Its true, Kats don't like water....

[SGTJimbo_Kat600]

Riding home from work tonight in a pretty good down pour (ok a wicked thunderstorm) I found out that it is true that kats don't like water. Riding along on the highway everything was fine, I take my off-ramp and starts acting like its running out of gas. I pull off to the side of the road and try to start it but she won't start, sputters a bit, but no start. So I waited a about 5-10 minutes, tried again it started right up. Went about another mile or so, same thing, pulled into a Speedway Gas Station and pulled out the tool bag, took off the tank and sprayed the plugs, cdi's etc with some WD-40, put everything back together and waited about 10-15 mins (good time for coffee and smoke. Went back out and started right up. About 10-15 mins later same thing happens, I pull off at the intersection, spray her down again and wait a few, starts right up again, and I finished my trek home. Looks like I have some plug wires to change, some other wires to put some dielectric grease on and get my baby waterproofed again.

During the whole Hour and 45 minute trip home, with two stops on the road, being passed by literally hundreds of cagers, the only one to stop was a guy in a pickup with a big *** Harley sticker in the back window. He kinda laughed, said see what those rice burners will do to ya. Then said he had the exact same thing happen on his hog. I laughed, and by that time she started again and off I went.

All I can say is thank God for good rain gear!

[kahunah]

Years ago a buddy was broke down in the rain with his Yamaha. Some guys hauling 2 Harleys on a trailer yelled at him "Boy, don't you know rice doesn't float?" Kinda funny though since their bikes were on a trailer.

[thetable]

That sucks, mine doesn't mind the rain at all (knock on wood). Maybe it is just because every time I look at an electrical connector, it gets a healthy dollop of dielectric grease. Or maybe my kat's young and foolish age isn't allowing her to know better than to tell me to pull over.

[forsaken]

my kat is 11 years old and loves the rain. header steaming at stops and all

[loudnlow7484]

I'm sure CyberPoet has some advice for rainproofing a bike...... he's apparently no stranger to some heavy rain.

The only time I ever rode in really heavy rain, the bike was running terrible by the time I got near home. After I got home, I pulled the tank off to check everything out, and one of the plug holes was FULL of water!

[Cadmaster]

In the last week I have been stuck in three major storms and the Kat has purred like a kitten.

[plupien79]

dielectric grease is your friend.

[DreKat]

I dont mind riding in the rain but I do wish I could find a helmet that has a wipper blade on the visor.

[Vandil]

, and one of the plug holes was FULL of water!

Better than full of oil at least

[whitecl0ver]

I dont mind riding in the rain but I do wish I could find a helmet that has a wipper blade on the visor.

amen to that, but just in case you didn't know for like $8 you can get a lil thumb squeegee to put on your glove and use that as u ride, works purty good...

[The CyberPoet]

The kats, by design, have no issue with the rain (and I've run hundreds of miles at a pop through some torrential storms regularly).

I would suggest what I suggest to every rider with a new bike (or new-used), and that is strip the fairings, pick a starting place, and working around the bike in one direction, disassemble each molex connector, spray it out with electrical cleaner, then after that evaporates, slather it full of dielectric grease and reassemble, move on to the next connector. Go around the bike a second time to spot any you might have missed. Be sure you hit the coil's connectors, the spark plug boots, the CDI, the battery terminals, the fuse-box spades (gotta pull the fuses to get them), the relay receiver next to the fusebox, the many-pinned connectors above the headlights on the 98+, all the connectors to the left side of the battery outside the frame, etc.

BUT, I suspect in your case it might actually be the spark plug wires have seen better days, simply because of the age of the bike. If this is the case, you have a few options:

(A) Order replacement coils -- these will come with the spark plug wires pre-attached from the factory. Pricey, but absolute peace of mind. I tend to go "replace-with-new" mentality myself many times because I am often very, very far from home when I'm on the bike and want the rock-solid assurance of reliability to be absolute.

(B) Replace just the spark plug wires themselves. This is quite a PIA, because they are permanently mounted to the coils. You have two choices here - either carefully disassemble them from the coils and epoxy the new ones into place (search for a write-up here on KR), OR cut them about 1/2" from the coils and use an NGK Spark Plug Wire splice to connect new ones. The Spark Plug Splicers (physical connector) run about $8 each last time I looked...

(C) Reseal the existing plug wires with new insulation against both water and electrical. How do you do this? Well, I'd do it specifically this way:
1. Get 20 feet of 2:1 heat shrink tubing in the right post-shrink size for the spark plug wires, as well as about 35-80 feet of silicone tape (I tend to use Rescue brand tape - www.rescuetape.com); how much silicone tape you'll need relates directly to the width of the tape (4 times the length of all the wires is basically your need) and the thickness. You could use just one of the two solutions (or double-up on either, such as double heat-shrink), but both together works best. Get some dielectric grease as well. Note that RescueTape can usually be had at cheaper prices than their website shows via other sources...
2. Spray the wires with electrical cleaner or wipe them down with 91% rubbing-alcohol (you want to drive off any water in the exterior without leaving behind any oils to deteriorate the existing material).
3. Remove the boots & plug holders off the end of the wires. Good time to check the wire condition and check to see if you can afford to cut off a 1/4" of length later.
4. Slather a bit of dielectric grease around the base of the existing plug wire where it meets the coil, covering about 1/4" of the junction.
5. Slide the heat-shrink tubing over the spark plug wire all the way down to the coil, cut to length so that you have about 1/4" excess on the spark plug end. Heat the tubing with an appropriate heater (hair dryer OK, but don't use lighters/torches, best to use an industrial heat blower if you've got one), working from the coil end forward towards the plug end and rotating to hit both sides of the tube.
6. Once shrinked the full length, trim the end at the spark plug boot back by 1/8 - 1/4" including the wire, to expose clean, healthy wire for the boot to bite into when you reassemble.
7. Now wrap the heat-shrink with the silicone tape as per it's directions (i.e. - wrap under tension so the silicone tape is "stretched" a bit -- this activates the hold and accelerates the melding process). Your wrap needs to be approximately 4 layers thick (based on a voltage value of 30k volts max and a voltage resistance rating of 8k volts per layer for rescue tape). Obviously wider tape will make this part of the process easier. Be sure NOT to wrap the last segment of the wire that the boot needs to fit over.
8. Inspect the spark plug connector, clean/replace as necessary, then slather with dielectric grease and reassemble with the boot onto the wire.

Repeat for the other three wires.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[LAsunbird86]

I dont mind riding in the rain but I do wish I could find a helmet that has a wipper blade on the visor.

Rain-X is your best friend.

[DreKat]

amen to that, but just in case you didn't know for like $8 you can get a lil thumb squeegee to put on your glove and use that as u ride, works purty good...

How does it work? ya got any pics or a web site?

[The CyberPoet]

I dont mind riding in the rain but I do wish I could find a helmet that has a wipper blade on the visor.

Actually, there are a variety of gloves on the market with wipers built into the thumb or forefinger seam; there are also snap-over-finger versions to go over existing gloves.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Mat0302]

The kats, by design, have no issue with the rain (and I've run hundreds of miles at a pop through some torrential storms regularly).

+1, I have never had a problem in the rain. I've been rained on more than 5 times within the last month. sucks, but it happens