Sputtering and running on 3 cyl

[Stinger02]

So my bike was having an issue where it had a slight miss. Also when it would get wet, it would miss worse. So I bought new plugs for it and cleaned out the drain holes which were plugged with crud. I fired it up this morning and it was worse After changing and cleaning. It's missing really bad on one cylinder. Had to leave it at home and take the car to work. The old plugs didnt look bad. Its not too rich or lean. I didn't change out one of the coils (number 1&4) because the end of the plug wire on mine was cracked and missing the rubber boot at the tip. What could be causing this damn miss? I did wash the bike last night, is it possible that more moisture got down in there? I cleaned out the drain holes, tightened down the plugs and put the plug wire caps back over the holes and the large piece of rubber mat is still there. Need advice. Can you wrap the plug treads in plumbers tape to prevent moisture from seeping by if that's still the issue?

[Purplehaze]

I would recommend checking the ends of the plug wires (where they screw into the plug boots) for corrosion and blackening. Sometimes if water gets in there or they're too old they'll do that. Snip them back to restore some voltage and watch for more corrosion in the future.

I swapped my whole coil-onward ignition system because of the problem recurring. PO was running Autolite wires , idiot.

[shpielers]

Yeah, if you have damaged coils/plug wires, that's not going to go so well. Fire the bike up, and see which header down pipes warm up, that'll tell you which cylinder the problem is on. (the one that doesn't get warm)

You might just have some moisture that hasnt dried out from last night. You can try starting it up again after work and see if its any better, or pull the plugs and spray some compressed air to blow out any moisture. If that doesn't work, try starting it up in a low light environment and look for arching.

+1 for the snip back Purple suggested too

[Stinger02]

Question... Snipping the wire and autolite wires? Are you saying the plug wires come out of the coil and can be replaced with automotive wires? I assumed that if the wires were bad, you had to replace coil and all. This is an 01 750.

If it turns out to be moisture again. What can I do to prevent this from continuing from happening?

I'll check the plug ends when I get home today!

[Purplehaze]

Question... Snipping the wire and autolite wires? Are you saying the plug wires come out of the coil and can be replaced with automotive wires? I assumed that if the wires were bad, you had to replace coil and all. This is an 01 750.

If it turns out to be moisture again. What can I do to prevent this from continuing from happening?

I'll check the plug ends when I get home today!

Not familiar with the Post-98 Kats overly well. NOT suggesting automotive wires. IIRC the spark plug wires should screw/pull out of the plug boots (the thing that presses onto the spark plug end). Snip those back and resinsert them. If you find the problem arises again within a week or two (mine did, PO was running automotive wires) replace the coils-foraward igntion system for a new NGK one.

[shpielers]

Dielectric grease when putting things together will also help prevent moisture from getting in and causing issues and corrosion.

[Purplehaze]

Dielectric grease when putting things together will also help prevent moisture from getting in and causing issues and corrosion.

+1, thought I admit with the shoddy setup the PO left me even the dielectric grease didn't help my situation. I like to believe that perhaps the crap Autolite wires weren't capable of holding the correct voltage or transferring it well, though.

[shpielers]

Lol yeah, won't improve a crappy situation, it'll just help prevent it from getting worse.