It doesnt like the rain
 

So my 'hawk has the very weird habit of cutting out and dying when I ride in the rain. It seems like it drops a cylinder and barely chugs along on its own and will finally stop. Let it sit for a while and it will start up and run fine til you get the engine fairly wet then it starts dropping off again and dies. Ive pulled the plugs and they are good, looked inside each of the spark plug boots to see if there was corrosion and there was none. checked the plug going to the coils and they are clean and good looking.


This is my 3rd hawk and my others have NEVER done anything like this. My first one had 102K on it when I sold it and it was driven in the rain ALOT and never hiccupped




im stumped, and its irritates me enough im thinking about getting rid of it

Can be the tank drain hose that exits nr the oil filter getting blocked with water or the drain hole from the spark plug recess getting blocked and water filling up - clear it out. I've used silicone grease on spark plug rubber boot to keep it waterproof.

When it dies, open the gas cap. If you have a vacuum release or if the bike then starts up and runs fine you have a low spot on the tank vent line which gets water trapped in it.

Pretty common on the earlier bikes.
If opening the tank cures the problem then just trim the vent line back a bit to remove the low spot.

I have run into your situation a few times and it can be a real head scratcher to track down and fix.


Since this problem only happens when its raining I will bet your getting moisture in the forward cylinders spark plug cap and is fairly common in older Honda's.


Moisture is running down the plug wire and getting inside the spark plug cap, when this happen you loose this cylinder until it dries out.


When this happens on single cylinder bikes the bike is dead and will not run.


One way to see if this is the problem is to use a running garden hose and soak the spark plug cap with water on a running bike, if the motor dies or starts to miss fire as soon as the water hits the motor there is the problem.


I have spent a few hours over the years deep in the woods trail riding with a dead wet bike trying to figure out why it won't run.


There are two way to fix this this problem, the first is to purchase new OEM Honda Hawk spark plug caps about $20.00 each, don't buy used this is one part you buy new and I am pretty sure it's a resistor type cap so get the OEM cap! .


But first you will need to make sure you have good solid wires at the end of the plug wire and you may need to trim back the spark plug wire about a 1/4 of an inch to remove the corroded wires inside the end of the plug wire.


The bad wires will be dusty white or sometimes green colored and IIRC the core wires are copper and you will need to find good copper wire in order for the new plug cap to screw into.


Apply Die Electric Grease between the cap and wire before assembly!

Just don't remove so much wire that the new cap won't reach the plug.


The second way to fix this problem is to thoroughly dry out the plug cap and with a clean plug wire apply a good amount of Die Electric Grease into the spark plug cap wire opening and screw the cap onto the wire, wipe away excess grease, apply die electric grease to the spark plug connection as well.


Fire up the bike and hit her with the garden hose once again and this should have solved the problem.


Each and every time you have a wire connection apart on your Hawk clean both terminals and apply die electric grease, this will solve most if not all electrical corrosion related problems on the Hawk even the Voltage Regulator / Rectifier failures.


The VR/VR fails due to moisture getting into the connection at the wire harness, over time corrosion builds up at the connection generating excessive heat and the plastic connector and or the wires melt to the VR making it ground out on the frame and then it fails.


Older Honda Goldwings are notorious for this and Honda even produced a repair for most of their popular bikes built in the late 80's and 90's.


Got a little off track there sorry.


Good luck and let me know if this fix worked.


SIRR1

I will have to try and check the fuel vent line, but all the ignition components already have dielectric grease on all the connections. Plug wire going into the 'boot' and on top of the spark plug inside the boot. this is where it gets baffling to me

Mine would die away in the rain. Coil on cap mod fixed it completely. Rode home in a storm (not firestorm but windy rainy storm) and no worries.