERY wet, which was definitely the case yesterday. Come to think of it, both cases were after being sprayed extensively by car splashes. That amount of water could possibly cause a short on front spark plug, or clog the breather line.

I will run it soon in dry conditions, but I am almost too sure it won't behave the same again, in dry conditions that is.

So I took the superhawk for a quick ride yesterday, to see if it behaves the same on dry conditions. It ran perfectly without any issues.

Of course, this time I turned the choke off before starting the ride. A local mechanic suggested that I may be fouling the plugs by riding with the choke on (which could be the case as both cases happened when the bike was warming up at the beginning of the ride and when I had had the choke on a couple of minutes before). It could have also been due to REALLY nasty rain conditions that were present that day ( a LOT wetter than normal rain conditions I have ridden through.)

I will keep the board posted on any possible future problems, if I come across any. For the time being, case closed.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, you guys rock.
:)

Just an update...
I have been riding the VTR on two rainy days for the last couple of days, without any problems or issues. Mind you, it has not been raining as hard as it was when the previous case happened.

I think that by keeping the choke open and starting to ride, and closing the choke after a few minutes of riding, that I was most likely fouling the plugs by introducing too much gas and running too rich.

Or it could be the huge amounts of water being sprayed on the front spark plug...

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

Don't want to dig up a ancient thread, but this reminds me of what happened to mine today. Starts raining on the way home from my afternoon ride, then starts pouring. It starts loosing power, doesn't want to rev, clutch it and try to free rev, still only holds 4k-5k and stumbling horribly. Pull over, it dies. Took a while to get it started, revved it for a minute or so and then it was fine. Ran fine for the next 20 miles, then it was really wet again and it did the same thing. I am wondering if maybe the vent tubes are picking up water from the road. I am skeptical of the spark plug thing, it doesn't feel like its running on one cylinder to me. ANybody else had problems in the wet with the Hawk? I don't have a lower chin fairing, the tubes are just tied to teh lower left. ANy thoughts on this? I don't ride in the rain harldy at all, but one time a year ago I had the same problem and brushed it off as bad gas. Now I am not so sure.

Sorry, I get caught in major down pours constantly living in S. FLA. without a chin fairing and I've never had this problem. It sounds like your ignition is shorting but it's impossible to tell without actually seeing/hearing it. Sorry if this hurts more than helps. :(

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

That's ok, I am hoping the thread starter, or maybe someone who has had the problem will recognize and speak up. Good to heard someone doens't have the problem. I don't think its electrical, as running the bike will "clear it out" so to speak. If it were electrical, it would be constant, and running the bike wouldn't help. Also, it gets worse with standing water on the road, and better with less water. I am still thinking its a vent tube thing. Anybody else?

Not always, sometimes if it is a small enough of a hole or leak it could short then dry seemingly clearing it up. But like I said it's hard to tell without being there. Good luck intermitent problems are the worst.

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

I guess it's not really intermitent, it only does it in the rain, when the roads have quite a bit of water on them, and its rainging pretty hard. Luckily I don't ride very much then, but I would still like to get it figured out.

Re: choking during rain yesterday...
 

Old post....but I will add info......YES!!! this happened to me!

A Sunday ride here in San Diego years ago I got caught in a down pour. Spit, choke, stutter, sputter.....DIED! Lucky me, I was on an off ramp and got off of I-94.

Found the PAIR/emissions system was sucking air and water from one tube ( I forget which one) directly into fuel?air system for the carb. That's the evening I made the PAIR block off plates and tossed all the PAIR crap. Never an issue after that. 8)

Mike